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 On Sunday afternoon, 22nd July, around 100 players from a range of ethnic backgrounds came together to compete in the fourth Valiants Against Racism Community Shield Football Tournament at Dimensions Leisure Centre in Burslem.
The tournament included ten teams from across Stoke-on-Trent featuring players from White-British, Black-British, and British-Asian backgrounds as well as from Kurdish and African asylum and refugee communities.
Cobridge Community Centre earned a place in the final by beating Port Vale Football in the Community. They faced last year's tournament winners Grange Park Rangers, who had beaten Nawroz in the semis. Grange Park Rangers eventually emerged triumphant following a nail-biting Cobridge derby that ended at 0-0 and had to be decided on penalties, which the reigning champions won 4-3.
After the tournament, the players and their families gathered in the Vice-Presidents Suite at Vale Park for a special trophy presentation where they received medals from local MP Joan Walley. Tournament participants were also provided with multi-cultural food, refreshments, badges, stickers and magazines provided by the national Kick It Out project, as well as having a chance to look at the nationally acclaimed History of Black Footballers exhibition and Valiants Against Racism display boards.
 The tournament and trophy presentation was organised and funded by Port Vale’s Valiants Against Racism campaign along with the North Staffordshire Racial Equality Council, the Vale Park Community Initiative and the Port Vale Volunteers Group. The tournament is part of ongoing work to extend Port Vale’s community work with ethnic minorities and to contribute to better racial integration in the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
Dr Steven Bradbury, Chair of Valiants Against Racism explained further:
"The VAR Community Shield tournament is now an annual fixture in the local sporting calendar. The tournament shows how football can be a vehicle for bringing communities together and offers a very visible riposte to those who would try to divide our city along racial lines."
These sentiments were echoed by Port Vale Chairman, Bill Bratt:
"I am very pleased that the VAR Community Shield tournament has become a regular event. I thoroughly enjoyed refereeing at last years event and look forward to being a part of it again in the future. I was particularly pleased and very proud to be part of something that brings together so many people from different ethnic backgrounds to play football. Port Vale Football Club is very proud of the work of VAR: long may it continue. "
Matt Wilcox, of newly-formed team Unity, said:
"It's a great chance for people to interact with different cultures and integrate with other communities. I think football does a great deal to bring people together."
Stuart Kerby, Manager of the Portly Vale squad said:
"The tournaments bring the whole community closer together. We had a lot of fun taking part last year and this year, and it was great to meet the other players afterwards."
The VAR campaign followed the successful tournament by hosting a stall at the Port Vale FC Open Day on Sunday 29th July, where volunteers distributed anti-racist badges, stickers and magazines to hundreds of Vale fans.
 The campaign is presently finalising the details on a brand new website, where Vale supporters will be able to find out all about the history of the campaign and forthcoming events and activities. Watch this space for further details.
This page was last updated on 24 Oct 2007
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