When Cedric Joseph, goalkeeper of the Chagos Islands national team, walks around his hometown of Crawley in West Sussex, he usually wears his football jersey whether it’s game day or not.
“Even when I’m not training, I still wear that shirt. I’m proud,” he said.
“People then ask me questions. Some people don’t know anything about this place. I know the history so I can tell them.
“I told them it was an island paradise, heaven on earth.”
Joseph, 19, has never set foot in the land he represents.
Growing up in Mauritius, he begged his grandmother to tell him stories about her hometown, but she often avoided the question.
Joseph’s grandmother was born on the Chagos Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the United Kingdom evicted its entire population to make way for a military airbase that operated jointly with the United States.
Many of the expelled Chagossians were sent to Mauritius, where Joseph was born. But his grandmother’s heart remained with her mother’s country, and the pain of her expulsion from the hands of the British still endured.
This is the story of a football team trying to keep the story of their ancestors alive, representing a lost homeland nearly 6,000 miles away.
The first team of the Chagos Islands was formed about two decades ago in Crawley, where most of the UK’s Chagossian population of 3,000 lives. The team joined the NF-Board, an international body for national teams that were unable to participate in Fifa.
For a time, Chagos Islands FC participated in a local league, also playing occasional friendly matches against teams such as Raetia (a province of the Roman Empire in central Europe) and Sealand (a tournament). unrecognized competition claims an offshore platform off Suffolk. ). But there were consistent financial problems and they ended up rushing.
Then in 2013, Chagos Football Association was founded by Sabrina Jean.
Jean’s father grew up on Peros Banhos atoll. At the age of 17, he went to Mauritius but always had plans to return home. He never got a chance. Jean grew up in Mauritius, moving to Crawley in 2006. She became the president of Chagos Refugee Group’s The UK branch soon followed.
Her father, like Joseph’s grandmother, also often avoided talking about his childhood when Jean was growing up.
“They try to avoid explanations because they’ve been traumatized,” says Joseph, who moved to the UK in 2016.
“I’ll watch it with my grandmother. When she told me, tears ran down her face. I just wanted to know what happened.”
The United Kingdom staunchly maintained its sovereignty over the Chagos Islands when it granted independence to Mauritius in 1968. The local population (most figures range between 1,600-2,000) was subsequently dropped and Ship to Seychelles, Mauritius or UK. Many have fallen into extreme poverty and face discrimination.
Mauritius says it was forced to give up the archipelago in 1965 in exchange for independence and has since claimed the Chagos Islands as Mauritian territory. The United Nations’ highest court ruled in a unanimous but non-binding ruling that the United Kingdom occupation of the islands is illegal, but Great Britain refused to hand over control to Mauritius. It has said that it will hand over the islands when they are no longer needed for defense purposes.
Jean visited the Chagos Islands in 2011 as part of a trip organized by the UK government. It was a bittersweet moment.
“The first time I set foot on the island, even though you weren’t born there, you could feel it,” she said. “You feel the sadness in you.”
“When I was in Peros Banhos, where my father was born, it was heartbreaking when you saw all the buildings. Your godmother said, ‘When you come to my island, you will see the church where I was built. baptism, where I received Holy Communion… But it was very painful because there was nothing left.”
Jean said that one of the most painful moments was visiting the cemetery where her ancestors were buried.
“It was so devastating, no one took care of it,” she said.
“But when you’re [the island of] Diego Garcia, you see the cemetery of dogs owned by people from the US navy. They were buried in a grave with the dog’s name. ”
Jean wanted the team to be a way for the Chagossian community to express their identity. To begin with, she said it was a struggle to get enough players to attend the training, but news began to spread in the community and the team soon started playing more often.
In 2014, they drew 1-1 against Somaliland and the following year they lost to Panjab 4-1. Hundreds of Chagossian communities will be playing games at home in Crawley.
Then in 2016 was the group’s most important moment – at Conifa World Cup in Abkhazia (a state that is de facto recognized by most countries as part of Georgia).
Confia (Confederation of Independent Football Associations) is the umbrella association for the states, minorities, stateless peoples and regions not affiliated with Fifa and also includes teams from the Isle of Man , Kurdistan and Northern Cyprus.
