Football For Unity finals to be held in Dublin today

The finals of Football For Unity 2022 are set to be held at St Laurence O'Toole Recreation Centre in Mariners Port, Dublin 1 this afternoon, July 15 – with proceedings kicking off at 4pm, and running until 9pm.

Organised by Sport Against Racism Ireland (SARI) and the North East Inner City of Dublin initiative (NEIC), the eagerly anticipated finals mark the culmination of this year's six-week-long festival, which aims to highlight the potential of football as both a community-building tool, and a platform to promote social inclusion for newcomers to Ireland.

The festival is comprised a number of tournaments, in various age categories.

Football For Unity 2022 was launched back in May by St Patrick’s Athletic FC defender James Abankwah and Michael Darragh Macauley of the NEIC, along with SARI Director Brian Kerr and Chief Executive Perry Ogden.

Last year's inaugural Football For Unity event attracted over 500 participants from at least 33 countries.

"On behalf of Insaka-Ireland, All African Youth Movement, I have been very impressed by Sport Against Racism's organisation of the UEFA Football For Unity Festival,” Ken McCue says. "I look forward to when all quadrants of Dublin's Inner City are staging tournaments. The partnership with Dublin City Council is crucial to the development of FFU and they should use the example of the installation of the Cruyff Courts that have proved so effective for the cultural integration and social inclusion of youth throughout the inner cities of Europe."

Hot Press editor Niall Stokes – who plays in midfield for Hot Press MGB – describes Football For Unity as "a really important initiative."

“Football is a way of bringing often very different people together," he comments. "It doesn’t matter what your background is, the colour of your skin or the length of you hair – when you are on a football pitch the working assumption is that we are all equally capable of helping our team to win.

“All of the things that happen naturally – you see someone else’s skills, their strength, their pace, their vision in close-up – reinforce that. It doesn’t matter whether you have come from China, Libya, Zambia, Alaska or the inner-city of Dublinia – once you are on the pitch there is only one thing that matters: doing what you can to help your own team to shine.

“Through football – at whatever age and involving people of any and every gender – you learn that there really is only one race, and that’s the human race. It is a particularly important realisation for young people, in a country that is changing into a proper, wonderful multi-cultural melting pot. We should embrace that with open arms.

“Once we understand that, then it becomes crystal clear that everyone under the sun deserves to be treated with equal respect. But, of course, it is still ok to mob the guy – male or female – who scores the winner!"

⚽️ 🏆 Football For Unity finals day: All welcome on Friday evening, please join us to celebrate the climax of another fabulous festival of sport, fun and friendship!
📍St Laurence O'Toole Recreation Centre, just off sunny Sheriff Street in Dublin city centre.
🕓 4pm - 9pm.
🙏 RT pic.twitter.com/feY8EdKGyh

— SARI Ireland (@sariireland) July 12, 2022