DOUBLE EXPOSURE: I'm with the team (07/16/06)

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

by Khristina Lew

I'm with the team

The Ukrainian community in the United States heaved a collective groan when Italy defeated Ukraine 3-0 in the quarterfinal match of the 2006 World Cup on June 30 in Dortmund, Germany. Ukrainians in New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Washington who had gathered in Ukrainian sports clubs, local watering holes and in private homes to cheer Team Ukraine were left disappointed - although not completely. Soccer, it seems, had unified Ukrainians around the world better than any of Ukraine's politicians.

Thousands of Ukrainians from the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Belgium, France and Australia, as well as from Ukraine itself, traveled to Germany for the World Cup. Taras Jaworsky of Chicago, who began following Team Ukraine back in 1999 at a qualifying match in France, organized a group of 45, mostly from the United States, to travel to Germany, through soccertravel.com.

They came from Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto, Philadelphia, Passaic, N.J., and Yonkers, N.Y.; three came from Australia. There were families with young children and a father-and-son team. They set up camp at a hotel in Berlin, and took trains to Leipzig for the Ukraine-Spain match on June 14 and to Hamburg for Ukraine v. Saudi Arabia on June 19.

It was on the midnight train from Hamburg back to Berlin that a few of them bumped into former Ukrainian Presidents Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma. Andriy Futey of Cleveland tells the story: "After the Saudi game, I'm walking through the train cars, and there is Kravchuk, wearing shorts and a Ukraine team jersey, playing cards with Bohdan Mysko [an American businessman]. I'm introduced to the president, and he says to me, 'You look like your father.' A few seats down is Kuchma, also playing cards." Andriy's father is Judge Bohdan Futey of Washington, who has advised Ukraine on legal and constitutional issues.

Andriy Futey and Taras Jaworsky also had a chance to chat with striker Andriy Shevchenko, when they took a side trip to Potsdam to see how Team Ukraine lived. Potsdam's central square was transformed into a Ukrainian "selo," or village, where Ukrainian food was served and Ukrainian artists, including Eurovision winner Ruslana, performed. "We told Sheva that we supported him," said Mr. Futey.

"It's the first time Ukraine has appeared at a World Cup as a free country. We came to Germany to show the rest of the world that there are fans from all over the world backing Ukraine," he said. Those fans included the current president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, and boxing champions Vitalii and Vladimir Klitschko.

Letting Team Ukraine know that it has supporters is equally important to the Ukrainian Americans who have traveled to France, Norway, Spain, England and Wales for various matches. "We want to let the players know that Ukrainians from the United States, from England, from Scotland and Belgium are behind them," said Mr. Jaworsky.

Lida Mykytyn of New York, who traveled to Hamburg for the Saudi Arabia match and to Berlin for Ukraine v. Tunisia, said the experience was very unifying. "Everyone would meet at the Ukraine booth of Fanfest [an area set up for fans]. Everyone is wearing blue-and-yellow, everybody is friendly. You have a connection because they are wearing a Ukraine shirt and you are wearing a Ukraine shirt, and you start talking ..."

She shared her reaction to seeing a large banner, written in English, carried by Team Ukraine fans from Dnipropetrovsk: "One Nation. One Country. One Team." "You look at that banner and think, 'sport is doing this.' You're Ukrainian and it's something bigger than you are," she said.

But, lest we get lulled into a false sense of peace, love and Ukrainian togetherness, there were media reports of fights breaking out between Ukrainians from abroad and Ukrainians from the Donbas, in eastern Ukraine. Messrs. Futey and Jaworsky described an incident that happened to them.

"There were groups of guys from Ukraine, between the ages of 18 and 28, who would walk away from us when they'd see us coming, or who would ask us why we didn't speak Russian. [During the Ukraine-Spain match] when Spain had three goals, a bunch of these guys starting stomping on the Ukrainian flag. A woman who was with us turned to them and said, 'Boys, don't disrespect the Ukrainian flag.' They called her a fascist and starting cursing us," said Mr. Futey.

Mr. Jaworsky concedes that the flag incident soured him a bit, but then goes on to relay how incredible it was to see Ukrainians from all over the world celebrating Ukraine's qualifying out of its group on the Kurferstendamm, or Ku'dam. "People were driving up and down the Ku'dam, hundreds of them, waving the Ukrainian flag. It was a very cool moment."

Next up for Mr. Jaworsky and his team of Ukraine fans? Scotland - on October 12, 2007 - for the Ukraine-Scotland qualifying match for Group B of Euro Cup 2008. Be there.

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