Hailed a success for community cohesion

A Rochdale based organisation Sports for All (SFA) held their annual awards presentation evening on 8th February 2008. The guest list could only be described as an ‘A list’ of local representatives with three MPs - Paul Rowen, Jim Dobbin and Phil Woolas - joined by the Commander of Greater Manchester Police - Rochdale division, Peter Mason and Mr Richard Catlow- Editorial Director of the Manchester Guardian Media Group.

The local Mayor, councillors, civil servants, faith leaders including priests and Imams were also present. The purpose of the evening was to allow families and friends from different communities and faiths to come together and celebrate the sporting success of young people from around Rochdale and Oldham. Celebrations began with the young winners of the Rochdale Badminton tournament held in the summer of 2007. The winners represented Rochdale at the Manchester Youth Games, where “Team Rochdale” fi nished second in the North West.

Their coach, Mohammed Zarafat, commented to Islamic Times; “Within just two years these young people have progressed to coming second within Greater Manchester. For me is a privilege to coach such a talented group of youngsters. They did Rochdale proud.”

One of the representatives of Sports for All, Hanief Mohammed spoke to Islamic Times saying; “Our events are focused towards strengthening community cohesion within Rochdale. This is highlighted through events such as the ‘Friendship Cricket’ match, which involved Imams, local councillors and young people and was designed to bring different communities closer.”

Perhaps the most memorable example of the theme ‘Sports For All’ which built ties across the wider community came from the Alliance Shield match, played in August 2007 and highlighted at the awards evening. Peter Mason, Commander of GMP Rochdale, explained that the initiative was for the Police to build closer alliances with the Muslim community and the football match was part of this process.

As a result of the successful ‘friendly’, two of the young players have since applied to join the Police. A second Alliance match has been scheduled for June 2008. Awards continued to fl ow one after another on the night, with Revered James Reed presenting the Gareth O’Neill Unity trophy, which was awarded to the local council winning team. The football match brought together young footballers from the Christian and Muslim communities and was in memory of a young man who died in a tragic car accident. Surinder Biant presented the SFA Indoor cricket tournament award, which was won by Bilal Legends.

Mr Biant, an Education Consultant from the Indian community, explained that in its 4th year, the 2007 tournament had run on for four months. In recognition of their hard work, Mr Biant presented Sports for All with a cricket bat signed by the Pakistani cricket team. Councillor Alan Taylor presented the volunteer of the year award to Kashif Malik, a 14-year-old pupil at Springhill High School, who will be travelling to Anfi eld for a trial with Liverpool FC. Cllr Alan Taylor congratulated Kashif’s hard work towards setting up a youth club, and getting young people off the streets.

The main award during the evening was for ‘services to the community’. The award was presented to Mohammad Sharif by the Mayor of Rochdale and, Imam Akram of Rochdale’s Central Mosque. A number of organisations in the fi eld of faith, sports and community cohesion voted for Mohammad Sharif - who looked both stunned and shocked as soon as the announcement was made.

Many groups commended Mohammad Sharif for his dedication, hard work and achievements over the years with one local community leader saying; “We cannot think of a more deserving person in the community than Mohammad Sharif. Communities such as Milkstone, Deeplish, Spotland, Sparth and Wardleworth have an enormous amount of respect for this man and we agree with SFA - it was time the communities themselves said ‘thank you’.”

The fi nal award of the evening was the Sports for All fi ve-a side Soccer Aid tournament 2007 which raised over £600 for charitable causes. Phil Woolas MP presented the award to the winners Sona FC, a team from Oldham.

The Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Peter Evans commented; “It was delightful to see so many people support, mingle and enjoy the focus on community cohesion in Rochdale that utterly negates those people who say it doesn’t and can’t happen. It was a wonderful experience for me and I highly commend all those who played a part and contributed to such a profound success.” Hanief Mohammed of Sport for All said; “This is our eighth year of running sporting activities with the aim to strengthening community cohesion. We honestly do not know of any other group who involve men and women from all ages, ethnicity, faiths and backgrounds. It is what makes Sports for All unique.”

“A lot of people are amazed by the work we undertake on a voluntary basis. Our aim is to strengthen community cohesion. Our colleagues who organise these activities and encourage people to take part in them are our real community champions. “