Grassroots & Youth

Villains, for a moment | New York Times’ Fugee tale exposes soccer-challenged Southerners to public ire

By John Turnbull ⋅ 25 January 2007
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The front page of the “Gray Lady” bled Fugee orange on Sunday morning, with the Clarkston, Georgia–based team featured above the fold, under the headline “Outcasts United.”

Clarkston, Georgia | In the first few lines of a 6,000-word article by Warren St. John, readers of the Jan 21 New York Times—even those glancing casually at copies at supermarket checkouts—learned Clarkston Mayor Lee Swaney’s feelings about soccer and, by extension, about the nicely kitted team of refugees who wanted to play in his town.

Early last summer the mayor of this small town east of Atlanta issued a decree: no more soccer in the town park.

“There will be nothing but baseball and football down there as long as I am mayor,” Lee Swaney, a retired owner of a heating and air-conditioning business, told the local paper. “Those fields weren’t made for soccer.”

The combination of the Fugees’ inspirational story—of refugee boys from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Burundi, Congo, Gambia, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan working to make something from traumatic backgrounds, under the guidance of a charismatic female coach—with the seeming cluelessness of a “small-town” Southern mayor produced explosive results. Given the Times’ Sunday circulation of 1.6 million plus a vast online readership, insta-bloggers and their readers quickly coalesced along the story line that St. John set up in his lede. A Technorati search on Thursday indicated 198 weblog links to St. John’s article. This number does not represent the fusillade of comments such postings provoked, many of them vitriolic toward the “bad guys”: the Clarkston administration and what appeared to be its xenophobic recreation policy.

Swaney

Normally, we would be prone to accept the reporter’s version, given the challenges facing youth and adult soccer teams across the country, especially those lacking affiliation with elite clubs and academies and dedicated soccer-specific facilities. But, as it happens, we live just one or two municipalities away from Clarkston in DeKalb County, Georgia’s second-largest county, east of Atlanta. We also started to receive copies of some of the impassioned e-mails directed toward the Clarkston mayor’s office. The mayor’s email address was conveniently posted by several bloggers trying to fashion a grassroots protest. One such letter, from a Minnesota woman (name withheld) identifying herself as a “soccer mom,” carried the subject line, referring to Swaney and mentioning the Fugees’ coach, “You Are a Bigot … Luma Mufleh Is a Hero”:

I read the story of your banning soccer in local parks. I am sickened and outraged by this. You are a complete bigot. I am a Caucasian American and as such am born into the most privileged race and country in the world. I consider it my responsibility to reach out to refugees, the poor, and others less fortunate—not only to help them but to learn from them.

I also believe in Divine Retribution (or “karma” if that’s your thing), and I would be careful if I were you.

On Tuesday, we tried to reach Mayor Swaney, but instead spoke with city clerk Tracy Ashby. She said e-mails had been flowing in, some offering the Fugees practical assistance with obtaining U.S. Soccer Foundation and other grants toward playing space, but others taking an even harder line toward the Clarkston leadership than that favored by the Minnesota writer. Ashby commented on the stereotyped vision of Clarkston to which writers were responding (MP3 also included):

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Apparently a lot of people think that we’re a predominantly white town who are afraid of foreign nationals coming in. Our town is over 60 percent African American. It’s only 19 percent Caucasian, and the remainder is spread among 52 other nationalities. So it has been a little disappointing to have people call you “Adolf” or, “I hope you enjoy your KKK meetings,” when that’s not the makeup of the city. And it’s disappointing that people would judge that, “Oh, it’s a Georgia town,” so it’s simple to say it must be this reason.

We find it disingenuous, first, that correspondents nominally committed to equality and an egalitarian ethos would rely on disrespectful language and a reading of the facts so lacking in nuance. We cannot be sure if the outraged bloggers and flamers read all 6,000 words of St. John’s article. Later in the piece, we learn that Swaney, given the pressure of a public forum, had offered the Fugees what turned out to be a workable short-term solution: free access to the city’s Armstead Field. Clarkston officials did seem to retract use of the field at one point, but Swaney admitted the city’s error.

Calhoun, Ga.

Ashby makes clear that there has never been any ban on soccer in Clarkston or a ban on the Fugees. The reporter does not clarify that Swaney’s remark in the second paragraph (“There will be nothing but baseball and football …”), quoted from “the local paper”—the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Mary Lou Pickel, “Lost Boys’ Goal: Find Soccer Field in Clarkston,” 8 Jul 06; payment required)—pertains to a team of adult men from Sudan, not to the Fugees.

