Marshall Islands presents torn jersey

Threatened by rising waters, the Marshall Islands presented, at the initiative of their football federation, a tunic which disappears as time passes, and the archipelago is submerged.

Located in Micronesia between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands, independent from the United States since 1990, have a particularity: members of the UN, they are not recognized by FIFA, despite steps started a long time ago.

Will they one day play the qualifiers for the “Oceania” zone? Nothing is less certain, because time is starting to run out for them. Threatened by global warming and rising water levels, the Marshall Islands could be submerged within a few years, even before playing any official match.

“A global catastrophe is endangering this Pacific paradise,” said Antonio Guterres – Secretary General of the UN – at the Pacific Islands Forum held last August, presenting the latest report on the state of the climate in the region established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Faced with this uncertain future, it is now the turn of the Marshallese football federation (MISF) to mobilize to attract the attention of political decision-makers, raise awareness among the general public and alert the urgency of the situation.a year after unsuccessful appeals from Moriana Philip, the country’s representative at COP28, who appeared in tears during the closing plenary meeting.

The governing body therefore presented, in collaboration with the equipment manufacturer PlayerLayer, the “No Home Jersey 2030”. This is a unique jersey, which includes elements of local culture, and is especially torn in several places. It is “an outfit that disappears”, as if to symbolize the loss of land gradually swallowed up, “for a team which fights to be seen”, notes the manufacturer on its website.

If the official tunic is put on sale normally, without it showing any tears, the communication campaign deployed around the jersey has revealed a garment which loses material over the course of publications and the time that passes without the slightest action. The flock also disclosed the figure “1.5” degrees, in reference to the warming threshold that must not be exceeded, otherwise the archipelago will one day disappear into thin air.

The future of the Marshall Islands, whose average altitude is estimated at two meters above sea level, may already be sealed. But who knows, thanks to this campaign, they could soon play an official football match, if FIFA deigns to recognize them before the waters definitively cover the land.

(roc)