Fans For Diversity supports three events on super Sunday

Monday 23 May 2016
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The Fans For Diversity campaign helped with community and supporter-led initiatives across the country on Sunday 22 May with events held at Bradford City, Charlton Athletic and MK Dons.

The super Sunday saw hundreds of participants from local communities get the opportunity to play football at a professional club as well as supporting diversity in their area.

Charlton Athletic teamed up with Proud Valiants, the club’s official LGBT fans group, to host the Football V Homophobia tournament. Three teams participated as the Valiants were joined by teams from Greenwich University and Bexley Invicta.

Proud-Valiants

Over 150 people were in attendance for the day at The Valley, including Clive Efford MP, Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport. The crowd saw Greenwich University claim the trophy as they finished winners after the round-robin tournament. Clive spoke alongside Rob Harris from the Proud Valiants, praising the efforts of the club and the local community during the awards presentation.

At Bradford, Bangla Bantams hosted a community day at the Coral Windows Stadium, home of Bradford City. Over the course of the day, various matches took place including a veteran’s match, the Bangladeshi FA Championship Final and the Fans For Diversity cup.

There were also other activities on the day with Shapla Football Club hosting a match for their academy players alongside community coaching session organised by West Riding County FA and Bradford City Community Foundation.

Bangla-Bantams

Humayun Islam, lead on Bangla Bantams and Shapla FC, said: “I would say that football truly brings communities together and at the Bangla Bantams community day we had girls, boys, mother, fathers from all communities celebrating football.

“We have created memories for the community and a experience of a lifetime! A huge thank you to all partners involved to make this day happen which include Kick It Out, Sporting Equals, Bradford City FC, West Riding County FA, The FA and BFAUK.

“A special thank you to Anwar Uddin at Fans For Diversity; without his support this day would not have happened. BEAP Community Partnership will now look at developing this initiative and hope we can take this success to next year.”

Finally, Soccer League UK hosted its finals tournament at Stadium:MK, home of League One MK Dons. Following support of last year’s finals at Watford FC, Fans For Diversity backed this season’s finals by providing t-shirts and financial support.

Soccer-League-UK

The final saw FC Bengals defeat Northants FC 3-0 to become the #RoadToMKDons champions.

Anwar Uddin, lead on Fans For Diversity, was thrilled with how the campaign had been able to support events across the country: “This has been a truly unique day for Fans For Diversity. To have three events taking place on the same day, embracing the power of fans and clubs in their local communities, is special.

“I attended the Football V Homophobia tournament at Charlton which displayed how the Proud Valiants and Charlton Athletic are proactively working together to ensure LGBT fans feel welcome at The Valley.

“The events at Bradford and MK Dons also displayed the great work not only they are doing in supporting their local communities, but the need for all clubs to embrace diversity.”

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