Imagine a city where you could play football anywhere, anytime with anyone. A city where you could throw down your jumpers for goal posts for a quick kick-about?
In one of the playful memories submitted to the Cambridge Playlaws website, Owen recalls informal games of football on Parker’s Piece during the summer holidays where people learned to be together and new friendships were forged.
Cambridge has a long history with football: the formalised laws of the beautiful game were established on Parker’s Piece in 1848 (1) and St Paul’s Church is the home of the Street Child World Cup (2).
Football seems to have an almost magical power to bring together people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, to connect us as humans and give us a sense of belonging, joy and hope.
So dig out a football and see who you can start a game with.
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(1) See the Cambridge Rules 1848 website.
(2) See https://streetchildunited.org/football-worldcup/. The Rights of the Child were first drafted in Cambridge too by Eglantyne Jebb. This international document, which promotes child rights, was adopted first by the League of Nations in 1924 and later by the United Nations in 1959 in an extended form. It states ‘Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities’.
