Montréal activists hold anti-racist soccer tournament

by Carla Green

In the lead-up to the World Cup final, a group of soccer aficionados gathered to play a very different kind of game. Over the years, and most recently in its incarnation in Brazil, the FIFA World Cup has been accused of everything from neo-colonialism to racism, including by FIFA's own anti-racism task force. In the wake of World Cup preparations in Rio de Janeiro and the way the games had played out thus far, some critics have claimed that the game of soccer itself has fundamental issues.

Activists from the Immigrant Workers Centre co-organized an anti-racist soccer tournament in the Montréal neighborhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The idea was to show that a different way of playing soccer – not FIFA’s, and not the World Cup's – was possible. Participants ranged from die-hard activists to die-hard soccer aficionados, and everywhere in-between. CKUT’s Carla Green was there.

bar baz