On 31st March 2018, the Altus League came to an exciting close in a Finals Day hosted at St. George’s Park, the home of English football.
The Altus League is the latest initiative to be launched by international charity, the Kashif Siddiqi Foundation (KSF), committed to providing a platform for underrepresented communities in football.
The pilot league, endorsed by the FA and Professional Footballers Association, combined weekly training sessions with coach-player mentoring, promoting teamwork, discipline and leadership. More broadly, the initiative sought to bridge the gap between the South Asian community and mainstream sport, as well as empower young footballers with valuable life skills.
The day brought together the best players in a showdown between the Bradford Bolts and the East London Lions. In total, 70 young people from both East London and Bradford, aged between 16 and 18-years-old, took part in the eight week-long project.
Kashif Siddiqi, professional footballer and founder of KSF, is hoping to harness his experiences and learning from supporters and influential footballers such as Ronaldinho and Pelé. He said, “The Altus League is about providing a platform for young South Asians to come together on the football field. Football has an extraordinary capacity to unite. Whatever our background, our race, our ability, football transcends borders, and it’s at grassroots level, where the formative years of many young people’s lives are spent, that this message is most important. The skills you pick up on the pitch are universal; discipline, communication skills, leadership and self-confidence are all so important. If we can provide this space for young South Asians to enjoy themselves, while acquiring tangible skills that they can use for the rest of their lives, then that’s a big win in my book.”
While diversity is apparent across leagues at home and abroad, Kashif remains one of only eleven South Asians to have played at professional level in the UK. This latest initiative hopes to address that, by building confidence and sporting aspirations at a grassroots level in the community.
