Sport For All Awards Evening 2009

Posted by admin in News on Feb 2nd, 2009 | 0 comments

Rochdale’s Sports For All (SFA) held their annual awards presentation for 2008 at Touchstones arts and heritage centre. The evening was sponsored by Kashmir Youth Project and Link4Life. The guest list was an ‘A list’ of Rochdale representatives… both MPs, Paul Rowen and Jim Dobbin, were joined by the Commander of GM Rochdale Police, Peter Mason, and by Mr Peter Fahy, The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police. Local councillors and the Mayor of Rochdale were present, as were RMBC executives and officers. Also in attendance were diverse faith leaders, private sector directors and personnel, youth groups including parents and friends, community organisations, members of Rochdale Football Club, Ed Kelly and Sue Smith from Rochdale Youth Services and a host of voluntary well-wishers.

It was an evening when everyone came together to celebrate the sporting success, teamwork and achievements of young & diverse people from the various regions within Greater Manchester, and particularly from Rochdale borough.
The evening began with a minute’s silence to remember those who have passed away in the crises in the Middle East. Sports For All organised a Soccer Aid 2008 tournament, which raised £500.00. The Winners of the tournament were Sparth FC, who received their medals and trophy from the Mayor of Rochdale and RMB Community Cohesion Portfolio Holder Cllr Mohammad Sharif. A special award was given to Wardleworth Allstars. The team is mentored by Azmat Khan of Rochdale Football Club, who won the fair play award for their excellent sportsmanship during the competition.
The Mayor and Mayoress, together with Cllr Sharif, presented a cheque on behalf of SFA to Islamic Relief. Mr Nawaz Moin, Fundraising Manager for Sports For All, said, “Given the UN reports that there is now a major humanitarian crises in Palestine, we decided to donate all monies raised from the tournament to help those in need of food, water, clothing, medical aid and shelter in that region.”
Mohammed Zarafat from Rochdale Youth Service introduced the Badminton tournament which was held in the summer of 2008. Many young players from across Lancashire entered the sports event. Some of the outstanding achievers were in the Under 13 category, including Miss Kiera Walsh of Rochdale, who won the singles competition. Aftab Iqbal of Manchester Cheetham Hill Club won the under 19’s. Paul Barker & Jamie Morgan of Springhill badminton club saw off stiff competition to win the Doubles.
Sports For All events are also focused towards strengthening community cohesion within Rochdale. An example of Sports For All being involved in ‘building ties’ across the wider community was the Alliance Shield match. This was played in July 2008. Peter Mason, the Commander of GM Rochdale Police, explained that the initiative was for the local police to build closer alliances with the effective Muslim community, and the annual football matches are part of this successful process. The police won the match 3-2.
Inspector Darrell Butterworth collected the Alliance Shield on behalf of the Police team from the respected MPs, Jim Dobbin and Paul Rowen.

Simon Danczuk, the Parliamentary Candidate for Labour Party in Rochdale and Director of Vision Twentyone, introduced the international cricket community cohesion project. SFA alongside a number of organisations, coordinated a Sports & Community Festival in July 2008 that involved hosting the Kenya National Cricket Team and a Sports For All Select X1. Mr Danczuk expressed his pleasure at contributing in this project, which helped to ensure that the enterprise in July 2008 was a collective success for the community. Almost a 1000 people watched a SFA Select X1 take on the Kenya Cricket team at Rochdale Cricket Club. The match bought together people from all sectors and walks of life.

Mr Danczuk also stated he will shortly be looking to set up a youth panel to best understand and meet the needs of young people in the field of sports and community cohesion.

Sports For All presented a gift to each of its partners in the Kenya project, whose valuable contributions ensured the project was a huge success story.
Eastern Magic won the Indoor Cricket Tournament. They also received the Fair Play award for their excellent sportsmanship during the August 2008 tournament. The awards were presented by Cllr Jean Ashworth and KYP Chairperson Anjum Rashid to the team’s manager Mohammed Saleem.

