PUSL News

It was a rather rough weekend for the league. The kind that makes you question the whole point of what you are doing...

We got through the first two games on Saturday with no problems; the new Ref was outstanding and well in control of the players. He even got a few thumbs up from our lads. But towards the end of the second game a group of oversized rugby players showed up and started to get into kit. It was confusing because we had the space booked for another two hours, but they began insisting that they had it book. They insisted to the point of calling the police on us.

Alfred negotiated for almost an hour, but had to give in and move the final game to Back Bay. So we started the last game an hour late, but basically without any further issues. Thankfully the teams were fairly cool about it. And that is where the good news ended...

After getting to Back Bay and getting the game started, everything seemed to be going well and I was watching one of the best games of the season. But in the 60th minuet the coach of one of the teams lost his mind over a call by our linesman, stormed across the pitch and started verbally abusing our man. The game continued for a moment, the opposing team had a free kick, blasted it into the area and scored, what the coach called, an offsides goal. The everything went to hell. The ref came over to check with the linesman, who said he could not see because the coach was blocking him, so the ref gave the goal; this enraged the coach, who proceeded to physically attack the ref. Thankfully his own players restrained him, but he was thrashing away non-the-less.

At that point the ref had no choice to call the game as it stood, and flee... but not before the coach and some of his team-mates accused him of racism... The coach was dragged to his car, we negotiated with the players and eventually got everyone to go home.

Sunday started where saturday left off, because the ref who fled was supposed to officiate the first game, but do you think he showed up?? Nope... We started one hour late, and the final game was fore fit, to the frustration of the team that bothered to show...

501c What?

I'm helping start up a non-profit with the director of PUSL. My idea is to turn this non-profit into a community development organization, of which the PUSL will be a branch, as we want to do more than just sport related activities. Our guiding philosophy will be drawn from deconstructionist thinking and critical multiculturalism, so that "community development" comes to mean broader and more open minded citizens as a result of exchanged experience with the 'other'. I will need to read Augusto Boel and Paulo Firere I think, as well as refresh my memory of Peter McLaren.

In any case, how ever it ends up, I think the process of developing this structure is interesting, and not so cheap either! I am already slightly confused by the IRS requirements for submitting an application for nonprofit status; and the approach may be to bring someone on board who has started a nonprofit and who can guide us through the process.

Well, watch this space! I'm sure there will be tales of fear and loathing as we try to navigate the deep halls of American bureaucracy....!

News...

...from what seems, at times, like a distant star.

http://www.wgme.com/News/story_detail/story_detail_13.shtml?readmore

I am so please to see this coverage of the PUSL. The league really deserves this coverage. I hope this will generate some more interest for next season, as well as more revenue.

adieu, ma these

C'est fait. Aujourdui, a 1429 j'ai soumis ma these, sur le role du foot en politique, une dernier foit.

I can now no longer make changes to it, add anything, or seek out advice on it. The final draft comes in at 54 pages with table of contents, acknowledgments, introduction, 3 chapters, a conclusion, and the bibliography. 

It is done - and I feel sadness. But talking with BR today I got a dose of perspective on the "unfinished" nature of all thesis - and the possibility of exploring it in other venues, at other times. I guess in many ways I have already started that with the PUSL.

But still... I can't believe it's done.

Starting the League...

Met with AJ again today to finalize details on the league and meet with the team captains. Unfortunately none of the captains actually came, but we got work done non-the-less, filling out paper work and talking about life in general.

I've taken over a lot of the logistical side of the project, which I am happy about. Honestly, I prefer it to dealing with people, as this has never been my comfort zone. But I have to recognize also that part of my reluctance, in this case at least, comes from being unsure of how to "deal" with these community members. What that actually means, I'm not sure, but it stems from a fear of the other, of the identity that is different from my own.

Because they have a different culture and they are not assimilated into the American collective, I assume that they will not understand me, not get me or not be willing to go along with the plan. Certainly all of that is a possibility, but then it is in any situation. It's not tied to their individual status as immigrants or minority communities. I guess my point here is that it is an instinct for me to react in a discriminatory way and I think the best way for me to address this racist impulse is through experience.