[City Dave]

I just heard this story on NPR and I haven't yet read the book. But it tells the story of a group of refugee children that were basically persecuted for playing soccer in a small town in Georgia, US. Granted, this could be a biased report. But it was an interesting listen. The interview features the reporter that wrote the book and the coach of the team.

The basic story is that the xenophobic townspeople took out their fear and aggression against the new refugee arrivals on the children that often used the town's park to play soccer. I guess at one point the mayor decreed that only baseball was allowed to be played on the field. You've got to be kidding me!

Also, I'm sure that there is some understanding and sympathy to be had for the local residents being upset that their small town was chosen as a place to relocate refugees from war torn countries around the world, but to take things out on the children is just absurd. And again, I don't know how biased the reporting is, but it's definitely an interesting story.

PS - I don't have any connection with the author, coach, or team at all. I just heard the story and thought it was interesting.

Here's the NPR story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=103516824

And here's the book: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/d...385522038.html

EDIT: When I first posted this I had searched the forums for "outcast". After realizing I had the title wrong I did another search with "outcasts" and found these additional links.

BS is holding a competition to win a copy: http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=4982

The official page for the book: http://www.outcastsunited.com/

And the book on amazon:

Amazon.com: Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town: Warren St. John: Books

Amazon.com: Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town: Warren St. John: Books
Amazon.com: Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, an American Town: Warren St. John: Books

EDIT TWO:
Ok, I'm going to add one more link. Here's an excellent story on the team that SI did a while back: http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...17/1/index.htm

It sheds more light onto the whole thing and I admit that my first opinions above are not the full story, but don't blame me, I was going from an NPR story that I was half-listening to while doing other things.