Homeless Academy organizes street soccer for drug addicts and homeless people. In Helsinki, the training is held in Mustikkamaa. HS went to watch the last trainings before the World Cup trip.
Last on Thursday morning, a plane took off from Helsinki-Vantaa with a group of national team soccer players on board. At that time, two teams left Finland for the United States, Sacramento, California, aiming for the World Homeless Soccer Championship.
Both women’s and men’s teams from Finland will play in the tournament that started on Saturday. However, it was not self-evident.
Founder of Homeless Academy ry Ari Hulden says that getting on the trip was exceptionally difficult this year. We had to produce a lot of surprising disappointments for the players.
“We changed half of the players in the last month.”
The reason was problems with getting visas to the United States. According to Hulden, it is difficult to get more detailed information about the reasons for the decisions, but grounds for rejection can be, for example, the departure’s drug or criminal background – or homelessness.
“This is a strange equation that a state that wants to organize the Games does not want people participating in the Games in its country. You could think that the vast majority of those who came to the tournament have the papers of the past stained in the wind and gusts.”
Ari Hulden is called Hul among football players.
The homeless football is organized all over Finland and the national team is also always selected at a national football camp.
A couple who went to Sacramento are training in Helsinki at Mustikkamaa’s street soccer field. HS met the soccer players before leaving for the competition at the Homeless Academy’s every Tuesday practice.
In addition to the two starters, there are also those who are waiting for their turn at the World Cup, as well as a few who have already played in their competition. According to the rules of the Homeless World Cup, participants must be first-timers.
The World Championships in Sacramento are the first in three years because of the corona. In 2020, they were supposed to be in Tampere, Finland.
When all the trainers have reached the rink, the common warm-up begins. The instructions for the passing exercise sound incomprehensible to a football junkie.
The practice does not open up to all players right away. However, with the instructions of the teammates, the balls start flying in the right directions.
“Feed through but to the other side!”
“You’re a wall!”
“Just follow the ball!”
Homeless Academy’s operations are supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Palloliitto and the Y Foundation.
Sometimes some of the players watch the training from outside the football field.
Little arrives late at the side of the football field Jonas. He is the second one to go to Sacramento. Joonas appears in the story with just his first name, and he does not appear in the pictures with his name.
Information about the departure came quickly. Joonas was alerted to join the team only the previous week from the reserve position. The last few days have therefore been filled with departure arrangements.
“I had to order a criminal record, make ESTA applications and get a passport very quickly. There has been all kinds of running, but this has gone well.”
According to Joonas, he hasn’t had time to internalize the departure in the middle of the preparations. This feeling also plays a role in being late for evening exercises.
“Today, when we were coming to training, I realized that I lack all the skills. So there is clearly excitement in the air”, he says and laughs.
On Tuesday in July, in addition to a couple of players who will go to the World Cup, there will also be a lot of people who will not play in the national team this year.
Filip Muhonen has been involved in the Homeless Academy for a long time and played his own World Championships in Copenhagen in 2007.
Hulden says that the World Cup team is selected based on commitment. The national team can have a maximum of eight players, and according to Hulden’s estimate, around a couple of hundred people participate in the national team every week.
“We are trying to reward those who have made the most powerful change in life and commit to action.”
For example, Joonas, who is traveling to Sacramento, has been involved in the activity for over three years and at the football camp twice.
In addition to the criteria of the Finnish association, admission to the World Cup is determined by the Homeless World Cup’s four criteria, of which the player must meet at least one.
According to the definition of his home country, the player must have been homeless during the last year, or during the last two years if he is currently undergoing substance abuse rehabilitation. Alternatively, one must obtain their main income from selling street newspapers or be a current or former asylum seeker.
In Finland, people get involved in the activities through, for example, substance abuse and homelessness services and various associations.
“I’ve been running this activity in Helsinki since 2005. Inevitably, this creates its own little subculture and the word kiirii,” says Hulden.
All in all, there were about 15 players in training.
In addition to Helsinki, football is offered as a form of functional peer support in Tampere and Rauma, for example.
In training the words “good”, “pretty” and “excellent” are repeated. Sometimes there is thunderous applause. Several of the coaches name a good and encouraging atmosphere as the most important thing for playing.
The playful banter is caused by the fact that in one exercise the balls constantly fly over the goal.
“Dude likes to go running around there with fists!”
“It was goalkeeper practice, and they have no work!”
Sometimes balls that have run away from the rink have to be retrieved from the basket back onto the field.
According to Hulden, football works as a very functional form of peer support precisely because it contains many methods of psychosocial rehabilitation.
What are they?
Coming to training, taking collective responsibility, i.e. being on time and taking care of one’s own tasks, Hulden lists. And the list goes on: Respect and fair play, respect for everyone, acceptance and tolerance of others and “being human”, even when emotions are running high.
“We are not necessarily raising Premier League players, but better people. We help to get the basics of life in order, new relationships, health, social skills and community.”
The most important thing for players in training is a good and encouraging atmosphere.
According to Ari Hulden, the Homeless Football World Cup is “a global message that we have people on Earth who live outside of societies.”
Hulden says that he enjoys running football activities because he is “among his own people”. Hulden has both a football and drug addiction background.
“Yes, I probably would have quit ages ago if this didn’t give more than it takes. And this, however, takes quite a lot.”
On Tuesday night, it has taken two hours of training and playing along. At the end of the exercises, we play for a while with the right number of players: four against four.
When the ball flies over the side, Joonas runs from the bench to get it. Someone jokingly tells him to bring water at the same time.
“I’m on the national team, I’m not bringing you water!” Jonas answers.
“I thought so too!” the commander snarled back.
After the exercises, we still exchange news.
Ari Hulden says goodbye to the players until the next training sessions.
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