Next Friday – June 19 – at 5 pm, the Sports Centre of the Rome Istituto Santa Maria (Via Matteo Boiardo 28) will host the “I Am There” solidarity football game to celebrate World Refugee Day, an event promoted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
The initiative, which is promoted by the Mondo Digitale and has reached its fifth edition, is a perfect opportunity to educate children and adults to tolerance and respect of differences, as well as to raise public awareness on the conditions of thousands of refugees in Italy, over 78,000 according to the UNHCR.
“The Fondazione Mondo Digitale has been committed for year now to identify efficient tools for the social integration and inclusion of foreign citizens. World Refugee Day is an opportunity for young men and women with different experiences to meet and learn. Students learn to overcome prejudice thanks to the universal language of sport, respect others and look beyond mere physical differences,” explains Alfonso Molina, Professor of Technology Strategy at the University of Edinburgh and Scientific Director of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale
This year, the sports meet will be opened by Roberto Zaccaria, President of the Italian Council for Refugees (CIR), while a vast range of other organisations will be on the pitch and on the bleachers: Centro Studi e Ricerche Idos, Liberi Nantes, Matemù and the Rome Volunteer Association Più Culture, the event media partner. The match will be aired live by Radio Sapienza, the Sapienza web radio.
The matches begin at 5 pm with a three-way meet between Roman schools and will be followed by a game between students and young refugees hosted at the SPRAR Centres in Rome. The match will be refereed by an official referee from the Associazione italiana arbitri (AIA) - Federazione italiana gioco calcio (FIGC).
The makers that operate at the FMD Phyrtual Innovation Gym will also be on the pitch for the event.
