After the great success of last year’s tournament, this year’s annual ‘IR Gaza Cup’ 5-a-side football competition took place at a new indoor venue, Glasgow Soccerworld today at 11.30am
Islamic Relief (Scotland) hosted the football tournament to raise money for the children of Gaza. Teams from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire participated in the event which raised not only money, but also much needed awareness for the poor people of Gaza. The event was vital in reminding and highlighting the plight of the Gazans to those who have forgotten or may not be aware of the troubles the region has faced. Before the games kicked off, Habib Malik (Head of Islamic Relief scotland) informed the teams of how he once witnessed hundreds of children in Gaza kicking around one ripped and ragged ball between them.
Teams battled it out with each other in a hard fought competition -players from Edinburgh, Livingston, Coatbridge, Airdrie, Motherwell, Bellshill, Holytown, Falkirk and Glasgow. The tournament was a resounding success, raising just under £2000, equivalent to about six times the cost of organizing the event, thanks to the donations made by the participating players and volunteers.
Teams battled it out for over 180 minutes of non-stop football, with a total of thirty nine goals scored in open play, for the chance to be crowned winner of the Islamic Relief (IR) Gaza cup 2010 Charity Football Tournament. The tournament was organized to raise money for Gaza, but the level of competition was very high as was the standard of football.
Al-Aqsa and Nomaan’s team cruised through the group stage of the tournament to win their groups, and played semi final match against IR Baboons and LM Galaxy respectively. Nomaan’s tense encounter against LM Galaxy ended in a draw, but the team proved to have the calmer nerves and emerged as the winners of the shoot-out. This was in no small part thanks to the performance of their goalkeeper, Sherjeel, who kept a cool head.
The other semi final was between IR Baboons and Al-Aqsa. IR Baboons put in a good performance but were outgunned by Al-Aqsa team that has already won a number of tournaments including Lanarkshire 5-A-side football league. In the final Nomaan’s put up a strong performance against Al-Aqsa and the game was by no means one-sided. Nomaan’s team was unlucky to miss some good early chances to take the lead. However, Al-Aqsa’s experience again showed through as they won by 3 goals to lift the trophy. They were undoubtedly the outstanding team of the tournament having scored seventeen goals and conceded just five. The victory was even more impressive as Al Aqsa played throughout the tournament with the same 5 players and was the only team to not field any substitutes.
Semi final 1 Nomaan’s 3 – 3 LM Galaxy Nomaan’s won 5-4 on penalties
Semi final 2 IR Baboons 1 – 3 Al-Aqsa
Final Nomaan’s 3 – 6 Al-Aqsa
Al- Aqsa- The winners of IR Gaza cup 2010
Perhaps it is all the more fitting that a team named Al Aqsa won the cup as it shared the name of the Sacred Islamic site in Palestine.
The event was organised with the help of volunteers from The Well Foundation.
On behalf of Islamic Relief I would like to thank all the players who took part in the tournament and donated much needed money.
Sherjeel (Incharge)
A huge thanks to Sherjeel (Incharge), Asim and Fahim for organising this tournament.
