Dozens of youngsters get the chance to cheer on The Shaymen thanks to community initiative

The Shaymen beat Oldham Athletic 2-1 on Saturday night and among the 4,202 in attendance were 22 players from Fairbank United in Bradford as well as 30 children from the Madni Mosque on Gibbet Street.

Asad Qureshi, who works for Sport England and is a trustee at FC Halifax Town’s Community Foundation, helped organise the visit.

He said: "I saw an article from Hassan Riaz, in the Courier, which talked about some of the work that clubs such as Blackburn were doing to engage the Asian community, who weren’t accessing the club and local football.

"I reached out to Hassan, as did Rob Brown from Halifax Town’s Supporters Club, and we met to discuss various things to try tackle the same issue in Halifax.

"Rob invited myself and Hassan to the game v Gateshead and looking at the programme, I spotted that Halifax played Oldham Athletic at the end of October and this was going to be broadcast on BT Sport."

The date of the game was one day after a project Sport England invested in was due to take place.

The Sunnah Project was a coordinated effort by over 100 mosques across England to use the Friday sermon on October 28 to tell those attending mosque that being physically active was very important and something that all Muslims should try to do.

"As Madni Mosque were due to sign up, I wanted to extend the project and connect it with Halifax's game v Oldham somehow," said Asad.

"I mentioned the idea to trustees at Halifax's Community Foundation and they were happy to support this.

"Steve Nichol and Rachel Gould got back in touch to say that there was an opportunity for 22 young people to be player escorts and walk out with the teams before kick off.

"I spoke with Hassan, as he is a senior member of the Madni Mosque, and also Fairbank United, who are a team actually from Bradford but do lots of good community work, similar to what Madni Mosque does.

"Between us we arranged for 22 young children to be player escorts and for a group of around 30 kids from Madni Mosque to attend the game.

"Steve, Rachel and other staff from the club were very supportive and made sure the day went smoothly. They provided complimentary tickets; our own section in the stand; and some of the young kids were even given Halifax kit to wear on the day to walk out with the players.

"The Supporters Club even let us use their private box for some of the older kids to pray in at half time.

"The kids loved it and it was quite inspiring to see how much they enjoyed it."

Asad says for many of the youngsters, it was their time watching a game in person.

"The pictures and videos that are circulating are proof of how much they enjoyed it and how they bought into the occasion.

"It was funny to see them chasing the subs up and down from behind the advertising boards and asking them for signatures!

"The players were great too and responded by giving lots of time to the kids.

"The supporters were great too and I think most of them enjoyed having some new fans in the stadium supporting the team and it was great to see kids of all backgrounds mingling at the front of the stand.

"The day turned out to be perfect as both of Halifax's goals were scored just in front of the kids.

"The response we’ve had on social media has been very positive and it shows that there’s an appetite from everyone for things like this to develop further.

"It benefits the club and local sport generally, but the impact it has socially for young people and communities in general is huge.

"Halifax is a proud, diverse town and whilst it can sometimes be easy to find differences in people, there’s actually a lot more in common then we think.

"Sometimes we just need to use the attraction of football to bring people together.

"Everybody that was involved with the project has already said that we need to look at how to further embed this kind of work so our aim is to make sure we keep the momentum going and look at ways to collaborate for the benefit of people in Halifax."

Hassan Riaz said: “I'm keen on further strengthening the support base and make it more inclusive for all people from the town, especially the Muslim and BME community.

“The football club and the supporters club have been extremely accommodating and we want to use football and sport as a vehicle to bring our town together, football is a connector.

“For the majority of the students from the Madni Mosque, it was their first experience watching a live football game, and now they can't wait to return back.

"The Supporters Club gave us a quiet place to pray at half-time, and that was an amazing gesture from them.”

Rob Brown, from the Halifax Town Supporters Club, said: "When I read Hassan's column, I made contact with him on behalf of the Supporters Club and asked to meet him to discuss it.

"Asad saw our conversation on Twitter and asked to be included and the three of us met at the Piece Hall one evening in August and talked about his ideas for 90 minutes.

"I shared the Supporters Club’s ambitions and what I knew about the club. It was a very positive meeting and we gave them each a Halifax Town pin badge as we parted.

"Following that meeting and a discussion with Louisa Green, the club very kindly allowed me to invite Hassan and Asad to the Gateshead game.

"I believe it was Hassan’s first ever game. Everyone in our box welcomed them and talked about how good and inclusive Halifax Town are.

"Asad knows Steve Nichol through his work with the FA and said that he would try and make things happen for the Oldham game.

"He called me last week to say the club had made everything happen for them and they were delighted. We met up again yesterday at the game.

"The Supporters Club committee plan to invite them to a meeting to progress how we can work together to progress things further."

Steve Nichol, director of youth, junior and community football development at FC Halifax Town, said: “Asad is a Trustee of FC Halifax Town Foundation and at a recent meeting raised the project he is supporting via Sport England, called the Sunnah Project aimed to encourage physical activity in the local Asian community.

"Working with the Madni Mosque in Halifax Asad put forward the idea of developing the project via the club and Foundation.

"As the Oldham fixture was live on BT Sport the National League Trust encourage clubs to provide player escorts as the teams enter the pitch.

"The project fits well with our existing areas of work to increase participation and work towards a more integrated society bringing together people from different backgrounds and neighbouring communities.

"Football and FC Halifax Town is the medium to allow this to happen.

"We are delighted to see the feedback this has received, as it was the first live game for many of the young people we hope it inspires a new found passion for football and FC Halifax Town whilst building stronger relationships throughout the community.”