Cricket uniting communities

Man-of-the-match Tahseen with Councillor Sharif

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Sports 4 All Organised a Community Cricket Cohesion match bringing people from all walks of life together from different communities in Rochdale. Razwan Razaq of Sports 4 All explained: “Religion and cricket has a huge influence in our communities.  Our aim has always been to bring communities together. We therefore organised a cricket match, but with a difference.

"We insisted each area had to include their Mosque management team, their local councillors together with the young people in order to form a team. Effectively we had two generations coming together supporting and encouraging each other.

"We wanted to reach out and ensure young people are not isolated from their communities. Indeed, to ensure the message was clearly communicated, we named the trophy “Haji Farooq Friendship Cup”. It was appropriate to name the cup after Haji Saib, who in his capacity as the President of Bilal Central Mosque in Wardleworth, has in the past decade worked tirelessly   towards helping and supporting community initiatives.”

The project received support from several Mosques (particularly in Spotland and Wardleworth).  Sports 4 All approached two Councillors, Mr Ibrar Khan from Wardleworth and Cllr Haji Sharif from Milkstone and Deeplish. Both immediately pledged their support.

Cllr Ibrar Khan from Wardleworth commented: “As soon as I was contacted I said I wanted to be part of this project. It is very humbling that the youth in both communities and the Sports 4 All group insisted I am involved. I have a back problem and even though my role was limited, I was delighted not only to be involved but also to see my kids jumping for joy when they watched me take two wickets.”

Cllr Khan concluded: “To me, even though my ward won, the comments from young people in Spotland after the match is what I will remember. They said we all won as they were playing with Spotland’s Mosque President, Committee Mosque members and their Imam. Having support from these senior people made it an even better day for them.  

Mohammed Nazir from Sports 4 All who helped to organise this event said: “The young people in the past few years have received a lot of support from Cllr Khan and Sharif. Both have worked hard towards youth facilities, improving the local environment and of course they both are known for their efforts towards promoting community cohesion.  To have someone as respected and senior as Cllr Sharif pledging his support and time during the bank holiday weekend demonstrates why Rochdale has Beacon Status for Community Cohesion.”
    
Cllr Sharif, who was on hand to support both teams and presented the trophies, added:  “These groups keep thanking me for the support and encouragement, but really it is them who I think are the real people we ought to thank. This was an event that involved the young and the old from various communities. Sports 4 All, are now very well established in promoting community cohesion. I will support any programmes where we prevent young people from becoming dissatisfied and isolated from their communities. Any scheme that improves one’s health and reduces the possibility of people being led astray has my 100 per cent support. 

"It is always nice to see young people smiling and having fun and I thank everyone for allowing me to be part of this successful project.”    

As for the 20-20 cricket match itself, the game was played in excellent spirits.

Wardleworth and Milkstone won the toss and elected to bat. Spotland and Sparth took the initiative immediately dismissing the dangerous Tahir Asghar with an excellent run out in the first over. However, Seraj and Mohammed Moheed put on a 50 partnership.

Spotland then came back with three wickets in an over from Bukhari. The match remained in the balance until man-of-the-match Tahseen hit a quick fire 38 off 16 balls.

Spotland needed 128 off 20 Overs. They got off to a terrible start losing both their star batsmen.

The President of Golden Mosque Tahir Mahmood then went about steadying the ship. However, precise bowling including two wickets from Cllr Ibrar 'Flintoff' Khan saw Spotland 75 all out.

In the evening, the participants met to have a light snack and were joined by further guests.

Mohammed Nazir added: “To demonstrate the success of this initiative word spread through the community and Surinder Biant turned up in the evening and donated cricket equipment. Mr Biant, a campaigner for better youth facilities in Spotland commented: “I love cricket and watched the match take place at Matthew Moss cricket ground. The young people of Spotland have been badly let down in the past. That’s the sad fact of reality, but I wanted to show my support and do what I can to help them.”   

Sports For All are now planning further cricket tournaments following the success of this project. For further details please contact communications officer Hanief Mohammed on hanief@sport4all.org.uk