Global Goals World Cup, a conversation starter!

My recent Scandinavia book tour left my mind wagging. I landed in Kristiansand, Norway on 1st June with a heavy suitcase full of copies of Boots Don’t Lie ready to conquer the land of the Vikings.

Interestingly, I have been to other parts of the world, but never in my wildest dreams have I drunk bottled water costing about 15,000 UGX! The high cost of living in this region was evident.

Despite this, my first line of duty in Kristiansand was to make a special appearance as a goalkeeper at the Global Goals World Cup (GGWCUP), Norway edition, and to launch my book- Boots Don’t Lie. The tournament had conveyed 12 teams of women and young girls from all over Norway, making it a perfect conversation starter.

The GGWCUP which is a 5 aside football tournament for all-women teams, requires that each team chooses one of the Global Goals, and is ranked by the action taken for their Goal on and off the field. The teams are scored in four distinct categories: Action, Crowd, Style, and Football. It was interesting watching women enjoying the sport regardless of the awards ahead, in the end, however, the overall champion was Mission Possible, a team calling for climate action. Meanwhile, I was salivating at the fact that I was donating copies of my book to all the winning teams.

Besides launching the book, I also had the privilege of playing as a goalkeeper with a team named SHIFT, our mission was to provoke conversation towards SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production. Even though I saved a couple of goals, my mind couldn’t help thinking of the potential Africa has.

During my stay, I for example attended a barbecue party where the meal consisted of only hot dogs and salad, and most guests either contributed to the purchase of the food or carried their own. I couldn’t help thinking about how much food would be oozing from such tables back home and how much food would be thrown away from leftovers!

I am not an expert on the matter but we have; better weather meaning better and more food varieties, plenty of human resources both skilled and unskilled, substantial resources and minerals, tourist attractions, and so forth but we still witness starvation. Sadly, with plenty of social evils and governments heavily indebted to the developed world, we continue to languish in neediness and poverty. Is it also possible that we have a poor mindset towards our problems? I wouldn’t be the first to believe that Africa can become self-sufficient through responsible consumption and production.

According to research done by Wageningen University & Research, several African institutes, and the University of Nebraska, in 2050, when the population of Africa is two and a half times larger than now, the continent will scarcely be able to grow enough food for its population. What next? Our future I believe lies in engaging the masses towards shifting their mindsets and perceptions toward community-based solutions, and progressive thinking.

The Global Goals World Cup tournaments, like many other programs, offer women an opportunity to become game-changers through football and conversations, and community action. In 2020 for example, I had the incredible opportunity of hosting the tournament in Uganda and together with community work and a couple of corporate support, a group of 34 teams of women took part in this game-changing process. Our only setback was Covid- 19 pandemic hitting the global scene right after, leaving many women with an overly ripe but incomplete enthusiasm to take action within their communities. I feel a great sense of excitement thinking about the possibility of a comeback of the GGWCUP tournament and the effects of creating change makers among women through football.

GGWCUP goalkeeper, Dr. Mariam Mell'Osiime Mpaata celebrates

That aside, my book tour also took me right to the doorstep of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Most football fans will agree that this is no mean feat. I was therefore overjoyed at being hosted by the FIFA Women’s Network at the headquarters popularly known as Home of FIFA in Zurich, Switzerland to launch my book. Sharing the story of how I came from a housewife to a sports activist and my vision to use the available resources to disrupt the sports industry through sports education was a great place to connect with the FIFA Women. My takeaway from the book tour is that our networks are indeed our worth and that Africa has the potential to catapult out of its problems if we collectively get rid of the nagging social evils!

The writer, Mariam, is a sports activist with both a Masters and an Honorary Doctorate in Sports Management and the author of Boots Don’t Lie.