Sporting Equals has recently launched its ‘Volunteering for Communities Project’ in the London, North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire areas.

The project aims to get 168 young people (16-25) from ethnic minority, refugee and migrant communities volunteering within the sports sectors. It is a pioneering project that will bridge the gap between the ethnic minority community sector, the mainstream volunteering sector and the sports sector. By working closely with our target communities during the development of the project it will provide essential learning to the mainstream sport and volunteering sectors on how to effectively engage a more diverse range of volunteers. The project will involve the development of young Volunteer Champions who will help plan and deliver the project and will assist in the recruitment, monitoring and evaluation. It will build on the existing Sporting Equals existing Sport for Communities project, thereby maximizing resources and impact.

The project is an initial pilot which will run until June 2008. The project in our area is:

There's an article in 'Leeds Today' about Ikram Butt, the first Asian to represent England at Rugby League, having played for Leeds and Featherstone Rovers.

In 2002 he set up the British Asian Rugby Association (BARA) to encourage more players from the ethnic minorities into the sport. Now BARA, along with the Hamara Healthy Living Centre, is backing Youthwise, the Community In Action (CIA) Beeston campaign that encourages local children from black, white and Asian communities to get into sport together.

Ikram said: "I passionately believe that both codes of rugby and sport in general can be used to bridge divides, create positive role models and foster the ethic of teamwork. These are values that we should encourage cross culturally and by doing so we'll be creating more inclusive and unified communities and avoiding the tragic legacy of Beeston."