A Feb 1 Times correction acknowledges the Journal-Constitution as the source—making the slight correction in syntax—but does not clarify that the statement refers to another team. Swaney’s quote, in full, referring to the “Lost Boys” of legend, reads: “There will be nothing but baseball down there as long as I am mayor. I don’t have no beef with nobody. But I do have a problem with these big guys playing soccer because those fields weren’t made for soccer.”

Ashby said that adult use of city facilities brings a different range of problems—evidence exists of alcohol and drug use at the park sites.

Clarkston has been less able or willing to accommodate older players, perhaps tarring with too broad a brush the new residents for whom playing soccer on weekends exists almost as a cultural imperative. Yet the community, in contrast to the “small town” image painted in the Times article, is woven into the Atlanta conurbation and, thus, is heavily urbanized; there is little green space.

The city with its limited resources has focused on youth, on well-established programs such as Little League Baseball and Pee Wee Football, at the risk of seeming inhospitable to adults in the refugee population. These programs, which necessitate heavy parental involvement, also do not fit well with the realities in refugee families, often one-parent households struggling to adjust to the demands of new work, new language and new culture. The challenge is accommodating rapidly shifting demographics without ignoring existing residents.

The New York Times article, however, fails to acknowledge the widespread nature of this dilemma in relation to soccer. We have referred in the past to other communities dealing with a similar refugee influx (see 23 Aug 06). Also recently we received a telling picture from Calhoun, Georgia (see photo above), located in Gordon County in a northwestern, less-developed part of the state.

At first the stern message, NO SOCCER ALLOWED, posted at area playing fields seems damning. Given the manifold increase in the Hispanic population in the 20 years leading up to the 2000 census (Susan Kirkland, “Now Is Time to Meet Hispanic Challenges,” Calhoun Times, 31 Oct 06), one assumes that such messages and their block-capital, monolingual foreboding must be targeted at these newcomers. Hispanic populations have mushroomed in this part of Georgia, attracted in part by the nearby carpet-manufacturing and warehousing businesses in Dalton, the so-called carpet capital of the world. The industry employs more than 30,000.

Again, area recreation officials emphasize youth and organized play and demand reservations to use soccer fields. Gates have been locked and players asked to leave to enforce Calhoun regulations. In reference to such incidents, recreation director Ronnie Reeves told the Calhoun Times last September, “The gates were locked for a reason. We came there and the goals were moved around and the fields were tore up.”

Officials such as Reeves and others across the South and nationwide should not be blamed, however, for what is a widespread shortage of soccer space. The villains in the Fugees’ story remain those in the boys’ homelands who could not resist a turn to ethnic and sectarian violence, and who were the initiators of these refugees’ struggles.

Nevertheless, the New York Times account may have some positive, if limited, effect. If a report this week in Variety proves accurate, $500,000 will be earmarked for a new field as part of a Fugee-inspired movie-and-book deal (Michael Fleming and Dave McNary, “Universal Buys Soccer Story,” Jan 24). Thus, the Fugees might be spared further practice-time anguish, as long as a spot for said field can be found.

But Universal will need someone snarly to play Swaney’s role, given the demands of the story. Mel Gibson, anyone?

Updates

• As of Sept 07, the Fugees had earned a $100,000 Nike sponsorship, including an annual summer sports and academic camp at Mufleh’s alma mater, Smith College in Massachusetts (Helena Oliviero, “Team Gets Fame-Spun Foothold in DeKalb,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept 15; “Refugees Learn to Tell Their Stories at Smith College,” Smith College, Jul 27).
• In mid-May, ESPN SportsCenter provided a retrospective in soft focus and with tinkling piano.
• National Public Radio airs its own feature on the Fugees, including interviews with some of the players, Mufleh and Sweeney (Kathy Lohr, “Refugees Find Hope, Film Deal on Soccer Field,” Mar 9). The website offers an interactive map with additional interviews.
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution steps to the defense of Clarkston in Mar 1 editions (Anna Varela, “Clarkston Begs to Differ with Portrayal”). Among other demographic nuggets, the article mentions that voter rolls include 75 residents with the last name “Nguyen.” Clarkston natives and others sound off in a related weblog posting (“Was Clarkston Misjudged?”).
• The Fugees’ case has made its way across the Atlantic, at least as far as the Guardian Unlimited sport blog. Steven Wells places the Fugees within the wider context of immigration, observing that “[t]owns all over America have been revitalised by immigrants and refugees who’ve brought soccer with them” (“A Soccer Saint, Yes, but Where Are the Sinners?” Feb 14).
• The Clarkston City Council voted 4–1 on Feb 6 to extend the Fugees’ use of Armstead Field through Dec 07. “There’s willingness for everyone to work together,” Mufleh told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I hope that doesn’t change between now and December.”
• The Jan 30 Wall Street Journal account of the behind-the-scenes bidding war for the Fugees’ story shows that the Times’s misconstrual has taken hold, at least among dreamweavers out West. “Because the mayor of Clarkston restricted the team’s use of a local field, the team was left without a permanent place to play,” writes Journal reporter Kate Kelly in describing how the Jan 21 story became the “rare tale that managed to transfix a wide swath of filmmakers the moment they read it” (“Heartwarming Soccer Story Kicks Off Hollywood Fight,” p. B1; not available online).

