Play Football Make Peace

Estonia is one of the Baltic States, located just below Finland. It is a unique place, with a very independent people. They managed to retain their language under Soviet rule through the national pastime… singing. Estonian songfests are famous in Europe. The Estonian love for music kept the language alive in the dark days of communism when they continued to sing in their native language. In 1991, their road to freedom was called the Singing Revolution, and Estonia was the first county to declare independence from the Soviet Union.  

Play Football Make Peace (PFMP), a Peace Dream Foundation (PDF) partner, has been active in Estonia since 2004. At that time, FC Vaprus, was asked to put on a tournament as part of the launch of the PFMP outreach. FC Vaprus had been running the Summer Cup in Parnu since 2003 and already had experience in organizing tournaments. PFMP has been working with FC Vaprus ever since. Reigo Tonsberg, the founder of FC Vaprus, has been the PFMP coordinator and active in promoting Peace through football.  
Based upon a shared vision, developed by Reigo and PFMP program director Robin Graham in 2006, a plan was set in motion to partner up with the Parnu Summer Cup in 2007, and launch a strategy to develop a model for UEFA to use to influence all of European football. This strategy was to use the tournament to introduce principles and values, that when practiced can lead to peace through football.

During 2005 there had been remarkable shifts. The United Nations had recommended the use of sports as a tool for development, and in 2005 FIFA began to partner with NGOs to show its commitment to social responsibility. PFMP, meanwhile was exploring ways to encourage service to others, but also the ethics of sports which can lead to improved social and economic development. 2007 saw a re-direction of PFMP and a base was created for the Peace Dream vision to have a strong foothold in Europe.    
PFMP and FC Vaprus launched the Parnu Summer Cup - Play Football Make Peace in 2007, a partnership to explore the ideas of principles and values in football, and to develop a model which could be incubated in Estonia, a small country, but which, when successful, could then be shared with the rest of Europe. The Parnu Summer Cup 2008 is a further step forward of that model.            

In partnership with PFMP and the Peace Dream Foundation, the Summer Cup organizers arranged for the prizewinners and the Fair Play awards to be the Peace Dream Cup and the Peace Dream Trophies. The Peace Dream name has now become synonymous with the tournament. [More pictures][Video]

This year, 97 teams and over 1500 players entered the tournament from Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Russia. The youth players were aged from 11-16 years old. The level of enthusiasm and commitment carried the players through 3 days of intense competition. The final was played on Sunday, the 4th day, and the overall competition was won in a great match when Ukraine (Slavutich) beat Estonia (Parnu JK) 3:2.

A new initiative this year was to invite teams to participate in service projects, and youth helped to clean up a park and to paint benches in an old people’s home. This practices the value of “giving back” and exemplifies that football can nurture social responsibility.

The peace concept is now becoming very familiar to the players, coaches, and parents. This makes it quite easy to share ideas on teaching values through football which can help youth develop healthy minds and healthy bodies.  
Another feature, which was very memorable, is that the tournament has the largest cake in Estonia. The Peace Dream Cake. It is a wonderful celebration event which makes the tournament in Parnu very unique.

Next year the tournament will be known as The Peace Dream Cup, Parnu 2009. There is a commitment to make the Peace Dream Cup the most significant tournament in Europe over the next five years. The location of Estonia makes it a natural bridge between countries in Scandinavia and Europe, and through the Peace Dream Cup tournament, Estonia can help reduce tensions and solve past resentments between neighboring countries.