History made in Rugby for Peace tournament
By Zilia Papp
From Budapest
History was made at the Ikarus Football Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, over the weekend when the Beit Jala Lions from Palestine played a game of Rugby Sevens against the Beer Sheva Camels, consisting of Israeli and Beduin Muslim players, within the framework of the international tournament Rugby for Peace.
The teams travelled to Hungary to participate in the European Union-funded and supported project Global Education through Sport, organised by Anthropolis Association, taking place in Budapest from 11-18 October, which involved cultural and educational programmes as well as a two-day Sevens tournament with the participation of the Lions, the Camels, All Reds Roma from Italy, the rugby team of Budapest College of Management as well as a charity team representing British foundation Rugby for Change.
“It was a challenge to try to control the whole field, but we did our best. We never played in a wide field like this before, the field we practice on is very narrow and have very rough surface,” Lions head coach Nicola Stefan admitted their 26-5 loss to the Camels.
“The opposing team is very fit and they were very well prepared, but we gave them some hard tackles, concentrating on defence. We were not this good before, but the boys gave two hundred percent, they showed me things I have never seen before. They are the Lions, they have got the heart.”
Martin Bisztrai, the founder of the Beit Jala Lions, added: “It is extremely hard for the boys to practice in Palestine, they have no access to training facilities … but their enthusiasm is very encouraging.”
Discovering rugby
Bisztrai, a Hungarian cultural anthropologist and a former Hungarian national team player, is the one who introduced the sport to the local youth of the Palestinian city of Beit Jala, a city near Bethlehem, in the West Bank, 20 kilometres from Jerusalem. As with most good stories, it started in a bar.
“It was in my bar, Bar Maria,” explained George Anton Maria, the Lions captain. “Where Martin came in one day with a curiously shaped, oval ball. We didn’t know what it was for, so he started to explain. We went out to try some moves, and we thought this is great fun. And the team was born shortly after.
“Unfortunately our team only has seven rugby balls, and once we threw that historical ball too far in the dark. We lost it, but maybe a rugby tree will grow out of it someday in Bethlehem!”
However, the reality of the team is not that much of a joking matter. While the Lions aim to develop youth programmes in the region, Maria admits, they only have one size four rugby ball for the children to play with, one which he treasures and locks away in his bedroom.
Their own team is struggling for resources and admittedly one of their major problems at the Budapest tournament was spreading the ball wide. The reason for that is they have no access to training fields, so they practice in small backyards, on gravel, concrete or even broken glass. Do they have injury?
Part of the rugby community
“We are Palestinians, we don’t get injured easily,” jokes Maria. “The game is really a good outlet for our youth, to release our frustrations, to build camaraderie and to find motivation.”
It is in fact through rugby that the young Palestinians had a chance to experience other cultures. The team participated in its first international fifteens and tag rugby tournament in Cyprus in 2008, where they took home the cup for tag rugby.
Since Palestine has no official union or national team yet, this is as close as it gets to Test matches for the Lions, who also took on the Jordanian national team in 2009 in Amman.
“We couldn’t score even one point in our very first game, but I was so overwhelmed with joy that we were actually playing our first international fifteens game, I started crying as we played," recalls Maria.
"I felt like we became part of the rugby community."
