Sporting Events
Leicester v Gothenburg Interfaith Football Tournament
Saturday 18th September 2010 in Gothenburg, Sweden
An enthusiastic interfaith team will be setting off for Sweden from St Philip’s Centre to take part in a match against their Swedish counterparts. The previous game in 2008 was won 2-1 by Leicester – let’s see if their record can be maintained!
Our thanks go to SERIC, the FMO and the private individuals who have funded this event.
Sports for Women
In St Philip’s Community Hall, St Philip’s Church, Evington Road, Leicester:
Every Monday 5 - 6 pm Salsa Aerobics
Sessions begin again on Monday 13th September 2010
Get fit, have fun, make new friends!
Contact the Centre to register your interest or just come along and give it a try.
A lively Launch Event of Sports for Women of different faiths took place on Thursday 19th November during National Interfaith Week. Invited speakers; Freda Hussein and Manjula Sood; welcomed this new initiative of the Centre. Special guest Zara Jurenko (winner of three gold medals for tennis in the Special Olympics) inspired the 50 or so ladies present with the story of her personal journey of overcoming adversity to achieving success in her chosen sport of tennis, and spoke of the importance to her of her Christian faith in her daily life. With the help of a grant from the Faiths in Action Fund of Communities and Local Government, weekly indoor sports are now being held in St Philip’s Church Hall. For women: salsa aerobics every Monday 5.00 - 6.00 pm; badminton and short tennis every Wednesday 4.30 - 6.30 pm. Plans for other classes in the pipeline.
Leicester Marathon/Half Marathon - Sunday 10th October 2010 -
Come and join St Philip’s Centre’s Interfaith Running Team!
We are looking to put together an inter faith running team for the Leicester Half Marathon, made up of community members, faith leaders, lay people, young people, resource people, staff at the St. Philip’s Centre and our associates!
The run will take place on the 10th of October 2010 starting at 9.15am
Starting and finishing at Victoria Park, the course takes a varied and scenic route through the centre of Leicester, then out to the north of the city along the River Soar towards Syston.
As well as the Full Marathon, there’s also a Half Marathon. Both routes are suitable for first time marathon runners and experienced runners looking for a personal best. Championship marathon timing will be used.
A relay option is also available so don’t worry if you are not in tip top shape!
The entry cost will be covered by the centre and a team t-shirt will also be printed! Refreshments will be provided along the way and the entry fees will be donated to LOROS and Matt Hampson Trust.
NOTE: You have to be over 17 to take part in the half run
You have to be over 18 to take part in the full marathon
For more information about the Leicester half marathon please see:
http://www.leicestermarathon.org.uk/
We want to raise as much sponsorship possible for the St. Philip’s Centre and this opportunity is a fun, energy fuelled event that could make all the difference! For us as members of the Interfaith running team, this is a chance to show all those spectators that Leicester is a great place to be whatever our faith.
Cricket
Christians and Muslims from Leicester pioneered the idea of a cricket match between Imams and Clergy on 11th of September three years ago and the match has now become an annual feature. It must be a first in the cricket world! The two teams comprising Christian Clergy and Imams of Leicester face each other at the crease in the popular Twenty/20 format.
Sports and Intercommunity Relations
St Philip’s Centre has pioneered the use of Sport to bring people together with its annual cricket and football matches over the last three years. Most have been played between Leicester’s Clergy and Imams while some other events have also included sports enthusiasts from other faith and cultural groups. Both the City Council and the County Council have been key sponsors alongside other stakeholders whose good will and cooperation have boosted to these highly publicised events.
The 2009 Sports events have been further diversified even though Leicester’s Imams and Clergy played with their counterparts of Bradford here in the prestigious Grace Road Cricket Grounds in Leicester in 2007. A significant football Match was organised between Leicester’s community team (which includes all faith groups and Police) with a similar team from Gothenburg, Sweden on 16 June this year at Spinney Hill Park, Leicester. A group of 30 people travelled from Gothenburg for a study tour, and the football match was one of the highlights of their visit.
The Centre through its Sports Committee organised two more cricket matches. Leicester’s Imams and Clergy played with a Multi faith team against a team drawn from Bedford and Luton, in Bedford on 18 July 2009. The Leicester team was victorious. And it is also planned to play a similar match between two groups from Leicester and Loughborough at the Loughborough University Grounds on 26 September this year.
Sport is a good vehicle to communicate what people stand for. Accepting both victory and defeat with a smile is a quality of a good player, and it’s the individuals who play yet it’s the team that wins which brings joy to each individual player.
A Unique Multi Faith Football Match -
Leicester v Gothenburg
This year several other faith groups and agencies came together to take part in a unique football match with their European partners from Gothenburg, Sweden at 7 pm on Tuesday 16 June 2009 at Spinney Hill Park on East Park Road, Leicester. This built on other inter faith football matches, such as that witnessed by HRH Prince Charles at St
Philip’s Centre in February 2008.
This good practice of organising sports events has communicated a message of hope and the possibility of living side by side as friends, even though tension and misunderstanding are also part of life in diverse communities. Canon Dr. Andrew Wingate, the Director of the St. Philip’s Centre said: “This is dialogue in action on the playing field. It aims to promote stronger ties amongst faith groups and other agencies, challenging stereotypes of fear or hostility rampant in the present climate. We have been able to add this year a European dimension and invited a multi faith group from Gothenburg, Sweden to visit this special city of ours.”
Suleman Nagdi MBE DL, Public Relations Officer of the Federation of Muslim Organisations said: “Leicester can pride itself as perhaps the only city in Europe where every community will be a minority in a few years time. This football match proves what a skilled city can offer in terms of community cohesion and good relations. We believe that a sporting event of this nature which involves several faiths of Leicester and Gothenburg contributes to our life in Leicester and beyond. It shows how we can creatively use sports as a means of tackling discrimination at every level.”
Dr. Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi reported on the match as follows:
In June, St. Philip’s Centre hosted their fourteenth group of visitors from Scandinavia since April 2006. Leicester, with its long standing interfaith activities, and its now renowned Centre has become a fertile field of learning for these European groups and many others.
These latest visitors came from Gothenburg, Sweden. The energetic group of 32 people was significant in its make up. It included the Bishop of Gothenburg, The Rt. Revd Carl Axel, the Rabbi, several ethnic Imams, a Sikh, a group of young people, and clergy from the Lutheran, Free, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Uniquely included were the Gothenburg Police Commissioner, the political leadership of the City -both ruling party and opposition, and several executive staff. A major purpose of their visit was to bond together members of their new Interfaith Council and to seek an appropriate working partnership with their city structures. It was their wish to find a model of the faith sector working with city authorities, such as can be experienced in Leicester.
The three day visit was made more colourful with Leicester’s Imams and Clergy sports group, joined by two Sikhs and a Hindu, and including two Archdeacons, playing a football match at Spinney Hill Park on a glorious evening, to the delight of about 900 sports fans. Gothenburg community groups and the city officers made friends here in Leicester, a creative way to cohesion.
Incidentally, Leicester won 2-1, and this was followed by a women’s penalty shoot out, which Leicester won 3-1!