‘The heart that is still beating’

MELBOURNE, Australia — Grey clouds loom large over Ron Barassi Reserve, a small community ground tucked away by the Yarra River in Docklands. The Bolte Bridge towers overhead and, in its shade, a small group of parents usher their children from a nearby playground to waiting cars in anticipation of coming rain.

Across the way, a scant handful of spectators are on hand to watch a women’s soccer game, while the markings for a rugby pitch have been laid across the field with two sets of uprights on either side of the halfway line. The previous night, someone had taken advantage of the ground’s out-of-the-way location to do burnouts on a dirt bike, leaving a series of circular indentations in their wake.

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It’s not glamorous but, for the Afghanistan women’s national soccer team — the AWT — it is now home.

Two months prior, the team had staged their first fixture at the venue in front of a packed house. Australian and international journalists were on hand to capture the moment, and representatives from soccer stakeholders, refugee groups and government were in attendance at a function to welcome the women to their new fortress. In just their second competitive contest after fleeing in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the team were the talk of the town as they romped to a 10-0 win over Melton Phoenix — scoring their first goals in Australia and securing their first win in the country.

Yet now, a Sunday afternoon many months on, the minimal audience suggests the novelty has worn off.

Nonetheless, while the fanfare may have dissipated, the coming game against ETA Buffalo represents a significant milestone in the journey the Afghan women began when they arrived in Australia last year. Buffalo was the first competitive opponent the team in…