On Oct. 10, the NRG women’s amateur soccer club will host its ninth annual tournament, “NRG Gathers Friends.” Held at Partisan Glory Park starting at 10 a.m., 6-8 teams will compete for the grand prize with additional competitions for children and seniors.
For the third time, the tournament will be part of the anti-discrimination Fare network’s “Football People” action week. Fare has more than 150 members in over 40 countries worldwide, including nongovernmental organizations, amateur groups, fan clubs and individuals. It describes its mission as “to combat inequality in football and use the sport as a means for social change.”
NRG co-founder Anna Tregubova explains that the club was encouraged to apply for a grant from Fare by friends working in human rights organizations, who knew that they lacked financial support. NRG held their first event with Fare in 2012, a mini-competition for everyone on Khreschatyk. Since then, Faire has supported each of NRG’s annual tournaments.
“The event is dedicated to female football players, and especially to women (players and fans) that had to leave their houses due to the war on eastern Ukraine, or still live there in the war zone,” explains Tregubova.
With Fare’s involvement, NRG is able to invest in running a more professional event, renting a quality pitch, good audio equipment and providing food, drinks and prizes.
In addition to the women’s soccer team, NRG has organized a number of other local women’s teams, including basketball, badminton and volleyball. However, Tregubova says that Ukraine still lacks opportunities for women’s sports.
“It’s too expensive to play sports in big cities and there are no sports groups for girls in small towns at all,” she says. “Especially with concern to football. There are more than five large women’s football leagues in Poland and more than ten in Germany. We have only one professional and one semi-professional.”
Tregubova hopes that the upcoming tournament will highlight the fact that there are clubs out there for female soccer fans in Kyiv.
“We think it is important, because a girl who is willing to play mustn’t be shy of it and she must have all the opportunities” she says.
“NRG Gathers Friends” soccer tournament will be held on Oct. 10 from 10a.m. until around 6 p.m. at Partisan Glory Park, 60 Trostianetska Street.
Kyiv Post staff writer Sandra MacKenzie can be reached at [email protected]
