UK ASIAN SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP 2004
(12 September 2004)

On September 12, Glasgow played host to the first UK Asian Soccer Cup Final. Glasgow giants Celtic & Rangers have always supported the tournament and this year it was the turn of Rangers to host the final at Ibrox Park. One hundred and forty eight teams started out on the road. In the final eight were SASA (Scottish Asian Sports Association) Scotland, beaten finalists last year, Bradford Albion, Rochdale FC, Derby FC, Sporting Bengal, Preston FC, Wolverhampton Azard and Gravesend.

Unfortunately, SASA (Scottish Asian Sports Association) lost both their goalkeepers through injury in the qualifying games and failed to make the Final. Kent side Sporting Bengal - the holders - took on Bradford's Albion Sports at Ibrox. With both teams fired up for the game, it started off at jet-pace with a couple of crunching tackles flying in. One was deemed too strong after just six minutes and Bengal found themselves down to 10 men as midfielder Follu Khan received a straight red card for a wild challenge.

Albion started to make use of the extra man and were worth the lead when Narinder Sandhu smashed home a great drive in the 21st minute. Left back Abdal Ahmed showed some good pace down the wing and sent over a deep cross into box. It dropped right to the feet of Sandhu who took a touch to kill the ball and then sent a great shot low into the bottom left-hand corner.

The score stayed that way right up until the 88th minute when Albion were awarded a free kick centre of the goals, about 25 yards out. Midfielder Asif Hussain stepped up to hit a low drive straight at the target. Goalkeeper Zaman dropped to his knees and seemed to be making a simple catch. The ball hit his chest and bounced over his head into the net. It was a strikingly similar to Stan Petrov's free kick that deceived Rangers keeper Stefan Kloss a couple of season's ago.

The championship was organised to raise awareness of the emerging football talent in the Asian community as currently there are no Asian players playing professional football in Scotland. The tournament will help challenge racism and build an affiliation between the Asian community and mainstream football. The aim is to attract more Asians to become involved in football and the healthy lifestyle that often accompanies it.

Prem Singh, Event Director of the Championships, commented: "Black players have made an impact in football. Viv Anderson broke the mould when he pulled on the England jersey back in the seventies. Now just have to look at England and the national side. There are hundreds of black players in the game down south and the backbone of the England team until recently was made up of Emile Heskey, Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand. I feel it is now time for the Asian community players to fulfil so much of their promise. "

Top