Tournament helps to unite

11/ 2/2008

Rochdale football Club organised its first community tournament for under 12s and under 16s.

Twenty teams took part in the event, which was held at Springhill Sports centre.

The under 12s final was between Wardle Allstars and Deepy Allstars.

The game was exciting and after full time was poised at 1-1. The crowd all gathered round and the nerves were showing on the young players. The penalty shoot was won by Deepy Allstars .

The under 16s final was between Anti Racism and Wardle "A".

It was a very competitive game and Anti Racism struck the first blow with a great move. They then quickly got a second goal and were chasing Wardle down. Wardle composed themselves and were rewarded with a superb worked goal. However, it was not enough and Anti Racism clinched the title.

The club intends to hold more tournaments throughout the year and are encouraging more teams to enter and make the next tournament even bigger.

Said organiser,  Rochdale AFC Community Cohesion Officer Azmat Khan: "The aim of the tournament was to target members of the BME communities and to help build bridges and breakdown barriers.

"The teams were from all over Rochdale, from different backgrounds, cultures and races. It was fantastic to see that football could easily unify all the differences. The event itself was played under good spirit.

"The main objective of such community tournaments is to help steer kids off the street and give them the opportunity to participate in an organised event. I feel that kids are most vulnerable to cause trouble when they are bored or have nothing to do, so this was perfect to get the kids on the right track. The teams were developed by themselves and it was good to see the amount of teams that entered.

"I knew that there would be great talent on show and invited scouts from the club to have a look. The scouts were taken back by the turnout and some of the talent that breeds within our communities. They have taken a few names and will be inviting them to a trial in the very near future."

He added: "The event would not have been successful if it wasn’t for the volunteers that helped referee and organise the tournament, so special thank you from the club to Amar, Ifraz, Dewan, Dave and Nas."