Playing through blizzards: Football in the Arctic

Sports, like most aspects of life, are not easy in the Canadian Arctic.

Early football games in the Arctic did not involve lines or even goalposts, but was about who could keep posession of the ball the longest. To be honest, you probably wouldn't want to be a goalkeeper standing around in -30 degrees!

In Nunavut, where the suicide rate is almost 10 times the national average, there is now a major youth tournament which has revealed soccer's importance to the territory.

Sixteen teams (eight girls and eight boys squads) from around Nunavut boarded flights and landed in Iqaluit for the annual under-18 indoor futsal tournament with an atmosphere like no other.