Ikram's take on community cohesion
BARA Director Ikram Butt has been invited to write on behalf of Parliament.
He was invited to write for the Parliament Monitor on the subject was Asians in sport and how it can contribute to community cohesion. It was co written with colleague Hanif Malik, Project Director of HAMARA Healthy Livving Centre in Leeds.
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Despite residing within Britain for several decades and contributing significantly to many facets of British Society the Asian / Muslim community (AMC) and in particular, Muslim Youth have in recent times become stereotyped in a negative manner linked largely to terrorism and events of July 7th.
The AMC has had an ever increasing demand placed upon it to; self- evaluate their role within British Society and explore how they integrate themselves within the wider community.
Inter generational issues, confusion over identity and a perception of discrimination has further compounded matters and added to the existing levels of apprehension and unease amongst the AMC and it’s young people.
This coupled with the normal socio-economic factors young people from inner city areas encounter has afflicted young people from the AMC with a plethora of issues that they must face and attempt to resolve the issues that lead to rising levels of tension, anxiety and Islamaphobia.
The West Yorkshire region home to migrant Asian communities for more than 50 years has been affected more considerably than most areas of the country by events over recent years.
Consisting of a large Asian community mainly of South East Asian origin, the region has a proud record of multi-culturalism although the Bradford riots and the links with the 7/7 to the City of Leeds have tarnished this reputation to a certain extent.
How to address the above mentioned issues has become an increasing priority for both the community, support agencies and Local Government.
Amidst a plethora of initiatives aimed at contributing to the national Community Cohesion Agenda has seen the emergence of two key individuals who have begun to use sport as a vehicle for engaging with disaffected youth and tackling the sensitive issue of integration.
Led by Ikram Butt, the first British Asian player to represent England at either code of rugby and founder / Managing Director of the British Asian Rugby Association, (BARA), the schemes have had considerable success in finding innovative methods to meet social cohesion objectives.
One exampe of this work has been the formation of the Manningham Bulls, a rugby team formed during the aftermath of the race related violence in Bradford. Development activities took place within the most affected areas, including Manningham, a largely Asian populated locality and Newlands a predominantly white area.
Both wards are regarded as amongst the most disadvantaged within the country with considerable levels of deprivation.
Rugby was used as a means to breaking down barriers, raising awareness of different cultural and religious beliefs and building community cohesion.
The sport played a significant role in bringing the disparate communities together and activities such as coaching young children took place within the heart of the respective communities, with tournaments and player exchanges also helping to build bridges.
“The community ownership was an important element of the project and so we trained local residents to become qualified coaches in order to help us sustain the project” states Ikram.
Employed as a Community Sports & Activities Development Officer, Ikram is also keen to praise the role of his employer Bradford Council who have provided support via resources, training and staff input.
Ten miles across the motorway in Leeds, sport is also being effectively used to help rebuild the damage caused to community relations in the Beeston locality.Known as the area which was the home of three of the London bombers, the community has shown a remarkable resilience in overcoming adversity.
Situated in the heart of this community is The Hamara Healthy Living Centre,a focal point of the community and used extensively by the local Asian community.
Working in partnership with BARA and a range of other agencies, Hamara has developed a scheme funded by agencies such as Sport England and Football Foundation to help contribute to the challenges faced by the community.
Hanif Malik the Director of the centre explains the aim of the programme. “Put simply we are aiming to enhancing community cohesion within disparate communities by offering facilities to participate in organised sports sessions and multi-cultural sports teams.”
Over the past few years both BARA and Hamara have campaigned and promoted the importance of using sport as a critical tool to engage those within the Asian community who may otherwise be isolated, excluded and vulnerable.
Ikram has used his personal experience and professional sports background to obtain recognition that sport can play a crucial role in promoting social and cultural cohesion.
Hanif Malik verifies Ikrams approach. “Sport has a rich heritage within the Asian community and the emergence of British born role models such as Amir Khan will help initiatives such as ours to play a major role in bringing communities together”
Despite both individuals promoting a positive outlook they are also careful to avoid complacency. Hanif is still not sure that The Government fully recognise the potential links between the Asian communities, sport and the integration agenda.
Ikram points to the failure of some sports bodies to take advantage of the ability harnessed within their ranks. He points to the lack of a major home grown Asain player operating in the higher echelons of the Premiership as an example of the journey still to be undertaken. As a member of the National Asians Football Forum he is hoping to bring about a change to this end.
Ultimately sport has the power to be a major factor in developing harmonious communities and enagaging with the AMC. “It would be a great shame to lose this unique opportunity,” echo both community leaders.
The Government has rightly set up a number of task force groups to look at integration issues- it would be a huge step forward in establishing something similar to explore this undervalued but critical aspect of work.
In November 2007 Ikram featured as one of Britains most inflential men & women. At the Asian Power 100 Awards event Ikram won the Futures Leaders Award, ones to watch category and won the Active Citizen Award for Bradford.
He was also shortlisted for the Outstanding Achievement category at the British Asian Sports Awards in February 2008. Ikram pays tribute to Leeds Metropolitan University who continue to provide BARA with invaluable support in using sport as a means to bring about a change and make a difference, to peoples lives here in the UK and abroad.
BARA was recently praised by Prime Minister Gordon Brown during PM Question Time and has been officially endorsed for its work by Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe MP.