A Weekly Kickabout in Dublin Is Turning Strangers Into Friends
Someone in Dublin started organising casual football games and expected a handful of people to turn up. A crowd came instead. In a post on r/Dublin, the organiser described a turnout that kept outgrowing the plan, and the range of people it pulled in.
The games are simple five-a-side kickabouts, run at a few spots around the city: Cabra, the Sportsco area near Pearse Street, and Irishtown. The people showing up came for their own reasons. Some had just moved to Dublin. Some wanted a reason to leave the house. Some knew no one at all. Some had missed the feeling of a kickabout.
Most of them were strangers a short while ago. Now there are group chats, faces that return week after week, and friendships that began on a pitch. Anyone can sign up and come along, with no need to know a soul or to be any good at football.
The organiser kept coming back to one idea: in a city where it is easy to assume everyone already has their circle, people found each other through something as ordinary as football. You do not have to be fit or skilled. Goalkeepers are especially welcome. You turn up, and that is enough.
The comments carried the same warmth. A man in his thirties who described himself as overweight and nervous about his fitness was told to come along anyway, goalkeepers always welcome. People now living abroad said they missed games like it. Players who had not laced up in years said they were ready to start again. Players come from many countries, and the organiser repeats one line for anyone unsure whether they belong: women, non-binary players, and people of colour are welcome, always.
There are hopes to bring the games to more of Dublin. The formula stays the same wherever they land: a ball, a pitch, and an open invitation to whoever wants to show up.
