Crown Heights Caribbean soccer players trounced by a squad of Orthodox Jews last year are itching for a rematch this weekend.
But while competitive juices are flowing in advance of Sunday’s game, organizers say the game is about promoting harmony in the historically divided neighborhood.
The Orthodox Jews handily defeated two Caribbean teams at Soccer for Harmony’s inaugural tournament in December – dispelling a few stereotypes about the players, many of them devout Yeshiva students from Israel, along the way.
“We never heard of them being involved in soccer,” said Frank Nicholas, who coaches the Caribbean team, part of the Central Brooklyn Soccer League. “We figured it might be an easy game. We figured they’re probably not as good. But we got surprised.
“My guys can learn a lot from them,” he said. “We’ll be a little stronger, a little quicker, a little faster. We’ll try to win this time.”
Not if the Jewish team from Mendy’s Deli on Eastern Parkway has anything to say about it.
“We’ll fight on the field. We’re going to bring everything we’ve got,” said Nathan Abikasis, 29.
“We are small and skinny, and they’re bigger,” he said. “Then we realized that we’ve got the technique.”
The tournament was launched by nonprofit Seeds in the Middle, which runs a soccer program for kids at Hamilton Metz Field.
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2 Responses
If this was done in israel between the chareidim and the chilonim (or the dati leumi for that matter) there would be mass protests, riots and destruction by “our people”.
#1, I don’t know whose “our people” you mean, but no Torah-true Jew would play soccer in EI, and even in chul there are many reasons not to.