For an hour, there was no difference. No difference in color, in language, in health or wealth. No difference in what brought joy; there weren’t even differences in individual aspirations.  Four boys of Myanmar; three boys and two college kids from the States.  Mid-day in a dusty field, about 90 degrees Fahrenheit, 60 percent humidity.

They played ‘cane ball’.

A cane ball is made from sugar cane skin; dried and weaved together to form a ball. The goal of ‘cane ball’ is to keep it in the air as long as possible using feet and head.

They played for an hour. Someone initiated by lofting the cane ball to another person and then the count would start. How many footers and headers could they get before it hits the ground?

At the end of the hour the record for the group was 22. Also, over the course of the hour:

• No one had to state, clarify or enforce rules.
• No one had shoes or attire specially made for playing cane ball.
• No one lost; no one won.
• Everyone was full of joy and everyone just wanted to continue playing.

The game did end and all the players had to soon return to their lives beyond the game. The players from Myanmar would stay and the other players would go.

The players from Myanmar are among 100 other orphans. The cane ball playing area was created in a dusty area in the midst of the eight concrete buildings of the orphanage. One of the buildings was the sleeping quarters. It didn’t have beds; it had wooden platforms. It didn’t have indoor plumbing; no bathrooms or sinks. Another building was the school; there wasn’t any electricity, so there certainly weren’t any projectors, computers.

For an hour, there was no difference. Before that hour and after that hour, there were definite differences. Massive differences.

But sport does disintegrate differences. It is powerful, uniting, joyful. If even for just an hour.

But sport is now global. There are global mega-events, like FIFA World Cup, the Summer and Winter Olympics; and some that are a bit less ‘mega’, like the Tour de France, World Rugby Cup, the World Cricket Cup…even, perhaps, the Little League World Series!

It seems to me that all of these global mega-events look and feel absolutely nothing – in no way at all – like the hour of cane ball at the orphanage in Myanmar.

At these global mega-events

• The rules are constantly talked about and enforced and then regularly broken.
• There are specialized shoes and attire for every possible event, from dressage, to table tennis, to beach volleyball. Hah! Do not be caught wearing table tennis shoes when playing hand ball!
• There must be – every time – a winner and a loser. Period.
• A few end up joyful but it actually seems pretty uncommon. There’s a lot of stress, anxiety, disappointment.

Oh, and do you know how much money is poured into these global mega-events? Russia’s bid for the Winter Olympics in Sochi included nearly $50 billion (with a ‘b’). Brazil spent a fortunate building stadiums and sports fields to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.  Construction firms with stadium contracts held the government hostage and coerced higher and higher payment to complete projects on time. All while poverty only became more entrenched and endemic corruption led to the ouster of Brazil’s president.

There’s strong evidence that there was at least one illegal payment of $10 million to get the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It’s not yet come clear how much was paid to get the World Cup in Russia for 2018 and in Qatar for 2022. Qatar is building all new stadiums for the World Cup. All of the labor comes from nearby countries, particularly Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. Estimates are that more than a 1,000 laborers have died from working under the oppressive Doha sun.

And the major FIFA sponsors – like VISA, Hyundai, and Adidas pay around $200 million – to get their logos and brands all over the stadiums.  They’ve issued statements encouraging FIFA and Qatar to ‘do better’.

I can’t help but return to the orphanage in Myanmar. And that hour. There were ten people in a circle kicking and heading a cane ball, aspiring jointly to break the previous record. And then that hour was over. And, if a small fraction of one of the illegal payments made as part of a World Cup bid or if a small fraction of one of the lead FIFA sponsorships had been given to this orphanage, well, what then?

It seems possible that the massive differences between players – pre- and post-play – would not be nearly so massive. There might be some beds to sleep on; a shower or two or three; perhaps…perhaps even sufficient electrical power to run a PC occasionally.

I really love watching the World Cup but I’m pretty sure I’ll be otherwise engaged in 2022. Maybe, instead, I’ll be lucky enough to be playing cane ball in Myanmar for an hour…or more.