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Home Ground

Alan Gibbons
Chapters (12)
  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Hasan
  4. What is a refugee?
  5. “He doesn’t talk”
  6. Child refugees
  7. Faisal
  8. Friendship through football
  9. Missing
  10. Refugees and football
  11. Five words
  12. Copyright
cover

Title Page

iii

Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. 1 Hasan
  3. What is a refugee?
  4. 2 “He doesn’t talk”
  5. Child refugees
  6. 3 Faisal
  7. Friendship through football
  8. 4 Missing
  9. Refugees and football
  10. 5 Five words
  11. Copyright

1

Chapter 1

Hasan

He was there again – the boy Sam had seen before. He was standing by the fence. Sam had seen him every week at the sports centre. He came with some older boys and played on the next pitch. He was fast and skilful. Because he was younger and smaller than the rest of his team, he got knocked over a lot, but he always picked himself up. Sam didn’t know why he played in a team with kids that were older than him. One thing stuck out. It was the boy’s hair. It made him look a bit like Mo Salah.

Suddenly, Sam heard a shout to his left. 2

“Wake up!” Jordan yelled.

It was too late. The striker Sam was meant to mark was powering past him, and Sam was on the back foot. Sam tried to get back, but he was too late. He swung a leg to cut off the attack, but he couldn’t get in a tackle. The striker left Sam behind, ran wide and crossed the ball, leaving the keeper in no man’s land. Another player was waiting in the goalmouth. 3He tapped the ball into the empty net. “Goal!” shouted the players on the other team.

Sam’s team captain, Jordan, was really angry. His face was hard. His eyes were popping.

“What’s wrong with you?” he yelled, and came right up close to Sam. “You’re not here to day-dream. You’re here to defend.”

Sam felt sick – he’d given a goal away. His team, West Park Celtic, was second from bottom in the league and the boys couldn’t afford another defeat. There were two divisions in their league and they didn’t want to get relegated.

Jordan was still yelling. His eyes were hard like stones.

“All you need is a big red nose and floppy shoes,” Jordan shouted, “and you’d be the biggest clown on the pitch.” 4

Sam could feel his eyes sting. But he wasn’t going to show he was upset. “I didn’t do it on purpose,” he said. “I switched off for a moment, that’s all.”

“Yes,” Jordan snapped, “and that’s all it takes. Your day-dreaming cost us a goal.” He shoved Sam in the chest. “You’re useless.”

Jordan shook his head and stomped off.