ASSYRISKA – S?dert?lje (Sweden)

talent and support for Assyriska FF of the Swedish premiership. These Assyrians are diasporic, without a native land but numbering nearly 2 million in 82 countries (see “Assyriska Rises to Sweden’s Promised Land,” FIFA.com, 6 January). Many still speak Syriac (Aramaic), the language believed to have come into use among Jews of Palestine after the Babylonian exile (ca. 587 BCE). (Sennacherib wrote of a conquest in 701 BCE, of Judah under King Hezekiah: “Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage.”) An Assyriska radio voice broadcasts in the ancient tongue, posing the tantalizing possibility of football commentary that Jesus would have understood. Over the past 30 years the side has worked its way from the amateur divisions to join Hammarby, Malm? and G?teborg?whom they defeated 3?0 Sunday?in the top flight. While their support abroad is wide, some question the feelings locally. One local said that S?dert?ljie’s pride remains Bj?rn Borg. The club offers the community 30 youth teams, including three for girls (see Alex Duval Smith, “Swedes Wooed by Migrants’ Soccer Magic,” The Observer [U.K.]), while retaining what administrator Fehmi Tasci characterizes as non-northern flair. “We are southern, warm-blooded people who like to run with the ball. It’s good to have a couple of solid Swedes at the back. [But] we haven’t had an Assyrian goalkeeper since 1987.”