How does kicking a ball develop social skills and promote exchange between ethnic groups, religions, et cetera?
Football is never an answer on its own. But in situations where hostile groups come face to face, playing football can be an important first step towards reconciliation. What sport offers is a chance to engage in peaceful competition governed by clear and categorical rules instead of clashing as aggressive and perhaps unequally armed rivals. What is more, for a game to be fun, opposing teams need to relate to one another in a meaningful way. If they don t, the whole thing not only looks ugly; it is also no fun for those involved. Meeting at a predetermined place and playing according to rules agreed on by the teams in advance is a tremendously complex act of cooperation and can usefully take the place of a cudgel or worse. Playing according to a set of rules that everyone accepts seems to be key to achieving changes in behaviour… No doubt about it. The educational objective is to get opponents to see one another as partners they respect and not as objects to be destroyed. That does n