By Margot Garnier

More than 300 players took part in the 19th annual SoccerFest, hosted by Sport Against Racism Ireland (Sari) recently in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

Under bright sun on the day, soccer teams from all over Ireland met for the September fixture, a fair play tournament in favour of diversity won this year by Ennis All Stars, the first team to win the cup twice in the event’s history.

“We want to bring all different nationalities together, and what better thing than sport to do that?” said volunteer co-ordinator Kerrie Clothessy. “Football is a language: you don’t need to speak, just to play.”

A total of 316 soccer players across 32 men’s teams and four women’s squad – including players from as far away as Guinea and crisis-torn Syria – were joined by 40 Sari volunteers and as many as 800 spectators on hand not just for the matches, but also the family entertainment including table tennis, face painting and clowning around by performers from Clowns Without Borders.

Scheduled for one day rather than the usual two-day festival, Sari cultural planner explained that the shortened tournament for 2015 avoided overlaps with other events planned for European Week of Sport, and put more resources towards next year’s special 20th anniversary SoccerFest.