Coach battles visa block for boys
Seven Hout Bay boys have been granted visas to play in the upcoming Gothia Cup youth soccer tournament. However, another seven teens, who also play for Camp’s Bay Soccer Club have been denied by the Swedish government because their biological fathers' details are not on their birth certificates.
The players are meant leave the country on Thursday for the tournament that will kick off on Saturday and return on 24 July. The teenagers play in the Under-13, Under-14 and Under-16 teams and have been training for the event for over eighteen months and some of them have never been overseas (“Cape’s Rainbow Team off to Sweden”, Sentinel News, July 7).
The club’s head coach, Mogamad Anees Abbas, said according to Swedish law, both parents need to be registered on the birth certificate.
“The world does not know how these boys live and the family dynamics in South Africa,” said Mr Abbas.
On Wednesday June 7, the club applied for an order with the Western Cape High Court which authorised the teenagers' trip to Sweden under the temporary guardianship of Mr Abbas.
The court order included a teenager whose father is a foreigner who had absconded and was untraceable. The six teens' fathers sent their permission for the trip via affidavit. The court ordered that the mothers had full parental rights and responsibilities to consent to their children's travel.
The visa applications were turned down. The club appealed this, according Mr Abbas who said they then appealed the decision at the Migration Court of Appeal. On Monday July 10 they received correspondence from the Ambassaden Nairobi-Visum saying that the appeal case was not approved.
Mr Abbas said the Swedish government required both parents' consent to grant the travel documents, which prejudiced seven teenagers born to and raised by single, unmarried mothers. He also said the sentiment is that the boys will not return to South Africa.
“They are 13 years-old. Their mothers are here. There’s no reason why they would stay in Sweden,” he said.
“This is so sad. It’s heart breaking to take away this opportunity that can change their lives said all the parents are working tirelessly to get the boys to Sweden,” said Mr Abbas.
The team’s manager, Kirt Phillips said, “At this point we just praying for a miracle”.