Jews in Sports: Soccer for Harmony

As the summer is nearly upon us in its official capacity, we soon will mark the legal-age since the infamous 1991 Crown Heights riot.

For one day, at least, all ethnic tensions played second-fiddle to yesterday afternoon’s Harmony Day, at Hamilton-Metz Park.

The day’s activities commenced with a march down Empire Boulevard in the morning, and ended with a soccer tournament at the park on Lefforts Avenue in the afternoon.

The “Seeds in the Middle”-sponsored soccer event pitted a patchwork of local yeshiva students against a few of the local African/Caribbean-American squads; a rubber match of sorts, as the Jews and their counterparts split the first two such event, each side winning once.

The much-heralded third contest actually turned out to be a round-robin tournament, with a final game to have been played only if necessary.

These contests capped off an afternoon of local highlights during the annual, “Community Day,” with the parade, rides for children, food and beverages, and a slew of athletic activities, leading up to the much-anticipated, and highly-observed, soccer event.

The round-robin tournament began with the Jewish side taking its first game handily with a 4-1 victory, and a hat-trick by midfielder Yosef Tal to boot.

That would be the team’s only highlight reel for the day.

The second match saw the yeshiva club go down in defeat to the eventual tournament winner, 1-0, on an opening-minute score, given up on the game’s first shot.

The Jewish side had difficulty trying to penetrate the opposition’s backline of defenders, and only managed a meager four shots on goal in the loss.

The yeshiva team, comprising of mostly Israeli yeshiva students, had their best equalizing opportunity go by the wayside, when a big rebound in the fourth minute was denied by the crossbar.

The Jew Crew’s opposition did a wonderful job in handcuffing Tal and his buddies on the offensive side of the field, and kept the pressure on Tzemach Woolstone and his teammates near the goal-mouth.

To add insult to injury, the middle game ended slightly prematurely, when the referee’s game-clock malfunctioned at some point during the second-half, prompting him to call the game when there was roughly three minutes left, without consulting any of the sideline-observing timekeepers.

In their third game, another 1-0 defeat on a second-half strike by the Caribbean side, the Jewish squad squandered their golden opportunity for reaching the final, shooting just wide of the net on a 2-0 breakaway in the game’s waning minutes.

Though the games didn’t go as planned for the yeshiva team, Sunday’s overall oneness and unity expressed through the family-oriented, kid-friendly events were shared and enjoyed by one and all. The entirety of the day, both on and off the field, was summed up succinctly by one of the players. “It was awesome,” said Woolstone.

Editor’s Note: For more information on future Seeds in the Middle events, go to www.seedsinthemiddle.org.