The Ball 2010

It was a snug little meeting at Café Nerly in Erfurt on Wednesday night which was organized by students from Uni Erfurt (Paul, Christiane, Robert, Robin, Marius). Johannes from Spirit of Football e.V. organized the festivities for the Ball and its arrival in Erfurt. The Ball wants to say a massive thank you to all of you lads.

The Ball had a special sightseeing trip on Tuesday through Erfurt’s old city (here’s how the Thüriger Allgemeine saw it.

Andrew and Sven gave a presentation about the journey thus far. Later the Erfurt Band “Roots of Liberty Life” released the song “Fans will be Friends” which is deticated to The Ball 2010. Nice job ROLL!

See the Video from the evening:

“Fans werden Freunde sein. Nicht nur ein Motto sondern auch der Geist einer grenzenlosen Reise. Mit ihrem Song “Fans will be friends” drückt die Band “Roots of Liberty Life” genau das aus, was Andrew Aris fühlt, wenn er sich mit “The Ball” auf die lange Reise begibt.”

Andrew and Sven with The Ball and The Golf Ball

The Ball is pausing for a short while in Erfurt while Andrew prepares to leave once and for all on the long haul journey to South Africa. In the meantime, there’s time for some fun with friends around this ancient German city.

“Andrew Aris ist wieder in Erfurt – wenn auch nur für kurze Zeit. Der Neuseeländer macht auf seiner “The Ball”-Reise zur WM Station in Thüringen, um den Menschen das 2002 ins Leben gerufene, einzigartige Projekt näherzubringen.” as the Thüringer Allgemeine puts it.

Sweetness and light broke out on the 21st September this year as the World Peace Day campaign reached Herzogenaurach…

Oder auf Deutsch:

Seems like football was one of the impulses for the founding of the project:

In early 2000, Jeremy Gilley, filmmaker and founder of Peace One Day, was standing on the sidelines of a football (soccer) match in Somalia. Next to him, stood a boy – no older than nine – who was holding a machine gun. Jeremy was struck by the simple fact that football was the only thing in this war-torn country that could overturn conflict and bring people together.

While travelling in the Middle East, a few months later, Jeremy heard further tales of two opposing sides coming together in peace on the football pitch. “I realised then that football was the perfect game to play on Peace Day, in a gesture reminiscent of the Christmas Truce, during World War I, when soldiers from both the German and English sides came out of their trenches to play a game of football.”
[Source]

Big respect to Jeremy Gilley for this amazing campaign.

Andrew and Christian present The Ball

Am 28. August 2009 wurden im Goethe-Institut New York die Partner „The Ball“, dem Symbol für grenzüberschreitende Einheit durch Fußball, und Todo Alemán, das neue interkulturelle und interaktive Webportal des Goethe-Instituts, offiziell vorgestellt. „The Ball“ wird Teil dieses neuen Angebots sein und soll auf diese Weise Deutschlehrern und allen anderen Interessierten die Möglichkeit geben, die Reise zur bevorstehenden Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft in Südafrika mit ihren Schülern virtuell zu begleiten und ihnen so die deutsche Sprache näher zu bringen.

All present and correct: Phil attends via Skype

Thanks to everyone who came along and our special thanks to Michael Höfig and the Goethe Institut of New York for their warm hospitality. We look forward to working with you.