Mercy Corps honors Peace Day with seven-a-side soccer in Scotland

Thirty-five players took part in a Peace One Day soccer tournament at the Spartans Community Football Academy in Edinburgh. Photo: Mercy Corps

Following last year’s success, Mercy Corps again participated in the One Day One Goal campaign of the organisation Peace One Day, to mark the International Day of Peace through football games that bring people together. Mercy Corps country teams in Colombia, India, Iraq, Kenya and Lebanon organised five unique events bridging local divisions. In solidarity, Mercy Corps staff in Edinburgh also organised a series of games bringing the campaign to Scotland for the first time.

On the 21st of September, the International Day of Peace was celebrated by a round robin of seven-a-side games at the Spartans Community Football Academy involving 35 players and organisers from Mercy Corps, Edinburgh University, the United Nations Association, Engineers without Borders and Challenges Worldwide.

Players were informed about the campaign to raise awareness of the International Day of Peace, and of some of the games taking place around the world. Jamie Hitchens, a Mercy Corps Climate Change volunteer, scored an impressively opportunistic goal from a goal kick but while Graeme Farmer of the MCS Finance department maintained an admirable one-goal-per-game ratio, in general the best play came from the students from Ewing House, at Edinburgh University’s Pollock Halls of Residence.

Check the blog for more accounts from Peace Day events by Mercy Corps teams around the world.