The unifying power of soccer was on full display during the inaugural Green Earth Cup held on August 2 at Valley Ridge Park in SeaTac. With a motto of “Together as One,” the cup — hosted by the Greater Seattle Korean Association (GSKA) — saw over 1200 people in attendance and had 15 teams representing 11 countries and ethnicities. Some of the nationalities represented included Afghanistan, Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Laos, Mexico, Nepal, Senegal, Somalia, South Korea, the United States, and Vietnam.
The cup was initially planned as a celebration for Seattle hosting six FIFA World Cup matches next year, but quickly turned into a multicultural event as more groups got involved. Event organizers and local elected officials all mirrored the opinion that the event should continue annually, with hopes that it will grow in size.
One of the lead organizers of the Green Earth Cup was Sam Sim, Vice President of the GSKA. Sim reached out to Ali Abdulla, Director of the African Youth Sports Academy (AYSA), and Enrique Calderon, who organizes Olympic Soccer Liga, Seattle National Soccer League, and La Liga, to find they were of the same mind to organize a multicultural event like the Green Earth Cup.
“We had the same vision,” Sim said. “That’s validation that despite our backgrounds; or despite how we may look; or despite the color of our skin; whatever our religion may be; we beat with one big heart and the same red blood. We may not always agree with one another, but we can respect each other.”
Sim stated that they of course want to extend to more diverse corners of the soccer world, but they also want to expand that cultural festival aspect — particularly to highlight a wider variety of regional foods — of potential future Green Earth Cups.
The tournament was held in a round-robin type format, with each team being guaranteed at least two matches. It was split into two brackets, the open division and the over-50 division. Matches were held in two 25-minute halves and independently refereed by The Referee Group. Tournament organizer and President of the Washington Korean Soccer Association Hwan Choi tried to split up teams from similar regions to promote a bigger multicultural soccer community and randomized the brackets afterward.
The winners of each of the brackets were:
Open Division Top 3:
- Mexico
- USA (JBLM FC)
- Nepal
Over-50 Top 3:
- Laos
- Korea
- Vietnam
While competition and nationalism drove many of the players, Choi was proud that no major drama, fights, or injuries occurred during the event. As event organizers wanted to prioritize goodwill between teams, the cup did implement a no-tackle rule. Choi did concede that this almost makes it a different sport, but found that most players enjoyed their time playing.
“It was more peaceful than I expected — which is a total success,” Choi said. “I almost didn’t care about anything else other than the safety of the community and each team respecting each other… So I think in terms of those two categories, we did it well.”
Snohomish County District 1 Councilmember Nate Nehring participated on one of the teams representing the USA.
“Such a cool event to bring together people from different countries and nationalities to get to play together and get to know one another,” Nehring said during the halftime. “As we all know, soccer is a sport that unites the world, so it is really cool to see that happening here today in SeaTac.”
The halftime festivities of the cup were essentially a cultural celebration and was kicked off by several speakers, including GSKA President Won Jun Kim, Mayor of Tukwila Thomas McLeod, Mayor of Burien Kevin Schilling, Renton City Councilmember Kim-Khánh Văn, and Nehring.
The first performance during the halftime was a modern Korean Nanta percussion group, drumming to songs like “Gangnam Style” by PSY and “APT.” by ROSÉ & Bruno Mars.
Next was a Somalian-styled dance performed by Abdulla and children from the AYSA youth soccer team. Afterward was, arguably, the crowd favorite: a Taekwondo demonstration by Taekwondo Way that featured choreographed high-flying kicks and board breaking by a wide age-range of martial artists.
The halftime’s finale was a performance by Victorious Dance Company, blending modern K-Pop with traditional Korean attire.
Sim stated that unfortunately, the mariachi band was unable to make it.
The event also featured a youth soccer camp, with the official charitable arm of the Sounders FC and Reign FC, the RAVE Foundation, giving out free soccer balls.
“Part of what we do is we provide free equipment, often time soccer balls, to organizations that may need it,” RAVE Foundation Associate Executive Director Midori Hobbs said. “Supporting soccer tournaments like this is exactly what we do. Locally organized with a lot of different communities and cultures coming together, it just made perfect sense to support and layer in.”
A wide variety of local dignitaries attended the event. There are of course the aforementioned speakers during the halftime ceremonies. The Consul-General of the Republic of Korea in Seattle, Eun-ji Seo, spoke during the opening ceremony of the event. Seo, along with GSKA President Kim, stated that while “diverse in origin, we are united under one passion.”
Other elected officials in attendance included City of SeaTac Mayor Mohamed Egal, SeaTac City Councilmember Peter Kwon, Mukilteo City Councilmember Jason Moon, and Snoqualmie City Councilmember Rob Wotton.
In theme with unity despite differences, a diverse range of candidates also attended the event. These included King County Council candidate Steffanie Fain, King County Executive candidates Amiya Ingram and Derek Chartrand, Kent City Council candidate Andy Song, Bellevue City Council candidate Nicholas Ton, Tahoma School District candidate Elizabeth Karkoski-Gardner, Renton City Council candidate Raman Mann, Tukwila City Council candidate Ziggy Samra, and Washington House of Representatives candidate Ranga Bondada.
After speaking to many of these candidates, regardless of political stances, they all pressed on the importance of being active within their communities and experiencing other aspects of it.
Author: George Ftikas Jr.