  Scott Rudin Productions president Mark Roybal, whose $1.25 million offer was ultimately spurned, felt he had to grovel a bit:

  Today’s article is probably one of the best pieces of journalism we have read in years. It deserves all the inevitable acclaim and accolades it will certainly accrue.

  One hopes that the sudden cash influx will not disrupt the Fugees’ operation.

• The New York Times on Jan 28 published eight letters related to the Fugee article. One letter, from a Clarkston resident, Susan Garrett, defends the city’s efforts: “Rather than examining the tremendous fiscal and social challenges heaped upon Clarkston by the refugee influx, you take the easy way out by falling back on the tired old Southern cracker stereotype” (“They Are Refugees. Who Are We?”).
• Mayor Swaney and the city of Clarkston released a statement on Jan 26 (with two bracketed emendations for clarity):
  

  January 26, 2007

  Statement to the Citizens of Clarkston and the Media
  from Mayor Lee Swaney

  The City of Clarkston has received several emails expressing concern for the Fugees soccer team stemming from a recent New York Times article. There is a misconception that the Fugees team and soccer in general is banned in the City of Clarkston parks. Please be assured that this is not the case and the Fugees have been practicing on Armstead Field since October 2006.

  The New York Times reporter repeatedly confuses Milam Park Field—which is dedicated to little league baseball and unsuitable for soccer—with Armstead Field which is where the Fugees continue to play. The only limitations we have ever placed on either Armstead Field or Milam Park field are to restrict the usage to children only.

  We are deeply disappointed in the tone of Mr. St. John’s article. The report is factually inaccurate and several statements are taken out of context—apparently to present a more dramatic story and arrive at his own conclusions.

  We are very proud of the Fugees’ success which is a positive outcome from Clarkston being among the most culturally diverse cities in Georgia. Our population is 55.7% African American, 19.4% Caucasian, 12.6% Asian and 12.3% representing over 52 nationalities. Our diversity is also reflected in Clarkston’s City Council of six members with two African Americans and a Vietnamese refugee. I am delighted to see the recognition that Coach Mufleh and her team are receiving for their impressive success story. The Fugees represent the best of what the human spirit can accomplish by overcoming oppressive conditions in their native countries and coming together in their new community to achieve success through the power of sports and teamwork.

  In October 2006, I encouraged Coach Luma Mufleh to attend a City Council meeting to request the use of Armstead Field for her soccer program. At that meeting, the Clarkston City Council unanimously approved her request to use Armstead Field for the remainder of this soccer season, which [finishes in] March 2007. Because of her program’s tremendous success and positive contribution to Clarkston, I see no reason [use of the field] will not continue. In fact, Coach Mufleh will return to the February Council meeting to renew her agreement to use Armstead Field for another year.

  In December, we did receive several complaints that groups of adult men were playing soccer on Armstead Field. This is a violation of the allowed use of the field. We tried to contact Coach Luma several times to determine if the men were affiliated with the Fugees. When she could not be reached, a letter was sent to the YMCA to put the program on hold until a newly hired sports coordinator was on board. I was then contacted by Coach Luma and she assured me the men were not affiliated with the Fugees soccer program. I immediately reinstated the use of Armstead Field for their practices.

  Sincerely,

  Mayor Lee Swaney
  City of Clarkston

Tags: clarkston georgia, fugees, Grassroots & Youth, lee swaney, luma mufleh, new york times, USA, warren st. john, Youth soccer