On Saturday night, a bunch of blokes will play a game of football in New York City.

Nothing out of the ordinary in that, you might say, and you'd be mostly right except these are no ordinary footballers.

Rather, this is a diplomatch where ambassadors to the United Nations from countries such as Chile, Bosnia, Paraguay, the United Kingdom, and East Timor will pull on their boots or, at least, sneakers.

This Saturday night kickaround is hoping to draw attention to Play 31, a cause that, according to its website, "utilizes the unifying power of football to bring together people who have been torn apart by armed conflict.

"By donating footballs and facilitating community gatherings, we contribute to the creation of peaceful societies where children can exercise their right to play."

The ambassadors will play at Pier 40, which is just what it sounds like – a former pier reclaimed from the Hudson River's long gone days as a bustling ship lane and cleverly converted into football and baseball fields.

I know the park well, having played football there with my own rag tag team that itself made a good go at the United Nations, made up at various times of Brazilians, a Bulgarian, an Italian, a Japanese, an Australian, a token American, and the best Puerto-Rican-Lebanese goalkeeper you have ever seen.

New York City is not known for its football fields but there's no doubt East Timor's ambassador will relish the opportunity to churn up the Astroturf and pick little bits of grit out from his knee when he takes a tumble.

East Timor, one of Australia's closest neighbours, has one of the worst football teams in the world, as we have previously discussed at Open Season.

I've spoken with Alfredo Esteves, the national team captain, about football in his country and he has painted a picture that could not be further from the lush, verdant, fields found in England's Premier League, pitches that Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger felt worthy of complaint last week. They don't know how good they've got it.

"When you travel through East Timor, soccer is 90 per cent of everything," Esteves said.

"All the kids love to play. They don't even need a field; they just want to kick the ball around. You see kids everywhere using two rocks to make a goal. They just play for hours.

"There is a lot of talent in East Timor and a lot of passion but there are no fields to play the game. There is no regular league. But it's not just about kids playing soccer, this is about getting kids off the street.

"Sixty per cent of the population is under 25 but East Timor has no jobs. The kids just spend the day hanging out doing nothing. But because there's passion for the sport it would be good to use that to give them discipline and have a healthier life."

As Saturday's game in New York will hopefully demonstrate, football (and all sport) need not always be about big money, big crowds, big leagues, and big time egos.

The little details are just as important.


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