2008 Sport For All Awards Evening

Mohammed Asad Receiving the fair play award on behalf of Real Deeplish from Yasrab Shah and Phil Woolas MP

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Rochdale’s Sports For All (SFA) held their annual awards presentation evening at The Town Hall - an evening to celebrate the sporting success of young and diverse people from Rochdale and Oldham.

Sports For All events are also focused towards strengthening community cohesion within Rochdale. Cllr Ibrar Khan spoke on this theme with respect to the Friendship Cricket Trophy. He explained that the community cricket match involved Imams, local Councillors and young people from Wardleworth and Spotland - designed to bring these two communities closer.  The 2007 winners were Wardleworth.

The celebrations began with Springhill Badminton Club presenting awards to young men and women who won the Rochdale Badminton tournament in the summer of 2007. The winners went on to represent Rochdale at the Manchester Youth Games, where “Team Rochdale” finished second in the North West. Their coach, Mohammed Zarafat, commented: “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.”    

Peter Mason, the Commander of GM Rochdale Police, explained that the the Alliance Shield match initiative was for the police to build closer alliances with the effective Muslim community and the football match was part of this process.  As a result of the successful ‘friendly’, two of the young players have applied to join the police - a second Alliance match has been scheduled for June 2008.  

Revered James Reed introduced the Gareth O’Neill Unity match, which brings together young footballers from the Christian and Muslim communities. They play a team from RMBC, in memory of a young man who died in a tragic car accident.  Lee Murphy and Andrew Entwistle, on behalf of the winning council team collected the shield from Gareth’s father, James. 

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 four4th 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 Anfield for a trial with Liverpool FC.   Cllr Taylor congratulated Mr Malik's hard work in 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 Hafiz Ikram, Imam of Rochdale’s Central Mosque and the Mayor of Rochdale.  A number of organisations in the field of faith, sports and community cohesion voted for Mohammad Sharif - who looked both stunned and shocked as soon as the announcement was made.    When he found his feet, Mr Sharif, sounding emotional, reminded the audience that although awards such as these are given to people who retire, he will however now be working even harder for the borough of Rochdale, quipping "please don’t write me off!" On a serious note, he paid genuine tribute to his own mentors during the earlier years of his community service.

Mr Sohail Ahmed from Deeplish Community Centre commented: “We cannot think of a more deserving person in the community than Mohammad Sharif.  Communities such as Milkstone, Deeplish, Spotland, Sparth and Warldleworth have an enormous amount of respect for this man and we agree with SFA - it was time the communities themselves said ‘thank you’ for his dedication.”

The final award to be presented on the evening was the Sports For All 5-a side Soccer Aid tournament 2007.  Over six hundred pounds was raised for charitable causes. Mr Phil Woolas MP presented the award to the winners Sona FC, a team from Oldham. 

All the winners from various sections of the borough community collected certificates of achievements and awards personally signed by the three MP’s, as well as by Cllr Alan Taylor and the Mayor of Rochdale.

The Mayor of Rochdale, Cllr 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.”

A spokeman for Sport For All said: “Our aim is to strengthen community cohesion so we may make our communities a safer and healthier environment to live in. Those colleagues who organise these activities and encourage people to take part in them are our real community champions. “

The full list of winners

SFA Badminton Winners

Under 13
Kiero Walsh

Under 15
Mr Liam Howard

Doubles Under 18:
Haider Ali and Mohammed Bilal

Open Age
Lewis Gregory amp; Danny Thompson

Alliance Trophy
2007 Champions
Rochdale Police Team

Gareth O Neill Unity Shield
2007 Winners
Rochdale Council

The (Haji Farooq and Tahir) Friendship Trophy
Winners
Wardleworth

SFA 2007 (five a side) Soccer Aid Tournament
Winners
Sona FC (Oldham)

Fair Play Winners
Real Deeplish

Volunteer of the Year
Kashif Malik

Services to the Community
Mohammad Sharif