This football is already home

Brief respite: Rohingya refugees taking a break from their grinding existence to watch the football finals between Rohingya teams Selangor (in white) and Cheras Harimau (in black) during a recent three-day tournament for refugees. — AFP

THEY may lack the glitz and glamour of the World Cup, but football clubs for stateless Rohingya refugees in Malaysia offer something more – a 90-minute reprieve from a grinding existence on the fringes of society.

Malaysia is home to more than 70,000 people from the Muslim minority who have fled discrimination and persecution in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, often enduring horrific journeys at sea to escape.