Development for the Future of the Middle East... Through Football

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• Yamam Nabeel, FC Unity
• Friday 21 November 2008, 17:30-19:00
• Fellows Dining Room, Churchill College.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Harry Bullivant.

Tonight

Yamam Nabeel was born in Baghdad, Iraq. His parents, both distinguished academics, were at the forefront of Iraqi intellectual society, until the Ba’athist regime tried to suppress the works of his father, a much loved poet and outspoken critic. The family had to flee Iraq and, after 18 months living out of suitcases across the Middle East and Europe they settled in Hungary, their first home in exile.

Just two weeks after the invasion of Iraq at the age of 27, Yamam was able to obtain an interview with Bernd Stange for Sky Sports. They developed an instant rapport and found much common ground in their approach to peace-building and conflict resolution. An idea was born to bring the Iraq national football team for a UK tour. After nine months – in May 2004 – the Iraq national team was able to tour the UK and play three key games.

Yamam and his partners launched FC Unity – then Football for Unity – a new football not for profit initiative charged with bringing together Muslims and the wider British society through the power of the ‘Beautiful Game’. Following the London tube bombings FC Unity was the only organisation to host a community event to commemorate the 7/7/7 Anniversary.

FC Unity soon had plans to become a global programme, harnessing the universal appeal of football, to provide a platform for education and development and empower young people and help build communities.

In November 2007, Yamam returned to Iraq after 28 years in exile. His writing from exile is a work in progress inspired by his return to his homeland. In July 2008, the FC Unity Hope Tour was launched in Iraq, designed as programme to use football as a strategy for youth development, peace-building, and employment opportunities for Iraq’s young at-risk population

The Programme is supported by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the US State Department. There are plans to expand the programme to other countries in the Middle East and Africa. These will include Sudan, Somalia, the DRC , Egypt, Lebanon, Afghanistan and the Palestinian Occupied Territories.

This talk is part of the Churchill College Phoenix Society series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Churchill College Phoenix Society
• Fellows Dining Room, Churchill College

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