Honduras
Soccer as a unifying force in a divided country
In 1969, the Honduras national team faced off against its archrival El Salvador with a place in the World Cup on the line. When El Salvador won the game, a conflict known as the “Soccer War” broke out between the countries, leaving 3,000 dead.
Forty years later, the Honduras national team faced off with El Salvador once again in World Cup qualifying. This time, Honduras won the game, securing qualification for the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. And, alternatively to the soccer war, the game ushered in a period of peace in the midst of a military-led coup d’etat and paved the way for democratic elections.
In many cases, the effect of soccer or sport in general is exaggerated. Soccer cannot cure disease or ameliorate poverty. But in Honduras, the difference between peace and violence, prosperity and struggle, is often determined by a lucky deflection or a moment of individual brilliance on the soccer field.
Honduras is a country riven with problems and reasons to despair. Honduras owns the worst murder rate of any country on the planet. Moreover, San Pedro Sula, the home of the national team’s home stadium, has been categorized by the US State Department as the most dangerous city in the world.
While foreign companies — notably fruit growers — control most of the nation’s land, resources, and capital, native Hondurans live in poor conditions where gangs often hold more power and legitimacy than the government. The respective hope for the individual and for the country to progress rests largely on the ability of each to play well on the pitch.
In order to fulfill the potential of the individual player and the collective national team, the National Autonomous Federation of Football of Honduras (FENAFUTH) must overcome the obstacles that Honduras’ social problems pose. Jose “Chelato” de la Paz Herrera, who managed Honduras’ first World Cup team in 1982, commented, “what kills talent in Honduras is malnutrition.” Others, such as youth coach Luis Lopez, identifies the pull of gangs as the greatest sap on the nation’s talent.
As detailed by Associated Press journalist Alberto Arce in his piece “In violent Honduras, soccer helps the young escape from gangs, drugs and early death,” coaches like Chelato and Lopez have been integral to the growth of soccer in the country as an alternative for youth to drugs and gang membership, problems that are rampant in the slums of Honduras’ major cities. For example, in the slum Progreso within the city of Tegucigalpa, Chelato constructed a fence and stands around a field that has become a community center and a haven for youth.
Given its relative population size and the large scale of its crime and poverty, Honduras has punched above its weight in international competition. Honduran players ply their trade for various clubs in the United States’ Major League Soccer, in England’s Premier League, and a for Scottish champions Celtic and Belgian champions Anderlecht. Domestically, the Honduran Liga Nacional has proven an adequate source for player development and is second only to Costa Rica as the top league in Central America.
Armed with more funds than ever before following Honduras’ second consecutive qualification for the World Cup, FENAFUTH must capitalize upon this opportunity of financial and popular success. While tackling Honduras’ crime and health problems is too large a task for the organization to defeat, establishing an infrastructure for players is a necessary first step. This means that the federation must take on the building of soccer fields both in urban slums and poor rural areas.
Furthermore, FENAFUTH must continue to invest in its club teams. While a majority of the squad going to Brazil for the World Cup play abroad, nearly all of the team’s players grew up through one of Honduras’ domestic teams’ academies. These academies provide the optimal conditions for players, including safety away from crime and the nutrition necessary for the full development of an athlete’s body. With more funds, these academies will be able to take in more players from a younger age and accommodate more players so that the talent pool from which to select is broader and the quality of that talent is enhanced.
Honduras is a divided country. Divided by gang loyalties, divided by social class, divided by political beliefs, and divided by urban versus rural populations, the fabric of Honduran society is only tenuously held together, constantly being torn apart by violence.
However, on a night in 2009 when the country seemed most divided, when a deposed president took up refuge in a foreign embassy, when political dissidents and the military had been clashing in the streets for days, when there was no plans for elections or the restoration of a democratic government, Honduras put down its weapons and came together.
Whether watching while trapped inside a Brazilian embassy, viewing from a small television set hauled out onto a street, or tuning in from the furthest reaches of the countryside, Hondurans of all kinds came together to watch and to celebrate Honduras’ unlikely qualification for the 2010 World Cup following a victory over El Salvador. The names from that cinderella team — Palacios, Izaguirre, Guevara — are etched into the memories of all Hondurans who witnessed and took part in that national celebration.
In order for the next generation of Honduran players — some of whom, such as Andy Najar, will play at the 2014 tournament — to emulate and further that success, FENAFUTH must play an active role in cultivating player development and providing an alternative to gang membership and a life of poverty. The success of the federation in this endeavor may just determine not only how prosperous the national team, but the entire country will be in the years to come.
