Source: 7News
PATTANI, Thailand (AFP) – A shared passion for football is uniting Buddhists and Muslims in Thailand’s restive south, where grassroots efforts to find elusive peace are gaining ground after years of bloodshed.
Unmissable in their bright orange shirts, the players of local side Pattani FC exchange banter almost as fast as their passes around the training pitch.
It is a scene familiar to football clubs across the world. But Pattani play in far from ordinary circumstances.
The Division Two team’s hometown is in the heart of an area riven by a raging insurgency that has claimed more than 5,000 lives since 2004 in near-daily bomb or gun attacks against both Buddhists and Muslims.
Despite the violence off the pitch, for Pattani’s players all that matters is scoring goals.
“We are not divided, whether Muslim, Buddhist or Christian. We are all friends,” said Samae Samak, a young Muslim.
As Thailand’s government struggles for answers to end the seemingly intractable conflict, local peace moves are gathering pace.
The nation’s obsession with football comes second only to Thai boxing, except in the deep south where it is even more popular and provides a rare space for often-divided communities to come together.
“In Pattani, no matter how far away people live or if there have been incidents, they come to watch football matches,” said Pitsarok Rujakat, a Buddhist player, originally from the north of the country.
Categories: Asia, Buddhism, Interfaith tolerance, Islam, Thailand