Nothing brings people together more than a football match; it has the power to bring people together, regardless of their age, race, gender, culture, or nationality.
This was put into action a few days ago, thanks to efforts by the Newlands mosque in Wellington, New Zealand.
The mosque invited police football team along with other local teams to compete in a friendly fun football day at Alex Moore Park in Johnsonville during Christmas time, Scoop reported.
Sherif Osman from Al Ameen Mosque approached non-sworn members of Police, Spencer Hiess from the 105 line in Kapiti to organize a team.
Police won the round-robin tournament against five other teams winning four out of their five games.
“Opening up dialogue when organizing teams, to minimize potential cultural expectations and differences, enabled the Police to field a mixed team incorporating the only female player, non-sworn, Grace Carroll, in the tournament,” Spencer said.
“It was great to see all players compete and definitely hold their own.”
This is coming in line with a trend of Imams, civic and faith leaders across the world playing games for different remarkable projects.
Earlier this year in Australia, Dunedin police officers and Otago Muslim Association met for a football game to share the spirit of `Eid Al-Adha festivities with the Muslim community.
In November 2018, Australian imams hosted a football tournament with officers from Queensland Police Service (QPS) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the Bosnian Islamic Center in Brisbane.
In September 2018, a team of Muslim imams won Germany’s annual cup in a football competition organized among religious leaders, as part of efforts of strengthening unity among the religious communities.