Serie A side AS Roma President Jim Pallotta "first saw the photo that moved the world on the front of his newspaper last week and his heart dropped," according to Les Carpeter of the London GUARDIAN. Pallotta: “To see a three-year-old boy lying [dead] on the beach you just say ‘enough is enough. If you can’t get affected by that then you can’t get affected by anything.”
Instantly he knew Roma "needed to do something to help as refugees fled war in the Middle East, seeking safety in Europe." Discussions with team officials led to an idea: What if football "could unite to bring money and support to people arriving in Europe with nothing?" They put together a global fundraising effort called “Football Cares” which they hope can bring football teams and leagues into a single organization to collect money for charities working directly with refugees.
Pallotta: "It’s not about Roma it’s about the refugees. We’ve already heard from a number of football clubs and also people in other sports. We’ve heard from people in tennis, the NHL and American soccer.”
Roma made an initial donation of $643,000, which includes $280,000 that Pallotta personally contributed. Fiorentina, Bologna and Torino have said that "they will support Roma’s initiative." Match-worn shirts from three Roma players -- Francesco Totti, Edin Dzeko and Miralem Pjanic -- "have been put up for auction with proceeds going to Football Cares."
Several teams throughout Europe "have announced programs to aid refugees." Mia Hamm "will be the spokesperson for Football Cares." Hamm is a Roma board member but is an interesting choice to lead an int'l football movement. She is well-known in the U.S. and still a popular figure there but she "has been retired for over a decade."
Pallotta said, however, that when he went to the board with this idea she "was one of the first people to speak up asking how she can help." Pallotta: “I said: ‘Great, you can be the spokesperson. I think Mia is a 100% better spokesperson than me. She’s got football cred, I don’t” (GUARIDAN, 9/8).
