Published on Jun 13 2008 

Allhamdulillah, the Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya UK Khilafat Centenary National Football Tournament 2008 was successfully held on Saturday 14th June in Roehampton Vale. We were blessed with a tremendous venue, spectacular playing surfaces and blossoming weather all day. Sadr Majlis Khudamm-ul Ahmadiyya Mirza Fakhar Ahmad Sahib joined us for the opening session where he conducted the official draw and offered words of wisdom to the attendees.

Breakfast had been organised by Bait Ul Futuh (BuF) region, consisting of cereals, biscuits and fruit. A First Aid point was made available pitch side consisting of muscle rubs, various bandaging and essential medications and was manned by Dr. Hasham Ahmad throughout the day.

A total of 10 teams were entered in to the draw. Seeded teams included Islamabad, East, North West and Middlesex. Other teams included BuF, Muqami, Bait Ul Noor (BuN), South and Midlands, not forgetting our respected Majlis Ansarullah who also entered a team.

The tournament had an added edge to it this year as it was being used as a trial to select a squad of players for The Khilafat Jubilee Tournament in Germany and The International Ijtema in UK in which we hope to enter strong teams. Mohtamim Sehate-Jismani Naseer Shams Sahib had established a committee of members to help with the identification of talent and this had been approved by Sadr Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya.

The tournament was well structured. There were two groups of five, meaning each team was guaranteed four games. The standard of football was excellent. Midlands and Muqami region both displayed good youngsters with pace, flare and finesse. Last year's winners - Islamabad - looked strong. BuF region had a new look in their team that seemed to be gelling together whilst East region were struggling in the early running with some key players missing. Each match was officiated by professional external referees so there were no discrepancies in decisions and no serious foul play.

The group games were all played before lunch. A rolling lunch was served at 2pm. Lunch consisted of sandwiches, chicken biryani and fruit. Bottled water and orange squash was available throughout the day. Zuhr and Asr prayers were said in congregation and were lead by one of the Jamia boys.

The group standing were as follows.

Group 1

TEAM	PL	W	L	D	GF	PTS
MIDLANDS	4	3	0	1	9	10
MUQAMI	4	2	1	1	6	7
EAST	4	2	2	0	2	6
SOUTH	4	1	3	0	3	3
MIDDLESEX	4	1	3	0	2	3

 

Group 2

TEAM	PL	W	L	D	GF	PTS
ISLAMABAD	4	2	0	2	6	8
BUF	4	2	0	2	6	8
BUN	4	2	1	1	7	7
N. WEST	4	1	2	1	3	4
ANSARULLAH	4	0	4	0	1	0

  

The tournament structure permitted the top four teams to go through to the quarter finals. Middlesex and Majlis Ansarullah competed for the Plate Competition. After being 3-0 in front, Middlesex battled back to 3-2, however fell just short of Majlis Ansarullah who registered their names on the 2008 Plate Competition trophy.

The quarter finals were played simultaneously. The quarter finals were all very tightly contended with one goal in two games being enough for a place in the semi-finals and two games being settled with a penalty shoot out. The quarter finals produced a few shocks with East region - last year's runners up - being knocked out by BuF region. However, the biggest upset was South ending Islamabad’s hope of retaining their crown of National Football Tournament winners.

The semi – final fixtures were BUF vs. South and North West vs. Muqami. BuF region overcame South region comfortably with a good display from Raashid Khan and veteran Ahmer Ahmedi. The youngsters of Muqami had to settle for a penalty shoot out against North West who definitely fancied their chances having previously knocked out Midlands in the quarter finals on penalties also.

And so it proved to be the case, North West conquered Muqami on penalties and BuF booked their long overdue place in the National Football Tournament Final.

Naib Sadr Majlis Khuddamul Ahmadiyya Fahim Anwar Sahib blessed us with his presence at the final and closing session. There were some excellent displays in both attack and defence from both teams in the final. The game was end to end with both keepers having to work hard to keep their teams in the hunt for a winners medal. Eventually, BuF broke the deadlock with almost 4 minutes left of the game. North West’s plan of holding out for a third consecutive penalty competition had been shattered. With time of the essence, North West pushed for an equaliser and were rightly punished on the counter attack and the game ended 2-0. BuF had finally won the trophy that - for so long - they had dominated.

The final session was kept very short, as it had been along day for all participants involved. Naib Sadr Shab reiterated Sadr Sahib Mirza Fakhar Ahmad’s point in the morning session regarding keeping up the local and regional sporting activities to ensure we have the correct pedigree to take with us to Germany and other future events.

Overall, the day planned out well. By the grace of Allah, the weather was kind to us, the passing neighbours and their dogs were kind to us as were the groundsmen at the venue.

Please remember Majlis Khuddamul Ahamdiyaa in your prayers, as well as BuF region who hosted a fantastic tournament as well as my team who worked behind the scenes to allow this tournament to happen. Jazakallah.

Faraz Sethi

Chairman National Khilafat Centenary Football Tournament  

1.     Winners - BUF Region

2.     Runners up - North West Region

3.     Third Place - Muqami Region

 

Plate Competition Winners - Majlis Ansarullah

Golden Boot - Ahmed Obeng (Midlands Region)

Player of the tournament -  Amir Mahmood (North West Region)