Pauline Maher, who has retired after providing over 20 years of youth service to young people in Manchester, received an award for her exceptional contribution. Andrew Entwistle was also presented with an award by SFA’s Mohammed Moheed. Mohammed explained that Mr Entwistle, while Manager at Springhill Sports Centre over the past three years, has made valuable behind the scene contributions to enable a youth club to successfully run there on a weekly weekend basis. Mr Entwistle also went the ‘extra mile’ to ensure that other community projects, including the Alliance and Unity Shields, have been a success. Mohammed concluded, “Mr Entwistle has now gone to work in Middleton, where we know he will be a real asset.”
Phil Greenwood spoke of the Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service involvement with local community groups. Mr Greenwood explained how, by using sports as a vehicle, his service is able to promote health, safety and highlight risks and dangers to young people. He received a warm round of applause in appreciation of the efforts the Rochdale Fire Service has made towards community cohesion and promoting safety with young people.

The next award presented on the evening was the Young Sports Achiever for 2008. The award was presented to Keira Walsh. SFA explained that at 11 yrs of age, Keira has already represented Rochdale in swimming, netball and badminton. In addition, she has played cricket for Lancashire Cricket Club and Football for Blackburn Rovers, where their coaches believe she is destined to play for England.

Keira is now focusing her efforts on football with Rovers and on badminton – where she has been signed up to play at County level. She is an extremely gifted young athlete who is destined for higher achievements.

The main award during the evening was for Services to the Community. The award was presented to Peter Mason, the Chief Superintendent of GM Rochdale Police, by the Mayor of Rochdale and by Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police. Borough organisations in the fields of faith, sports and community cohesion voted for Mr Mason, who is set to retire shortly. Mr Mason – who looked surprised – found his feet, thanked everyone for their support, and paid genuine and frank tribute to his own police service and to all the organisations that have supported him in building safer communities.

Councillor Mohammad Sharif commented that the community will miss Mr Mason’s honesty, humour and hard work, which have resulted in him inspiring, influencing and bringing communities together to tackle community concerns and interests. Mr Sohail Ahmed from Deeplish Community Centre, along with the evening’s sponsors Kashmir Youth Project, both commented, “We know occasions where Mr Mason would personally stay behind until late in the evenings, to ensure key issues and any unease were adequately addressed. We cannot think of a more deserving person in the community to receive this award. He truly deserves the accolade and SFA were right to mention that he will be missed.”

All the winners from various sections of the borough community collected certificates of achievements and awards personally signed by Jim Dobbin MP and Paul Rowen MP, as well as by Cllr Mohammad Sharif and the Mayor of Rochdale.
Asif Rafiq of Sport For All stated, “This is our ninth year in regards to running sporting activities with the aim to strengthen community cohesion. We involve young people, men and women of all ages, ethnicities, faiths and backgrounds. We don’t know of many other groups out there as diverse as we are – it is what makes Sports For All unique. The work we carry out is on a voluntary unpaid basis and therefore those colleagues who organise these activities, and encourage people to take part in them, are our real community champions. “

The full list of winners were

SFA 2008 (five a side) Soccer Aid Tournament

Winners Sparth FC
Fair Play Winners: Wardleworth All Stars
SFA Badminton Winners

Under 13

Kiera Walsh

Under 13 Doubles:
Mohammed Bilal & David Matthew
Under 16 Girls:
Georgina Davies

Under 16

Winner: Mr Haider Ali
Under 16 Doubles:
Haider Ali and Remo Datta

Under 19

Winner: Aftab Iqbal
Under 19 Doubles:
Paul Barker & Jamie Morgan

Alliance Trophy
2008 Champions: Rochdale Police Team

Sports & Community Recognition Awards

Ms Pauline Maher – Manchester Youth Service

Mr Andrew Entwistle – Manager Link 4 Life

Young Sports Achiever Award for 2008
Kiera Walsh

Services to the Community
GM Police Chief Superintendent Peter Mason

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End of Press Release
For further information, please contact Hanief Mohammed, SFA Communications officer, on 07949 197140 – hanief@sport4all.org.uk