Recruiting for homeless world soccer team begins

You obviously have no idea what it is like to live in hardship. Yes there are people that may abuse the system. But not everyone is as fortunate as you or me where we are raised in relative luxury and are able to have access to the education and resources that enable us to live perhaps busy challenging lives but nothing in comparison to the lives of those who are homeless. Many of these people have had to deal with life situations that you cannot begin to even imagine. It is judgemental people who can not even begin to or want to put themselves in the posistion of those who are less fortunate. If you have lived a life so difficult that you no longer recognise your worth as a person or feel that you are so invaluable you can no longer make a contribution to society you may well end up on the streets. The homeless world cup is not about rewarding the homeless for what they may have done wrong in the past. It is about helping them to gain a sense of self-worth to see what the are able to achieve and be recognised for it. Many of those who participated in the past have gone on to live better lives and have moved away from the life on the streets. Go somewhere aside from New Zealand like India or the Philippines, poverty runs rampant on the streets and these people are not here by choice, it is a flaw of the system that enables the less fortunate of society to be forgotten. Fortunately New Zealand has systems in place to help such people, poverty still exists here but at least there are people around who will help them. Next time you want to condem the poor try put yourselves in their shoes for five minutes and look beyond what you see to what may have put these people in their situation.

you are outrageous! this is a good thing. if you want to play soccer so badly, get on a team. dont put down the people that have a harder life than you. they obviously have a reason why they are in their situation and if this is a way for them to get out of it, to be part of something that gives them hope and a willingness to change and be better, who are you to condemn them! you are judging a whole, based on the actions of a small group of individuals. why dont you go to a shelter, and work there for a month. really see what has placed the homeless there, then you would understand what an amazing idea this is.

This is outrageous! Since when has the objective with homeless people been to encourage, and make their life as enjoyable as possible? Call me old fashioned but is it not supposed to be about rehabilitation? And when the majority of them are not interested in rehabilitation why are we rewarding them with free trips across the Tasman?!

How about an "I work hard for my living, pay my taxes, am a responsible citizen that tries to add value to society" soccer world cup? No, sorry that is obviously just a ridiculous idea!

Between this, and paying out the dole for "home less"- how do you do this I hear you ask? Well all you need to do is list the City Mission as your address! Then you can live on the street (pay no rent, no bills by the way) and spend all your money on booze and drugs! What form of rehabilitation is that?

Working in Auckland city you see just what this "rehabilitation" is doing for the people of our streets... Jack

Recently, I found out that Wellington and Auckland swap homeless to give them a change of scene and a break from the obviously arduous life of living on the streets! And what did they do when they arrived? Treated it like a holiday! And ran riot on our streets! With all these issues coming to light it is becoming more and more appealing to live this sort of lifestyle- and apparently easy! Free* overseas travel, practically free* money, free* food and accommodation and all for the small price of sitting on your ass making a nuisance of yourself!

It could be a poster campaign I can just see it now - where do I sign up?

*may not actually be totally free