Port Vale Football Club and its pioneering Valiants Against Racism campaign have helped a group of Potteries based African footballers to take part in the Unity Cup Festival, a national tournament for refugee and asylum seeker football teams from around the country.
The club provided strips for the Picadilly Football Project, an initiative developed by the North Staffordshire Health Promotion team to provide support and education around physical, mental and sexual health issues.
Around 20 teams with refugee players from over 40 countries took part in the tournament at Sheffield United's FirshillYouthAcademy. The tournament was organised by the national Kick Racism out of Football campaign and was designed to bring together some of the most marginalised communities through football. Teams also received information on how to join FA affiliated leagues and how to assist them in accessing funding to help develop football in their communities.
The Piccadilly Football project excelled in their first outing at the tournament and finished in a creditable third place out of 20 teams, missing out on a place in the final by a whisker. The team is already looking forward to entering next years tournament and has high hopes that they will be the Unity Cup champions the next time around.
Chair of the Valiants Against Racism campaign Dr Steven Bradbury comments:"By providing football strips for the Piccadilly players, the support
provided by Port Vale FC is highly commendable and is part of the ongoing work of the club to engage the multi-cultural communities of the Potteries
in the activities of the club.
"More specifically, in this case, this contribution has help to encourage football participation and integrate refugee and asylum seekers into the wider community and to become a part of the fabric of Port Vale FC.
"The Valiants Against Racism campaign is proud to have helped facilitate the positive experiences of the Piccadilly players at the Unity Cup and looks forward to working with these talented young footballers in the future"
