Soccer helps unite 16 ethnic communities, one city
The organization Cultural Exchange Through Soccer is celebrating its 10th birthday this summer, and there could be no better present than to see its marquee event, the Worcester World Cup, continue its ascension.
The field of 16 teams, representing various ethnic communities, are taking the field this weekend at Foley Stadium for 60-minute matches and a chance to win a city championship, while demonstrating that soccer can be a cross-cultural connector.
“This should be like a tradition that should never stop because it brings together all the different races,” said Andreas Blamo, who scored twice in the final nine minutes to help defending champion Liberia beat Jamaica, 3-1, on Saturday. “You have Liberia, you have Brazil, you have different nationalities, and this is important to bring people together.”
After three men’s games Friday night and a full day of soccer on Saturday — eight matches from 8:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. — the ninth Worcester World Cup will conclude today.
The women’s final will be held at 5:30 p.m. and the men’s final at 6:45. The day will also include international youth games.
The Liberians, known as the Lone Star, are proud three-time champions and draw perhaps the largest crowd of any nation — one that erupted joyously for each late goal versus Jamaica.
“I think the game has seen a huge connection between us as Liberians,” said Joshua Bing, president of the Liberian Association of Worcester County (LAOWC). “As Liberians, we pledge our continued support.”
“As Liberians, we went through 15 years of war and now we find ourselves in America where we have so much freedom,” said Othello Grigsby, assistant chairman of the board at LAOWC. “This game is something I really love because it brings people back together regardless of your differences.”
And that’s exactly what Cultural Exchange Through Soccer set out to do.
“We were developed to unite lots of different diverse communities around a common interest we know will bring everyone together,” said Laura Suroviak, one of the original members of CETS and a Worcester World Cup organizer. “We are looking to develop leadership that will help to create a new Worcester that will be more reflective of the people who live here.
“If you look around the stadium or at the diversity of teams at the event here, you’ll see who Worcester really is.”
One of the “many faces of Worcester,” as Suroviak terms it, is the first-year team representing the South Asian country of Bhutan, which expelled its citizens of Nepalese origin in the 1990s, turning them into refugees. The Bhutanese lost, 6-0, to Nigeria but enjoyed the experience all the same and intend to return.
“You get to see different people here, interact and see how they play,” said Bhutan’s left side midfielder, Vasker Neupane, who immigrated to Worcester five years ago. “Everyone has a different way of playing soccer, so it was definitely a good opportunity to meet new people, and I think it’s a great program.”
The event has come a long way from its early beginnings, putting on the competition on a makeshift field at the Elm Park Elementary School. The Worcester World Cup has upgraded its digs to one of the top venues in the city, the artificial surface at Foley Stadium’s Commerce Bank Field, but this year’s initiative is to highlight the lack of quality fields in Worcester.
The main focus, though, remains putting on three days of soccer while highlighting the ethnic diversity that makes the city unique.
“It’s just sort of like a big weekend celebration of who we are,” longtime volunteer Coqui Negrón said. “It’s sort of like very Worcester, but very part of the world.”