Fans For Diversity support Bangla Bantams Community Day

Tuesday 23 May 2017
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The Fans For Diversity campaign showed its support towards the Bangla Bantams during the group’s community day held at Valley Parade on Sunday 21 May.

The event saw a number of supporting partners including Fans For Diversity, Sporting Equals, West Riding County FA and the British Army come together to celebrate diversity and inclusion within the Bradford area through a series of football matches.

Teams from Under-8s all the way up to adult level took part in games across the day with over 1,000 people enjoying the community event inside the home of Bradford City FC.

One of the matches saw Fans For Diversity field their football team against Bangla Dragons AFC. The Fans For Diversity team included Anwar Uddin, who leads on the campaign, and Imrul Gazi, Kick It Out’s Grassroots Advisor.

There were also matches held for boys and girls from the local area as well as the final of the UK Bangladeshi Football Association championship.

Humayun Islam, Founder of Bangla Bantams and Shapla Football Club, was delighted with how the Community Day went.

“I don’t think the day could have gone any better. It was a diverse event which brought different communities and organisations together and a lot of people who attended were delighted with how welcome they were made to feel.

“We wanted to give people an experience of being at Valley Parade, going on to the pitch and also scoring as well! It was an event which brought people together and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Bradford City, West Riding FA and Fans For Diversity.”

Anwar said: “It’s fantastic that Fans For Diversity could come up to Bradford once again to support the fantastic work of the Bangla Bantams and Shapla Football Club.

“The past two years have been remarkable and have shown the power of uniting a local community with its football club to create a more inclusive environment for all. The community day took place just a day after a gut-wrenching defeat for the Bantams, so to see over 1000 people attend the event shows the spirit of Bradford City and its supporters.”

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