Homeless World Cup

They've just finished playing the "Homeless World Cup" football (soccer) tournament in Melbourne. Hundreds of (homeless) players from 56 countries were flown in for this week-long tournament, which was apparently won by Afghanistan (who beat Russia 5-4).

Oh... where do I start...?

Look. I feel awfully sorry for homeless people. There, but for the grace of God (and the generosity of family) go I. No-one actually chooses to be homeless. Well... nearly no-one anyway.

It is therefore natural that I support any initiative that makes their lives better, in so far as everyone "supports" initiatives that makes their lives better, keeps their smell away, and hides them out of site so we can get on with our Christmas shopping.

I guess, in this respect, bundling them onto an aeroplane and sending them somewhere else serves a real purpose, in much the same way that Rudi Guilianni served a similar purpose when, as Mayor of New York, he scooped up all the homeless people he could find and bought them a one way bus ticket to San Francisco (where many remain today).

But is this really "helping"?

The Homeless World Cup website contains some interesting statistics. For example, there are around 200,000 homeless people in Canada, costing the Canadian economy $6billion a year. If you put your calculator through its paces, you'll soon realise that this is $30,000 a year each, which, if handed to each homeless person, would deliver an income so far over the poverty line that there are people in full time employment who go to bed at night dreaming of an salary that high.

Of course, it isn't handed out to homeless people. It's spent on "programmes" which, you'd have to conclude, haven't really done much to reduce the numbers of "homeless".

I suspect, too, that "homeless" means different things in different parts of the world. Think about it... the Afghan National Football Team could probably qualify as "homeless" given the crappy state of affairs over there. It's no wonder they won. The same could be said for Zimbabwe and a long list of other tin-pot African disaster zones. And let's face it... "homeless in New York" is going to mean something very different to "homeless in Mogadishu". This is reflected by the number of competitors who came to Melbourne, saw how good the homeless there have it, and immediately applied for assylum.

Put yourself in their shoes. Here you are, living on the street, eeking out an existence and barely surviving from one day to the next. The following day, you're on a plane to Australia, you're put up in a hotel, you're fed and clothed, and your only worry for seven days is whether you kick he ball to the wing or the midfield. Then you're bundled back on a plane, and the following day, you're trying to shoo away some homeless guy who moved into your spot under that overpass while you were away.

Not that I begrudge any of them the trip, and the respite from the desparation of their lives. Good luck to them, and I hope they had a great time.

But at the end of the tournament, where does that leave the homeless?

Millions of dollars spent. Sponsorships. Press releases. The usual 1:1 ratio of hangers-on pretending they're really helping. And a select and very lucky few who got to do something which, even by the standards of the non-homeless where they live, was extraordinary.

The answer is "still homeless".