After the end of a summer workday, many Ottawans from all walks of life — including at least one ambassador — kick up their heels at pickup soccer games across the city.

Stanislav Opeila, ambassador for the Slovak Republic, is one of many cleated and fleet-footed players you'll have to negotiate around if you're trying to score at a field just west of downtown Ottawa on Wednesday afternoons.

Kicking it around in Ottawa.
(CBC News)

"Our ambassador is a very good player," said Laco Babcan, who is among the Slovaks and Czechs that play weekly on a grassy plain at Tunney's pasture.

It's not exactly a level playing field: "The surface is not really flat, so you really need a lot of soccer intelligence to keep control of the ball," Babcan said.

And he admits playing an ambassador is a bit of a challenge: "I have to be kind of careful — he's my boss, right?"

But most of the time, he said, playing Opeila is like playing any of the other t-shirt and shorts-clad kickers on the field, who include Opeila's two sons, the deputy ambassador, a couple of other workers from the embassy, and some who have no diplomatic connections at all.

"We enjoy to be together, to play, to have fun," Opeila said while taking a break from his vigorous run and dance with the ball. "It's not very often that we have the possibility to be together."

Some have been playing here, next to a sprawling federal government complex, since the former Czechoslovakia split in 1993 said Opeila, who himself plays as often as he can.

Despite the location, there's not much red tape here.

"Everybody is player. Everybody is playing offence, defence and of course, at the same time, everyone is referee," Opeila said.

Oldrich Zlamal, who works as a contractor and has been a Wednesday night regular for more than a decade, gave a run-down of the rules.

"We don't have lines. We play behind the nets. It's pretty loose rules here," he said. "We pretty much rely on our own judgement."

The game at Tunney's Pasture is only one of many informal venues where soccer is enjoyed each week in the enthusiastic host cities for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Zlamal said he sees the game becoming more popular Canada, especially among immigrants from soccer-mad countries around the globe.

"From Asia, South America, from Africa, guys are bringing soccer here and you can see it in the fields behind schools, young children with parents," he said. "I think it's developing here very nicely."