“I’m really excited about the whole idea.”  Weronika looks up from her clipboard and squints toward the sunny pitch where the Polish team is playing.  “I see that this works.”

Weronika seems, at first glance, an unlikely candidate to be a mediator at a football3 tournament.  When a rogue ball rolls her way, she doesn’t kick it back with the same natural ease as the other mediators do.

Having never even watched a football match, the 25-year-old was, until recently, completely unfamiliar with the rules of the game.  A month ago, she didn’t even know that anything like football3 existed.  And yet:  she’s good.

Bringing a passion for development to the pitch
It was a stroke of luck, not a passion for football, that brought Weronika to Foča 09 to become a mediator.

Her extracurricular work—bringing German and Polish young people together to better understand each others’ cultures—put her in the right place at the right time: a colleague was leading the Polish delegation and suggested she come along.

Despite her lack of interest in the sport itself, the International Relations student was excited to learn about how football could help her in her quest to change the world.

From the very beginning, Weronika’s enthusiasm for the precepts behind football3—respect, tolerance, responsibility and dialogue—was evident.  She could often be found coaxing players in workshops and uniting young participants who would, just days later, play against each other in a three-day football3 tournament.  But it was her formal introduction to football3 and what it means to be a mediator that brought out her best.

Putting your mouth where your feet are
The natural fit between football and development was the first thing she noticed.  Since so many young people already play football, “they don’t have to do anything more, but they get more,” Weronika explains.

The game itself is not a standard football match.  There are mediators, not referees, and teams come together in a dialogue zone before and after the match.

She believes that the best football3 rule is the one that stands in the greatest contrast to standard football: players speak with each other and take responsibility for their own actions.

“They have to talk,” she enthuses.  “They’re forced by their own rules to talk, and they play according to their own rules.”

Staying on the sidelines
One of the most striking aspects of a mediator’s role is the focus on observation and facilitation, rather than intervention.

A mediator helps players agree on the rules of their game and evaluate how well they adhere to their own standards, but doesn’t actually step in unless absolutely necessary.

More likely to be seen with a clipboard than a whistle, the mediator does not enforce rules and penalise players.

The players themselves are responsible for their own game, their own actions, their own values—the mediator is there to help them do that.

Weronika and football3
Observant, insightful and attuned to the moods and needs of the players, Weronika was a natural.  She understood the importance of giving control to the players themselves and was able to help move discussions along without leading them.

In Weronika’s opinion, that’s what makes football3 more fun than the regular competitive football matches she had always avoided.

In football3, “competition is less tense, less strong.  Other things are more important.”  Indeed, she’d like to add a rule to the game: “players should smile!”

Simon Groscurth of PLAY!YA, the Berlin-based organisation that led the football3 workshops at Foča 09, doesn’t believe that a lack of football background was a problem for Weronika.

“She’s a very committed, open-minded, positive person who is interested in the method,” he notes.  “Her knowledge of football was limited.  But that didn’t stop her from being an outstanding mediator.”

Taking the game off the pitch
Perhaps somewhat predictably, Weronika’s proudest moment wasn’t her work on the sidelines.

On the first day of the tournament, after all the preliminary matches had been played and the players had slumped back, exhausted, to their hotel, she found her delegation in deep discussion.

They weren’t tallying how many goals they’d scored, nor were they chatting about the cute French team.

Instead, “they were talking about how football3 gives something more to football,” remembers Weronika.

She was struck by how eager the Polish team was to not only discuss the approach in their free time, but also to embrace it.  “Everyone wanted to uphold the rules.”

The qualities of a mediator
PLAY!YA teaches mediators mediation and observation skills, and emphasises the importance of fairness, patience, tolerance, empathy and a sense of humour.  Weronika has happened upon another quality to add to the list.

“You need to believe in it.  When you do, it shows.  The kids sense it.”

But the players aren’t the only ones benefiting from the football3 approach.  Marvels Weronika, “it’s like a huge brainstorming session.  The kids are teaching me how to behave and how to react to their problems.”

Although she began her career as a mediator with no knowledge of football, Weronika’s grasp of the concept behind football3 is what makes her an excellent mediator.

“There are people who want to make things better, not just me, and it’s really cool to see.”

Her first experience as a mediator inspired her in more ways than one—she plans on learning to play football back in Poland.  “football3, of course,” she grins.

Want to be a mediator?
Though no standardised curriculum currently exists for training mediators, PLAY!YA pinpoints experience in the field, workshops and peer training as a good way to learn more—even better, the organisation recommends attending football3 events and talking to other mediators as a way of getting important practical experience.

Basic qualities that PLAY!YA identifies as prerequisites for becoming an excellent mediator include a willingness to take responsibility while allowing others to do the same and the desire to strengthen one’s conflict management skills;  a background in mediation and/or sport is also useful.

If you are observant, positive, playful, accurate, fair, helpful, empathetic, perceptive, authoritative, kind, responsible, focused, tolerant, patient, flexible, fun, committed, caring, and engaging—or a mix of just a few—why not find out more about becoming a mediator?

GO BACK TO THE OVERVIEW OF 'FOOTBALL3'