It is indeed a great pleasure to be here today in this indoor stadium to share this beautiful experience. I remember in September we were in the Auditorium of the School for the Blind, where we attended a very beautiful theatrical performance of "Ball for All". At the end of the show, I remember George came up and made the suggestion that we should have a football league for the blind children. A soccer league in which, using this special soccer ball, children with visual impairments could participate and other children without disabilities could play together. That day of course we thanked George for the suggestion and we realised that it was an idea that many more people would embrace, so we moved forward to get here today. I'm glad that we were able to live up to the promise that was made that day that we would also organise a football league for blind children.
So here today we will not only have a football game in which visually impaired children will be able to participate. But we have a common game between children who have a visual disability and children who don't have this disability so that others can understand well what it means to live with a disability.
At this point I would like to thank the Director of the Archbishop Makarios III High School in Platy and the Deputy Director of the School for the Blind for working together to bring us here today, as well as all the other contributors, our gymnasts and the children's teachers.
Playing soccer with visually impaired children along with other children, we understand firstly that it is wonderful for visually impaired children to play soccer. At the same time, we realize that children with disabilities can play together with other children. So in this match today, in the logic of the matches that take place in the Paralympic sport of football (five players on each team), we will find that we can have a particularly important demonstration of empathy, that we can all understand what can happen and what experiences our fellow human beings with disabilities have. This is why the event is part of the more general events we are doing this month on empathy towards disability.
Through the entertainment, the fun of football, which we need so much at a time when we are besieged by the pandemic, we also learn a valuable lesson about education, cooperation without discrimination and exclusion, and of course I am glad because this can be a contribution of the school.
I have heard that beyond this match we are heading towards organising a tournament. So I hope we will be able to organize more matches all over Cyprus and give children with visual disabilities the opportunity to enjoy football.
I would like to note the contribution of the "A Ball for All" programme and also the organisation that always stands by us, which I thank, "Goal to Life" by Konstantinos Charalambidis, our veteran footballers who are here with us to support the effort.
No more words are needed at this time, we are all eager to watch the match and the boys are eager to play. I want to thank everyone who worked so hard to make it possible for us to be here today and wish the kids good luck in the effort they will make next.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, I want to say that this event is the best way to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It is the best way to remember the message of love, of understanding, of cooperation, the very message of empathy, I dare say, given to us 2000 years ago by Jesus Christ, coming to earth as a man who stood by the despised, the suffering and the underprivileged, giving a message of unity, love and cooperation. Such a message is also sent by today's football match.
In conclusion, I wish the children good luck.
IP
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