Troops Keep Football Tradition Alive

The Rose Bowl it ain’t, but a muddy and rutted helicopter landing field let U.S. soldiers keep alive a tradition from back home - football on New Year’s Day.

“This is the Bosnia Bowl, baby!” hollered players at the opening kick-off in a game pitting U.S. and British officers against soldiers of the NATO-led peace force in Bosnia.

Instead of the roar of a crowd and cheerleaders, the rag-tag teams were treated to a cacophony of sporadic machine-gun bursts from the nearby villages, the local New Year’s tradition. But no one flinched.

Rather, they battled up and down the muddy 60-yard field for the Bosnia Bowl trophy, a GI helmet painted white, emblazoned with a blue-edged silver star on each side - a reasonable facsimile of a Dallas Cowboys helmet.

On the front, the initials O.J. were painted, a spoof tribute to former football player O.J. Simpson. None of the NATO troops was heard to say that they found it odd to name their trophy after the world’s best-known murder defendant.

“Sure the field is a little lumpy and muddy, but it’s our tradition. We gotta play today,” said Lt. Col. Harold Harvey, captain of the officers’ team.

“We don’t have any televisions around here that will show a game, so we have to do it ourselves,” said Harvey.

Surrounded by barbed wire on the edge of the U.S. and British base in Kiseljak, 15 miles northwest of Sarajevo, the game of two-hand touch was largely limited to players sliding around in the mud or fumbling the slippery ball.

Tight security around the base prevented any Bosnians from witnessing the spectacle.

The Americans sliced through the opponents’ defense for touchdowns. The officers cruised to a 24-0 shutout win.