Football Tournament
On Sunday13th March 2011, the Khanqah 5-a-side football tournament took place at the Powerleague Soccerdome Trafford, Manchester and proved to be a highly successful event.
The organisers of the tournament were Khanqah Burnage Mosque. Their goal was to build community cohesion by bringing together members from various segments of Manchester’s society. The tournament allowed people to drop their divisive tags and break barriers in order to embrace the principles of humanity – through the international language of football.
The tournament attracted 32 teams from Greater Manchester and started punctually, which is extremely rare! All 32 teams were briefed with the rules and regulations before the tournament. There was also a large plasma screen on display to show fixtures and standings throughout the day. The standard of football was extremely high and all the teams played with great sporting spirit.
Stuart, the Soccerdome Manager who has vast experience of organising national tournaments said “It was a credit to the Khanqah Burnage Mosque organisers in the way they ran the tournament, from start to end”. This was very true, an example of this was the organisers had each been supplied a green jumper with TEAM KHANQAH printed on it. There were continuous ‘free of charge’ mouth watering refreshments provided all day long – understandably this brought smiles to many worn-out faces. Additionally, the facilities at Soccerdome were absolutely brilliant, being the world's largest purpose built 5-a-side centre it has Luxury Changing Facilities and FA Qualified Referees. The organisers hadn’t settled for a second rate venue – they wanted the best and that’s exactly what they got.
The winners of the tournament were ‘Inter Masala’ from Longsight. Their impressive football skills and passion for the game had indeed granted them a just victory over all their opponents. After the nail biting final, there was a presentation, the guests included Tony Lloyd MP, who said ‘I am very proud to be a guest of this tournament. I must congratulate the Khanqah Burnage Mosque for organising this fantastic event. The main purpose of this event was to unite different people from different communities to build an understanding between all, and I can witness this before my own eyes.’ Mary Watson, the local councillor, was even more impressed by this event. She stated that she did not feel like a guest, and felt as though she was one of the organisers, since she knew them very well being the local councillor. She also commented by saying that she knew how hard the Khanqah Burnage Mosque have worked in order to build bridges between the different communities. Mr Tarique Ghaffur CBE QPM also made a speech where he mentioned that he had been to many similar events, but this was the first one that he had been to which was so well organised by a mosque. Lastly, councillor Rabnawaz also attended and was thrilled to witness such an event. He said: “This shows that Islam is not just about being in the mosque but has a very important role outside the mosque in people’s daily lives. All the credit must go to the Khanqah Burnage Mosque organisers, for bringing so much happiness into these young men by arranging the tournament. I hope in future they will be involved in future similar events, as they have certainly proved to be fantastic organisers.’
The hotly anticipated prize draw followed where individual players and teams were picked and were handed prizes, including a meal for 7 at Nawaabs Restaurant and also a £200 cash prize. This was met with great applause and appreciation from the all the participating teams and spectators. The guests gave inspiring speeches and Tony Lloyd MP and Tarique Ghaffur were the master of ceremonies who presented the trophies with the winners receiving a £300 cash prize.
All in all, it was an absolutely brilliant tournament and received admiration from all those who attended from a very diverse community. Well done to Khanqah Burnage Mosque for planning a highly enjoyable tournament.
