Hary’s Whistle of Hope – the Australian gift of happiness
|Jonathan Kaggwa (left) and Gago Banak (right) with referee Paul Nagtegaal. Image: Anita Milas
By Rebecca Corbett
It’s the first time that England have been represented by Street Soccer London at the Homeless World Cup, but on Day 3 of the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup the team are already understanding one fundamental element of the Homeless World Cup – respect.
During their game against Switzerland, which ended 7-2 in favour of the English, the Swiss goalkeeper went down injured. Instead of standing on the sidelines and waiting for the game to resume, England players Jonathan Kaggwa and Gago Banak went to sit with him – telling jokes and keeping his spirits up while they waited for the medics to arrive.
This small act of kindness is what Hary’s Whistle of Hope celebrates, little moments which can have significant impact.
Speaking about receiving the Whistle of Hope, Jonathan Kaggwa said “It’s nice to be awarded for sportsmanship, for us it’s just something we wanted to do but it’s great to have the recognition.”
England’s captain today was Gago Banak – each day the England team rotate the captaincy – which gives each players the chance to take the responsibility and leadership.
Speaking about being captain, Gago Banak said: “I’m feeling amazing, I’m just happy that we won again and to get this recognition from the Homeless World Cup. I hope other people do it as well.”
Referee Paul Nagtegaal said: “The Whistle of Hope is an award for being sporting, for having respect and showing fair play – things that are the most important in the spirit of the Homeless World Cup. [Homeless World Cup referee] Hary Milas introduced that for players.”
Head Referee Iain McGill added: “Our Australian referee Hary would give a whistle to players who have done something nice - went out of their way to be sporting, to be helpful, to be helping people to have a good time and just evidence of changing their lives – that’s what the whole competition is all about.
The players really liked it, it caught on and they were competing to get whistles, competing to get the whistle of hope – they wanted to be recognised doing something good, doing something fun and having a real impact on the tournament and their team and being all round rays of sunshine and delight. So it’s been going for years and years – a little gift of happiness that came from Australia.”
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Words: Rebecca Corbett
Image: Anita Milas