HARRIERS defender Mickey Demetriou had a glimpse of what life is like in Jordan while playing for England C, writes Emily Liles.

The defender was part of the squad which travelled to the Middle East nation to play against their under-23 national side.

The Three Lions came out on top in the friendly, winning by a single goal at the King Abdullah stadium in Amman.

But Demetriou believes the outcome of matches pale into insignificance compared to the suffering the people of the Middle East have to endure.

“When we landed on the Sunday evening it was dark so we couldn’t really see what the place was like,” said Harriers' left-back.

“But we went training on Monday morning and started to see the deprivation, with lots of the buildings broken, torn apart or fallen down.

“Much of the area aside from some of our bases were like war zones and it was really tough to see that side of the world and a real eye opener.”

The recent crisis in neighbouring Syria has seen more than 600,000 people cross the borders into Jordan.

Aside from their match duties, the squad engaged in a number activities during their four day trip.

On Monday, the management, including assistant boss and former Harriers manager Steve Burr, took a coaching session with the Jordan national under 19s team.

In the afternoon, the whole squad took part in a coaching session with young Syrian and Jordanian refugees, requested by the British Embassy, UNICEF and the Football Association.

And Demetriou believes the experience showed the importance of football as a unity and community tool.

“We split into four teams and our job was to coach the young people for the afternoon,” he added.

“They absolutely loved it and were happy and smiling before we even begun the sessions.

“It was amazing to see how much they enjoyed being there.

“We can’t begin to imagine what these youngsters have been through but it was great to see those big smiles across their faces.”