PR

Zesh Rehman, the British-born captain of the Pakistan national football team, launched his charitable foundation today at the Crystal Palace FC stadium in London. Representatives of several well-know football clubs were present as Zesh told his lift story from being the first Asian to play in the English Premier League to his current contract with Muangthong United FC of Bangkok.

Although Pakistan’s sporting heritage is synonymous with cricket, football is gaining popularity among the young Pakistani population, stimulated by cheap and easy access to Premier and Champions leagues games on TV in Pakistan and the very popular FIFA game on xbox. It is also played in schools, alongside volleyball.

The Zesh Rehman Foundation is establishing a network in Asia with two strands. The first is the sporting concept, using Zesh as a role model to encourage more Asians into football and to raise the profile of Asian communities in sport. The second is to use Zesh Rehman for community cohesion/integration, having a national focus to bring young people together and embed leadership and citizenship programmes.

The main goal of the ZRF is to use 'football as the catalyst for education, training, employment and community development'.  The stated aims of the Foundation are:

1.To provide a local network group that encourages and enables members of the community, in particular Asian community, to participate more effectively with the wider community reducing social isolation and building community cohesion.

2.To use sport, in particular football, as a pathway to improve health and well-being by providing and assisting in providing facilities for sport, recreation or other leisure time occupation for such persons who have a need for such facilities regardless of their ethnicity, age, gender, disablement, poverty or social and economic circumstances.

3.Increasing, coordinating, or advance opportunities for members of the  community, in particular Asian, to engage with service providers, to enable those providers to adapt services to better meet the needs of that community to aspire to enter the football and sports industry.

4.To provide and assist young people in accessing employment opportunities within the football and sports industries by offering personal development, education and training opportunities

On the 15th November 2011 the Zesh Rehman Foundation will be hosting “An Audience With Zesh Rehman” at Selhurst Park Stadium home of Crystal Palace Football Club. The event will be for invited guests only as space is limited, and will prioritise young people and coaches from the Asian communities who aspire to a career within professional football in any capacity. The audience will give young footballers and coaches an opportunity to ask questions of Zesh Rehman (the only UK born Asian footballer to play in the Premier League and current captain of Pakistan), representatives of Crystal Palace Football club, and coaches attached to Premier League Football Clubs, about their own professional journeys and challenges. This event will also allow participants to ask questions regarding their own development and involvement in football – as supporters, players, coaches, officials or aspiring to play in the professional ranks. “An Audience with Zesh Rehman” has been designed in recognition of the fact that the Asian communities in the UK are under-represented in every capacity within the professional football industry – from supporter through officials and as players. The focus of the event is to allow young people and coaches involved in the game to interact with those who are role models within the sport, and to provide motivation, inspiration and support.

For more information please visit: www.zeshrehmanfoundation.org www.activecommunities.org.uk

Or follow us on facebook and twitter: Zesh Rehman Foundation Active Communities Network

TO REQUEST YOUR INVITATION Please contact our event administrator Anastasija Parnova - E-mail: Anastasija@activecommunities.org.uk

Tel.: (+44) 02077171691 quoting your name, surname, organisation name, email address and contact telephone number. For young people invitation requests please also identify date of birth