|
NEWS |
The Mundiavocat 2008
On 29 May 2008, 15 brave warriors embarked on a journey into unchartered waters,
which transcended into an adventure that would be forever etched in their
memories. This motley crew of different personalities represented the Law
Society of Singapore in the Mundiavocat 2008, known in English as the 'World
Football Cup of Lawyers', a football tournament reserved specifically for,
as you have guessed it, lawyers!
The Mundiavocat has a history dating back to 1983, and is now held on even years. This year's edition is the 14th in the series, and was held in Alicante, Spain. The Law Society's veteran football team decided to take part in the inaugural 'Master' version of this tournament, designed to cater to the masterful class of players above 35. A total of 74 teams (54 for the Classic and 20 for the Master) took part in this year's tournament.
Back in August 2007, when we first decided to participate in this tournament, more than 25 lawyers signed up. However, the list began to dwindle soon after. Eventually, due to injuries and last minute withdrawals, the squad was decimated to a mere 15 players. In fact, we had to scramble to find a replacement goalkeeper and even co-opted the Malaysian Bench and Bar football team captain to play for us.
In the end, the team composition truly reflected the pluralism that is the hallmark of our society. Our variegated team comprised people of different races, different faiths, different nationalities and even different dietary preferences (both in terms of visual and culinary pleasures). We had Indian Christians, a vegetarian Hindu, a Sikh, a couple of Singaporean Chinese, a Malaysian Chinese, a Canadian Chinese, a Singaporean Malay, a Malaysian Malay, a Malaysian Indian, a couple of Pakistani descendants and to round it off, a French-speaking Eurasian who lives in Belgium! Our common identity was the love for football. Not surprisingly, our magical composition left many of the other teams scratching their heads and wondering what kind of weird place we originated from.
And so, our band of 15 brothers loaded our battle gear and made our way to Alicante. We had a tough schedule - six matches in seven days. The teams we faced were from countries with a proud football heritage - Casablanca (Morocco), Paris (France), Mexico, Tunis and Sousse Sfax (both from Tunisia) and Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo).
The matches were all played on beautiful pitches in nice stadiums. We started the tournament brightly, matching the Moroccans stride for stride, but lost to a cruel deflection in the last minute of play. We fought hard for a draw with the French, and lost narrowly to the Mexicans, whom we subsequently discovered had fielded an unregistered player. Naturally, the intensity of the competition took its toll - some of us were barely walking after the third match. We struggled against the Tunisians in the next two matches, but 06saved our best for our final game against the Congolese. We put up a memorable performance to finish the tournament on a high, bringing out the best of our exhausted legs to thrash Kinshasa 3-0. Incidentally, the Master tournament was won by Buenos Aires of Argentina.
The experience in Alicante was indescribable - it was forged in the battlefields, one full of fond memories, blood, sweat and tears. We did ourselves proud and earned the respect of our opponents for our fighting spirit and fair play. By the end of the tournament, we were no longer a hodgepodge of mismatched personalities, but were known as the Lions from Singapore.
Above all, when the adventure came to a close, we realised that there was something more that bonded us, something more than our love for football. It was 'semangat'.
Ivan Chua
