CAMP TAJI — Soccer players put on a display of footwork and skill during a Taji Qada soccer tournament at the stadium here, Dec. 26.
Four teams, consisting of 11 players from Rekiya, Taji, and Hammiat, along with a fourth team from the Strykehorse Squadron, participated in the round-robin tournament.
Staff Sgt. James Pepoon, an avid soccer player, said he came up with the idea to host a soccer tournament with the residents in the area.
“I asked my platoon leader about the chances of playing with the people here,” said Pepoon, a native of Bristol, R.I., who serves as a cavalry scout with 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment. “He first told me that it’d have to be played in body armor, and that didn’t sit too well with me.”
But he went ahead with a plan anyway. Pepoon talked to friends and family in his hometown and, in the end, more than 1,000 pounds of soccer equipment was donated by local club teams from all over Rhode Island.
The New England Revolution, a Major League Soccer Team, also donated to the cause. Among the items were coach’s clipboards, whistles, soccer balls and jerseys.
The amount of equipment donated through Pepoon’s sheer determination to make an event happen, plus the improved security situation in the Taji Qada, inspired Lt. Col Thomas Mackey, a native of San Bernardino, Calif., Strykehorse’s commander, to support the idea.
“The security conditions in the Taji area are good. The Iraqi security forces, along with the local government and the people here, are all working together to sustain the good security established in this area,” Mackey said. “The Taji Soccer Club Stadium is a venue that can be well secured, thus mitigating the threats to the event and to our Soldiers playing in the tournament.”
With that, Operation Strykehorse Free Kick, was set into motion.
Hundreds of spectators filled the seats of the Taji Stadium to witness the historical event. Among them were several former national players and coaches: most notably was Emmanuel Baba Dano, the “Pele” of Iraq. Known in Iraq as Amu Baba, he was the Iraqi national coach during the 1980s and 1990s.
The round-robin format placed each of the four teams against each other in games that consisted of two 25-minute halves.
At the end of the day the Hammamiat team came out on top, celebrating near the goal with smiles, handshakes and hugs. They were then presented individual medals and a team trophy, which the entire team hoisted into the air for all in the stadium to see.
“There were teams and fans from both Sunni and Shia areas participating together as Iraqis,” Mackey said. “The benefit of our Soldiers participating in the event was to demonstrate to the population that we are here for them… we are their brothers. Terrorists can never come back and do what they did in Taji last year. Normal life is returning here.”
(By Sgt. 1st Class Brian Addis, 25th Infantry Division)