My blog

Football makes people talk

I know what you think: "Aha, the chairman of MTG United for Peace is a former football pro. Oh, and quite a few other people involved seems to be keen on football as well. I get it: that's why they've chosen football for their charity!" I see where you're coming from, but that's not the case!

There are a lot of reasons to why football is such a great tool for us. Even the pope John Paul II said: "Of all unimportant things, football is the most important". But my main argument is that football is a worldwide phenomenon: United Nations consists of 192 countries but the International Football Federation, Fifa, consists of 203!

We see our company MTG as a family spread OUT in 33 different countries; all with different cultures, ways of life, religions and different languages. So communicating is not always easy, but one thing we've got in common is football. We all have a connection to it, most of us have
once played it and it enables us to communicate.

Football is a perfect meeting point. A common ground where connections can be made, arguments solved and beautiful things can happen between people. Football makes it possible to meet with strangers without it feeling awkward. Football has got body language built into it and I read somewhere that no less than 60 percent of our communication consists of body language. So you see: football makes people talk!

These are the reasons why we've chosen football as an important part of MTG United for Peace. We're also very proud that such important and well-known institutions as the Red Cross and The Nobel Peace Center have chosen to join us, helping us reach a bigger audience. Hopefully what
they stand for will be reflected in what people associate with MTG and our foundation MTG United for Peace as well.

We still didn't know if our theory was rig back in October 2010 when 150 children from 12 of the countries in which we operate met for the first ever finals of MTG United for Peace's tournament. But during the mixed TOURNAMENT something great happened, something that made it possible for us to see that we'd been right all along. The children (every single one in the team from a different country) played brilliantly together using nothing but body language and that little ball as a tool for communicating. They were smiling, patting each others backs; they solved misunderstandings and got together in big group hugs after scoring a goal. No one could say: "Better luck next time" or "We'll sort it out!" It all had to be said with actions, and I found it very
emotional that the children got on so well with one another. They even exchanged friendship bracelets!

The most moving thing for me was the morning when it was time for all the children to travel back home. Almost every single child had requested an early wake up call in order to say goodbye properly to their newly found friends in the Ghanaian team who were leaving early.

So you see, football is all about supporting and looking after each
other and trying to solve conflicts as they occur. At the grassroot and even in the Champions League.

Regards,
Jan Aage Fjörtoft
Chairman
MTG United for Peace