A moving insight into how sport has the power to change lives.
Every four years people all over the globe unite to watch their favourite soccer team battle it out for the glory of winning the World Cup. But there’s another World Cup that isn’t quite as glamorous: the Homeless World Cup (HWC), an annual tournament for poor and dispossessed players from around the world.
In 2008 award-winning author and filmmaker Dave Bidini accompanied Homeless Team Canada to the HWC in Melbourne, Australia. What Bidini found was the ultimate underdog sporting event, teeming with stories of humanity and twice as relevant to our times as any modern big-ticket spectacle.
Through seeing the players’ disappointments, frustrations, joys and triumphs, Bidini understands the true meaning of this tournament. He sees firsthand the power ofsport to transform the lives of those on the edge – how the decision to play this game can mean the difference between survival or a life of addiction, poverty or crime.
Home and Away offers a powerful look at the homeless and disadvantaged, from the barrios of Mexico City and the shanties of West Africa to the streets of North America, Europe and Australia, and illuminates the renewed meaning that these homeless players find in the beautiful game.
‘It's an honest, simply written book that will likely change the way you feel about the homeless.’ Illawarra Mercury
‘It's an inspiring and entertaining read that will leave you with a better understanding of what it means to be homeless and what it is to be human.’ The Big Issue
‘Bidini's writing is moving without being sentimental, engaging without being patronising to his subjects. His book is upliftingly full of sporting spirit …’ Sun-Herald
‘Bidini's done a brilliant job of capturing the complexity of the event and its emotions. The books about a football event that tackles homelessness, but it’s also about much more than that.’ The Book Burglar, Boomerang Books
‘Home and Away is well written in an entertaining and informative way that records a unique sporting event. Bidini, who is a writer and musician, recounts the lives of people who are living below the lowest rung of the socio-economic ladder, without a hint of prejudice and without a self-conscious sense of worthiness or earnestness.’ Sydney Morning Herald
