30 Pakistani youngsters to be trained in Southall
The venture is supported by the English Football Association and will start in June.
According to the club representative Dalawar Chaudhary, setting up a grassroot-level academy with the youngsters is a collective effort of the Pakistani community based in the UK. Dalawar, who also owns a restaurant in the area that provides catering to the Pakistan cricket team on its tours of England, added that the venture is ‘purely out of patriotism’.
“There’s a desire of the expats here to see a good Pakistani team they can cheer for,” Dalawar told The Express Tribune from London. “We are all football fanatics but quite often there’s no team for us to back like we have in cricket. It’s a community project and the FA has also agreed to help us. These kids will be given training and we also have renowned footballers on the panel who are excited about grooming these 30 boys into competitive footballers.”
PFF welcomes venture
Meanwhile, according to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, the idea of grooming a team in the UK was a great initiative.
“It sounds like a great idea and we will welcome such an endeavour,” said Lodhi. “It will serve a great purpose but we’d need to see how the PFF can benefit from it. We are open for talks if anyone has a plan for the promotion of Pakistan football.”
Dalawar added that the talent hunt will be carried out in all four provinces during June and there will be a special emphasis on finding talent in Balochistan since kids there do not get proper education or opportunities to use their potential in the field of sport.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 28th, 2012.
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@zamir I am afraid you are wrong and @FF is right. The "huge" paistani community ET is talking abt resides mainly in east London, namely ..Walthamstow and green street.
@FF: Please tell me this is a joke. Firstly you don't know the difference between nationality and ethnicity and secondly Pakistanis population in southall is more than significant please refer to the London borough of Ealings statistics.
@FF: Lol you said that people in South Hall people are mostly Sikhs and of Indian Ethnicity. Do you know most of the Pakistani people are ethnically Indian.Pakistani people from a distance look North Indians too. You cannot differentiate in North Indian and a Pakistani person or a person from UP. I lived in South Hall in the past and it have a huge Pakistani Population.
Will these players be from the actual Pakistan U14 team that took part in the AFC U14 Festival of Football at Islamabad earlier this month? Or will this be a fresh batch of trialists?
I prefer if most of the players are the Pak U14 team so that they can continue progressing as they age.
Southall doesn't have a 'huge' Pakistani population. In fact, it 'hardly' has any and mainly consists of Sikh and Indian ethnicity. Plz get your facts right ET, thanks.
Great initiative. They should also promote boxing, swimming and rugby in Pakistan