The Harmony Game

As we play football together, we come to know each other a little better, we talk and laugh, communicate and connect, and the world becomes an easier place to get along.

This is the essence of The Harmony Game.

Football is the most played game in the world. There are more than 250 million registered players globally, playing in clubs, schools and the like, plus several hundred million more playing on street corners and vacant spots of land every minute of every day.

This is why football is called "the world game".

Anywhere you care to travel on this planet, from south to north, east to west, you will find a game of football taking place somewhere. You just have to look hard enough.

Sometimes it will be a formal game with lines and flags, goalposts and nets, and referees to ensure that the 17 Laws of the Game are followed.

Other times it will be what Brazilians call a pelada, a kick-about in English, a game that springs out of nowhere and is often played in the most impossible of places with little or no equipment.

Peladas require no equipment or referees, things that many people around the world cannot afford or don't have time for. All that's required is a group of people who want to play, anything that can be used for goals, something that can pass for a ball, and the game is on.

Shirts can be placed as goals, or tin cans, and socks or rags could be wrapped tightly into a ball and a piece of string tied around it to form the ball, all that matters is that a kick-about can take place.

This is why football brings the world together, because just about everyone around the world plays the game.

A kick-about with friends, just like the millions of other similar games being played right at this moment in Brazil or Argentina, The Netherlands or Ireland, Iran or Iraq, Nigeria or Finland.

As Australian children all around the country play football together on March 21, we all connect with our team-mates and opponents and get along a little easier, the ball becomes our common language, and barriers between us breakdown.

Let's play a game of football, learn a little more about each other, and create a more harmonious world to live in.