This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Soccer Teams Play for Peace

Pita House team wins multi-cultural soccer tournament intended to promote unity in honor of murdered immigrant Marcelo Lucero.

Ten multi-cultural teams played in the Play For Peace/Jugando Por La Paz Soccer Tournament Saturday at the Patchogue-Medford Youth Soccer Complex in Medford, an event designed to promote cultural unity after the 2008 hate-fueled murder of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero.

"We have people from all different ethnic backgrounds," said Pita House owner Joff Sahin, who sponsored two of the teams that played in the tournament.

"My team is not only Turkish but I also got Croatians, Serbs, Hispanics, Americans, and some of the teams have mixed players from all over," Sahin said.

Sahin's Pita House team ended up beating the Patchogue-Medford Youth Soccer League team in the final, taking home a soccer cup which is on display on a shelf in the restaurant. The Pita House also won the first tournament held in 2009.

Find out what's happening in Patchoguewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While thrilled to win, Sahin said he does not forget why the tournament happened in the first place.

"Hate is bad, and has consequences. In this incident in our neighborhood, I truly feel sorry for all the people who are involved," Sahin said. 

Sahin estimated that around 300 to 500 people attended. Paul Bressler, who ran the runner up team, said that while it appeared less people attended compared to last year, that there was more of a ethnic mix compared to last year when attendance was primarily Hispanic. This year's tournament also saw an increase in the number of teams from 2009, eight to 10. 

Find out what's happening in Patchoguewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Held at the Patchogue-Medford Youth Soccer Complex, the tournament was organized by the office of Legis. Jack Eddington. Eddington's chief of staff, Robert Calarco, said the event was organized to find a fun way to allow the multi-cultural community of Patchogue to interact with each other.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?