An Uncalled Foul, a Moral Victory

On the same sad day that Trinidad and Tobago exited the World Cup, we got an email from Christopher Yee Mon, “hailing from Brooklyn but Trini to de bone,” who blogs at Subway Chronicles:

To me the world cup is about self-worth and self-pride, and by self I mean my country. It’s about proving to the rest of the world that you exist and you can fight on the same level as everyone else. It’s about the team trotting out before the game starts and letting the world know that we came here to fight for our voice. To let the other team know that in all things, not just this game, that we came to fight and will not be dismissed as insignificant. It’s about realising that as a country, in an archetypal ritual such as football, we can all unite and put down our fears of crime and our insecurities as a developing country and our hangups about what we like and don’t and we can come together to shout this message to the rest of the world. It’s about proving to the rest of the world that we can win, lose and draw better than everybody else and have more fun in doing so. I don’t even follow football and the past two weeks have been one of the defining moments of my life and definitely one of the most exciting. It’s about holding our head high and facing challenges like bigoted Japanese referees and a****** commentators and still squeeze out a fete or two out of the whole affair.

That’s what the World Cup has meant to me, a Trinidadian.

Christopher Yee Mon, in an email to Open Source, June 19, 2006

We don’t know from Japanese referees here at Open Source, but Yee Mon is referring to an uncalled foul, given the JFK back-and-to-the-left treatment on German TV. And here’s a take on the game from Trinidadian Georgia Popplewell who, with no chickens available, considered sacrificing an English friend for the good of the team.

In any case, Trinidad and Tobago, we salute you.

And we want to visit you.