THE BEAUTIFUL game served as a force for good on Saturday as four teams came together for the Reading Community Cup.
John Madejski Academy played host to the fifth running of the annual tournament which celebrates the town’s refugees and asylum seekers and helps them settle in.
Players, families, friends and guests watched on as a tightly-contested competition saw Giveback FC defend the title they had won 12 months ago, defeating Sanctuary Strikers in the final once again.
Sanctuary Strikers was formed in 2017 by Tomson Chauke, a refugee from Zimbabwe and Joel Joseph, from Tanzania. The team gives a platform for refugees to integrate into English culture.
Mr Chauke said: “The tournament is growing year by year. It’s exciting to see people from different communities, different backgrounds come here to play football.
“We’re using football as a vehicle – our main focus is to unite the community, to integrate new people and provoke these important conversations and get people talking.
“For some of our players, it’s their first time in England, they want to be able to be confident, that’s what we need.
“We’ve got a few success stories where some of our players have been signed by semi-professional teams, which is what we want to see. We’re not going to hold them back if they’re good enough.
“We would like Sanctuary Strikers to grow and look up to.”
Bethel United and Care4Calais FC finished third and fourth respectively.
The event was organised by Reading Refugee Support Group, with help from the University of Reading and sponsored by the John Sykes Foundation. It was part of Refugee Week, with this year’s theme being ‘compassion’.
Reading FC Community Trust and Kit Aid also contributed towards equipment for participating teams.
