Goal for Palestine!
Palestine may have lost its second Asian Cup match in Melbourne on Friday night, but its supporters celebrated like the team had won. Players overcame a military occupation to make it to Australia, and scored their first goal in a major tournament in front of a crowd of more than 10,000, the vast majority supporting the underdogs.
Palestine placed its hopes for progression to the knockout stage on this game, after losing to Japan in Newcastle on 12 January. A victory against Jordan would have set up a matchup against Iraq. It was always going to be an unlikely scenario but supporters came out to celebrate.
The Palestine supporters section drew many Palestinians from the large diaspora in Melbourne and Australia, as well as many supporters from the Middle East, Muslim countries and supporters of Palestinian liberation.
Even the Jordanian fans mixed in with us. Indeed, the Jordanian team and its supporters were not the enemy in this match – many of the players are of Palestinian heritage and some play for Al-Wehdat SC, a club based in a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman.
The crowd chanted “We are Palestine!” and “Free, free Palestine!” to drums, doumbeks and flutes, the crowd a sea of Palestinian flags, keffiyehs, face paint, and jerseys of the national team. Also on display were jerseys of Club Deportivo Palestino, the diaspora club in Chile, which had its jersey banned for substituting the number one with a map of historic Palestine. Many of the jerseys bore the number 48, the year of the Nakba.
Three teenage Palestinian supporters told Red Flag what it meant for them to see Palestine play in Australia, “It’s a great honour. This is a once in a lifetime chance. It means so much with everything they’ve been going through for the last 60 years.”
After many scoring opportunities for both sides, eventually Jordan scored two goals in the space of a few minutes, and scored a third before half time. Each time, the crowd went silent for only a short moment before erupting into chanting and singing once again, refusing to be deterred as the team nicknamed “The Strivers” searched for that momentous first goal.
At half time, police and security moved into the supporters section, confronting many of those wearing t-shirts calling for the Boycott of Israel. They also confiscated the megaphone of a Palestinian supporter.
But supporters stood together, ensuring that the attempts to censor the political message failed. Even an attempt to confiscate an Irish flag being flown by Celtic supporters was unsuccessful. Celtic supporters are known to wave the Palestinian flag at club matches in Glasgow – a gesture of solidarity from a predominantly Catholic fan base. There was no shortage of Celtic jerseys throughout the crowd on Friday.
The goal finally came in the 85th minute. Down 5-0 goals, Palestine continued to push forward and attack, winning a free kick within striking range. Jaka Hbaisha, raised in Slovenia and returning to Palestine at the age of 18, netted the historic first goal, striking a volley from a tight angle.
That one goal was enough to send the crowd into ecstatic celebration. At game’s end, supporters took an eternity to move out of the stadium. We stopped to chant and dance; people jumped on each other’s shoulders to get a better view. Everyone enthusiastically took up the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”, which was led by Jordanian supporters who joined the protest-like atmosphere outside. Fans were dancing the dabka long after the final whistle.
