Antifa_Ultras@ultras_antifaa
Brazilian footballer David Luiz says:
❝A few months after I moved to Paris, two of my friends from Diadema came to spend some time with me there. They had broken up with their wife and girlfriend and were sad, so I invited them, hoping the visit would help clear their minds. Great.
They soon met other Brazilians, who played for a team like the seventh-division amateur league in the suburbs of Paris — all immigrants without proper papers.
Every night, my two friends came home angry, complaining that they were constantly beaten up. So, I said: “I’ll go over there tomorrow to watch you play.” And I did.
I arrived wearing a ninja hat, half disguised, and watched. The opponents were all dressed up, with their uniforms, equipment, water bottles, and a coach. And my friends’ team was wearing nothing: one in white shorts, another in purple, a third in yellow. The guys were hanging from the goalposts to warm up…. It was a mess.
At the end of the match, which they lost, I asked:
“Do you want me to train the team?”
I’ll never forget the guys’ smiles. They were so genuinely happy and excited, something I had only seen when I was a kid, when we would fly kites in Diadema.
I started training the guys every Monday, from 10 to midnight. Sometimes I would train them on Monday and play a Champions League match on Tuesday. I even remember scoring a goal against Barcelona on one of those days. I started loving Mondays. I couldn’t wait to be with those guys. We talked, I listened a lot, and I got to know each one’s stories and struggles.
Some made money playing capoeira, others delivering items on motorbikes or washing dishes. All of them had a hard life, afraid because of their illegal status, with little hope that things would improve, but football brightened up and took the weight off their days.❞
(Source: The Players’ Tribune)