IT'S LATE OCTOBER, and in the early fall evening, three soccer matches are happening on a patch of artificial grass in Coram's Fields, north London. On two of the three pitches, people are playing social soccer -- the super-competitive kind -- after work. The other pitch is hosting a four-team tournament between Scotland, Brighton, Arsenal and Shakhtar Stalevi.
Their shouts are familiar, that competitiveness unwavering. The players in the tournament are amputees: victims of landmines, casualties of war, those who lost limbs because of cancer, or road accidents. The clang of crutches connecting in midair and the thud as they hit the ground ring across this tiny corner of London.