The Chagos Islands have lost all four of their matches, including heavy defeats against Abkhazia and Western Armenia. Ivanov Leonce, 26, who plays at full-back, says the tournament remains a success.
“When we went to Abkhazia, a lot of people didn’t know we were Chagossians and they learned about us,” he said.
“We want to show what we’ve been through, what our family’s been through, where we’ve come from. One of the ways we have to express our identity is through football.
“The people there, the way people treated us, it was like a real World Cup but coming from unrecognized countries. That’s my best memory.”
But despite the memories, the team’s results did not improve. In 2018, the Chagos Islands lost to Yorkshire, Barawa (a team representing the Somali community in the UK), Matabeleland (part of Zimbabwe) and Tuvalu. The following year began with a win over Surrey, before being beaten more by Cascadia (a region in the US and Canada), Jersey and Cornwall.
Then, in 2019, Jimmy Ferrar, who used to coach local semi-professional clubs, took over as coach. At first, some communities were wary of his intentions.
“When I switched to Chagos, obviously I’m white, I’m British, and a lot of people were thinking, ‘What is he after?'” Ferrar said.
“I think there was suspicion, the Chagossian community is very attached. I said I would leave the football association better than I saw it, with a better, better established infrastructure. That’s one thing I promised Sabrina and all the players.”
Results have begun to improve. Last year was arguably the team’s greatest achievement – winning the World Unity Football Alliance’s World Series, beating Barawa on penalties in the final.
Ferrar said: “There was always a bit of a party atmosphere no matter where we went. There are always musical instruments, drums, singing and dancing. But it’s a weekend I won’t forget.”
“I remember when the final whistle blew, I thought, ‘We’ve just done it.
Despite the recent successes, problems persist. Several players were taken for questioning by immigration services.
Ferrar said: “We took the boys to a detention center in Gatwick and we had to raise thousands of pounds to find them a lawyer and then they were released a few days later.
“It’s a never ending battle.”
In 2002, the British Overseas Territories Act granted British citizenship to resettled Chagossians born between 1969 and 1982. Many took advantage of the opportunity to move to the UK in hopes of a better life, they had to face hardship in Mauritius. Direct descendants of Chagossians born on the islands, and who are not yet citizens of British foreign territories or British citizens, will be able to apply for both forms of British citizenship, The Ministry of Home Affairs announced recently.
Damien Ramsamy came to the UK from Mauritius in 2006, at the age of 13. His grandfather was evicted from the Chagos Islands, but he didn’t even know he was Chagossian until he was a teenager. After years of playing for semi-professional teams around London, Ferrar finally convinced him to join Chagos Islands FC.
Ramsamy raved about how he feels the Chagossian community has been let down by the British government. He believes they are still treated like second-class citizens, with many struggling to make ends meet. He believes the UK should provide compensation or housing for the descendants of those deported from the archipelago.
“We’re not in the same space as any of the other British citizens here,” he said. “We didn’t choose to let this happen. Maybe if we go back to the Chagos Islands we will have some land, here we have nothing. They are just waiting for us to disappear.
“My grandfather is dying, he is 82 years old, my grandmother has just passed away. How many of our natives have passed away without receiving any compensation? I am 30 years old and I see nothing but my passport England If so we could have been in Mauritius, living the same.
“My son is two years old now. When he’s 15 or 16, he won’t remember this. I see it with my younger brothers, they don’t know anything about Chagos. As the generations go by. go, like we fade away.
“The team is important, to maintain that momentum. To not fade.”
Some in the Chagossian community dream of being able to one day return to the archipelago, while others want to stay in the UK.
Joseph said that he would move to his ancestral home if given the opportunity.
“I’ll go there happily,” he said. “When I heard my grandmother say there was no stress, nothing. Everyone there was just one big community, one big family.”
But until that moment comes, he is happy to represent the Chagos Islands between goalposts.
“I have a goalkeeper’s glove with the flag on it and every time I play I feel great wearing it,” he said.
“You know how proud I am?”
