Cross Cultures visits MOYS and INOC in Baghdad

18 August Niels Nygaard, president of the Danish NOC and member of the Cross Cultures board and Anders Levinsen visited the Minister for Youth and Sport and the Iraq NOC in Bagdad.
– It was a very fruitful and constructive meeting that will hopefully lead up to further cooperation, Anders Levinsen tells. – Correspondingly the minister proposed to enhance cooperation on the al-Salaam Football Schools (read: Open Fun Football Schools); to build capacity within five Olympic Sports Federations from Iraq and to develop an exchange program between coaches, administrators and players from Iraq and Denmark if the security and visa restrictions permits.
– But the meeting was also interesting on other dimensions, Anders Levinsen continues. – To me it confirmed my saying that where there is war there is also life. To me the visit was a manifest experience that confirmed how sport can play an important role to foster peace, cohesion and ‘normalization’ so to speak. Last time i came to Baghdad through the ‘back door’ and with our good friends so to speak. I slept in the club house of al-Salaam and enjoyed the life at their facilities without any security at all. But since Niels Nygaard joined the party this time we were hosted like VIP’s and entered Baghdad through the front door. Thus, it was absurd for me to arrive in Baghdad Airport being picked up in an armoured land cruiser and escorted  through the city of Baghdad to the Sports centre under the protection of  armed security forces. It reminded me of Sarajevo 92/93! We were driving along the wall that divides the green zone of Baghdad where all the diplomats and international companies are located and the red zone where the Iraqi are living. It was like driving along the Wall in Berlin during the 80’ies. The only difference is just that in Baghdad there are hundred’s of check points and armed soldiers on the road. So approaching Baghdad via ‘the front door’ was like landing in the middle of a war, and I could not recognize the Baghdad as I visited only two month ago.
– However, when entering the gate to the Olympic Sports Centre, life suddenly became normal. It could have been anywhere in the world. We were visiting seven sports federations and we saw hundred’s of kids training boxing, teakwando, fencing, volley ball, table tennis, swimming and football. And in the swimming hall there were hundred’s of parents or more on the stands watching their children swimming, as if it was in a swimming arena sunday morning in Denmark.
– To me sport has this amazing power that it is able to create ‘zones of normalization’. When we enter these zones we get a break from the conflicts and the war and we live the sport and allowed to behave as normal human beings with our good friends. Hence the visit again confirmed to me, why I consider sport and joyful games a unique tool to bridge and bond between people living in communities affected by conflicts and war. Correspondingly the main mission of Cross Cultures and the Open Fun Football Schools, I think, remains to organize and stimulate as many of these  ‘zones of normalization’ where people of different background can meet and get ‘asylum’ from the conflict while playing, bonding and creating communities with friends based on common interest rather than sectarian, ethnic or political backgrounds. And hopefully these bonds may one day be so strong that they also have an impact outside of the sports arena.
– On this basis and despite the serious security situation, I will strongly advise our board to accept the invitation from the minister of youth and sport to enhance our cooperation to further develop a sports culture within Iraq that are open to all, that are inspired by ‘the Danish Sport model’ and that are based on the fundamental values in sport. Where there is war there is also life. And to me the meaning of sport – whether it is grassroots programs like the Open Fun Football Schools or excellence programs like the one we visited in the olympic center – represents joy, community and life, Anders Levinsen concludes.