Team Captain Patrick Wilson holding his Republic of Cascadia Scarf.
Cascadia Football was very excited to win their first ever international friendly at Whyteleafe FC against Chagos Islands this past weekend. The match took place on May 25th in Surrey, the United Kingdom and was the first time Cascadia played an international friendly.
Up until now, all Cascadia’s games have been competitive. They played in the 2018 ConIFA World Cup in London where they finished sixth out of 16 teams and went on to qualify out of a tough group by beating Tamil Eelam by the six goals required at Fisher FC’s Stadium.
WHO ARE THE CHAGOS ISLANDS?
The Chagos Islands are situated in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The area fell under the jurisdiction of the British Indian Ocean Territory. The UK government forcibly evicted the 2000 strong population between 1968 and 1973 to accommodate the US military’s desire for an air base on Diego Garcia. Although many islanders are still fighting for the right to return, a large diaspora settled in the town of Crawley in Sussex. It is mostly from that diaspora that the Chagos Islands side draw their players. Their first game took place in Crawley in 2011 where they beet Raetia 6-1. In their last game in June, they lost by the same score to Tuvalu in Bedfont.
Cascadia is proud to be able to help riase awareness for this cause, and other great CONIFA members such as Tibet, Tuvalu, Kurdistan and dozens of other areas not currently recognized by the United Nations.
CASCADIA’S FIRST HOME MATCH IS JULY 27 IN KENT, WA AGAINST DARFUR UNITED
Tickets are also now available for Cascadia Footballs first home match against Darfur United on July 27th. James Riley will be returning as team captain, and it will be an exciting moment. As one of only two registered CONIFA teams in North America - Cascadia has struggled to find teams able to play friendlies in a home pitch environment.
