Hoboken man's World Cup 'passport book' tells story of global connection
Tim Donohue carries a “passport” book filled with signatures, home countries and short notes from strangers he’s met at watch parties, restaurants, tourist attractions and on the street.
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With the World Cup final set for Sunday, one Hoboken man has spent the past month on a mission of his own, meeting a fan from every one of the tournament’s 48 countries.
Tim Donohue carries a “passport” book filled with signatures, home countries and short notes from strangers he’s met at watch parties, restaurants, tourist attractions and on the street.
“It was a way to meet interesting, generous humans from all over the world,” Donohue said. “Every single person had a life story, a different hometown.”
Donohue lives in Hoboken and works in New York City. For the past month, he said, the World Cup came to him.
“I wanted to find a way for me to be immersed in the experience and experience the World Cup for myself,” Donohue said. “And there was no better way to do that than the people who were the most excited about the World Cup.”
Donohue said he wasn’t after autographs from players or celebrities; he wanted signatures from real fans. The search for a connection to all 48 countries led him to some unlikely places, including a Senegal watch party he found through a contact at the United Nations.
“I looked up online and found somebody who speaks regularly at the U.N. named Imams, and I sent him a DM and said, ‘Please help me, I’m in my final three countries, I need to meet someone from Congo,’” Donohue said. “He invited me to what was a Senegal watch party in uptown Manhattan, and I hung out with him for three hours. They completely welcomed me in.”
Along the way, Donohue said, he found kindness wherever he went.
“I found so much hospitality as I went around getting signatures,” he said. “People were so excited to be the ambassador from their country and to represent where they are from, and to share a bit of home with me.”
One encounter, with an Iranian-American woman from Seven Valleys in Hoboken, stuck with him.
“She gave me a very, very sweet letter saying that it was so nice to meet me,” Donohue said. “I know it’s kind of corny and cliché to say, but I actually did choke up.”
Donohue said the project became less about the signatures themselves and more about what they represented.
“I think it’s corny, but I think everyone belongs,” he said. “Diversity is just so special here. We celebrate what makes us different."
