BY SIDDHARTHA HARMALKAR
Over 200 soccer fans trekked to Kew Gardens armed with picnic blankets, jerseys, and strong feelings to watch the World Cup match on Sunday at the Queens Borough Hall.
After a week of heavy rain and wildfire smoke, the sky cleared just in time for the long-awaited final match of the most-watched sporting event in the world, which took place just 15 miles away at the New Jersey New York stadium in New Jersey.
Despite being almost evenly divided between Spain and Argentina fans, attendees were united by their love of the game, support for immigrants, and ire for common enemies — they reserved their boos for brief on-screen appearances of President Donald Trump and NBA player Victor “Wemby” Wembenyama, the famously tall Spurs center who led his team at another recent major sports matchup that ultimately saw his team defeated by the New York Knicks.
“You look at the World Cup, every country is represented in Queens. So this is just great to bring people together during a time where there’s so much uncertainty in the country when our values are being challenged, you know, and our diversity is our strength,” said Queensborough President Donovan Richards.
“This is a labor of love to bring communities together and to show that we are, we will always be a pro-immigrant borough.”
The crowd laughed as Richards joked that he was a better president than Trump during a speech before the halftime show. As attendees trickled in, staff from his office handed out World Cup-themed fans and empanadas from a local restaurant.
Raisha Khan, a Bangladeshi attendee from Elmhurst who hoped to see Argentina win, said that she was considering going to Central Park or Brookfield Place to see the game, but decided to come to Kew Gardens so that she could be sure she would be able to see the screen.
“It’s nice to have a place where we feel safe,” she added, saying that she appreciated the efforts by organizers to make sure immigrants felt welcome.
Hands Off NYC, an organization working to protect immigrants from being targeted by federal raids, set up a table with 3D-printed whistles and know-your-rights cards. At the other side of the lawn, Central Queens Mutual Aid, an organizing group that serves Queens residents from Jamaica to Jackson Heights, gave out “Give ICE the Red Card!” signs alongside free pizza, lollipops, candles, crayons and kneading dough for kids to play with.
The event was a family affair, with kids and grandparents of all ages scattered across picnic blankets in front of the screen.
Monica Valdez, an East Elmhurst resident from Colombia, brought her mom and in-laws to root for Spain with her. She said that she agreed with the Queens Borough President’s words and felt that the federal government’s immigration crackdown in the borough has been unfair. “We’re good people that want to work, and we just want to be respected,” she said.
For Mitul Das, an Argentina fan from Bangladesh, the watch party was important enough for him and his cricket team to pick up their 8-person long folding chair and rush straight to Kew Gardens after finishing a cricket game in Corona Park.
While Valdez and her fellow Spain fans got the last laugh, Das and other attendees rooting for Messi had plenty to celebrate— they got up to cheer over a dozen times as Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez, Argentina’s goalie, set a world record for the number of saves in a World Cup final match.
During breaks, staff put up advertisements for future events at Queensborough hall, including many independence day celebrations to be held at the venue during July and August. Future events can be found at http://queensbp.nyc.gov/rsvp.
