somaliland football team at the valley

7242019 Somaliland football team at The Valley

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullsomaliland-football-team-at-the-valley 12

Having once staged a

tournament featuring the

Republic of Ireland Nigeria and

Jamaica The Valley is no

stranger to internaonal fixtures

But last May with minimum fuss

or fanfare the stadium played

host to an internaonal match

with a difference

Just a few hundred fans were

present when a Somaliland team

ran out of the tunnel to face

Tamil Eelam although thatrsquoshardly surprising given The

Valley can hold more people

than live in any Somaliland city

bar the six most populated

But the match was hugely

significant more than 4500 miles

away where enre communies

rely on food donaons bought

with money raised by the match

in SE7 and other acvies

The fixture was organised by

the Not4Goen Foundaon It

has created and manages the

naonal football side of

Somaliland a country in East

Africa with a populaon of

around 35m

The teams are two of the 28

members of the Confederaonof Independent Football

Associaons (CONIFA) an

associaon for independent

states unaffiliated with FIFA

Other members include Monaco

Zanzibar and Darfur

The match at The Valley was

staged to mark Somalilands 24th

anniversary ldquoto celebrate 24

years of peace prosperity and

developmentrdquo since the north‐

western territories of Somalia

declared independenceldquoWe started to do some small

fundraising in 2011rdquo said Ilyas

Mohamed 31 from Toenham

ldquoI came to the UK as a ten‐year‐

old and didnrsquot return to

Somaliland unl aer I finished

university

ldquoI was away for a long me

and obviously I was very young

when I le so I didnrsquot fully

appreciate what was happening

but I was gobsmacked by the

living condions and how poverty

affects people People struggled

even to get food to eat every day

ldquoIrsquove been coaching young

people in North London since I

le school and I thought I could

use football to raise some moneyand highlight this issue to others

parcularly those who have

emigrated to the UK and who are

now working and can afford to

give something back to those

less well‐offrdquo

From raising pound100 and pound200 at

first the movement quickly

gathered pace and the aims

expanded to using sport to unite

the Somaliland community in the

UK

ldquoEven though we started byonly raising small sums they

were sll significant because it

bought a lot of foodrdquo explained

Ilyas ldquoWe make sure the money

is used to buy food to distribute

rather than handing out money

itself which could be used for

other things

ldquoSomaliland is a ny state

There was a severe famine this

year and there is lile

internaonal trade and very few

32

MATT WRIGHT discloses an

an unreported internaonal

fixture held at The Valley at

the end of last season

Winning side the Somaliland squad celebrate their victory ndash and raising funds for food back in Africa

Charity begins at home

p32-33 somaliland_VOTV 09092015 2354



jobs If there was the

opportunity to work and for

people to be able to feed their

families they wouldnrsquot have to

rely on others and handouts

ldquoThe administraon tries to

do its best but they donrsquot have

the capability to deliver and

inevitably the people at the

boom suffer the mostrdquo

He added ldquoIn 2014 we

decided to formalise our work

and establish a foundaon that

would also help young people in

the UK by mentoring them and

helping them get into

employment and overcomesocial issues using footballrdquo

Around 5000 people aended

Somalilandrsquos biggest fixture so

far at Barnetrsquos Underhill stadium

in 2013 when Somaliland vice‐

president HE Abdirahman

Abdillahi Ismail ldquoSaylicirdquo was

among the officials present

Their latest match was staged

at The Valley aer Mohamed

purchased access to the pitch as

part of the clubrsquos regular pitch‐

hire bookings aer the end of theseason and seemingly took place

unacknowledged by the club

ldquoWe tried to play at The Valley

the previous yearrdquo said

Mohamed ldquoWe spoke to

someone at Borehamwood FC

and they suggested The Valley

but when I called up

unfortunately they were full I

kept the details and tried again

this yearrdquo

CONIFA put Somaliland in

touch with the naonal team of

Tamil Eelam a proposed

independent state in the north

and east of Sri Lanka and the

match was arranged for May

17th Whatrsquos more Charlton and

The Valley were publicised on

primeme in Somaliland thanksto a programme about the game

broadcast by Horn Cable TV

ldquoThe facilies and the pitch

were brilliantrdquo said Ilyas ldquoThe

pitch was the best wersquove played

on Quite a lot of the team are

Arsenal fans and even they were

impressed going into the

changing rooms and appreciang

the football history behind itrdquo

Even though Tamil Eelam were

ranked 54th in the world in the

non‐FIFA rankings in 2012 theywere comprehensively outplayed

by Somaliland who cruised to an

impressive 5‐0 victory and now

have set their sights on new

opponents ndash at home and abroad

ldquoOur team comes from across

the UK and although the

majority of the squad are

ethnically Somali we do also

have players who are of mixed

heritagerdquo said Ilyas

ldquoThere are guys from

Sheffield Cardiff Bristol and

Coventry and many are players

who have been on the books of

the likes of Brenord and

Blackburn so itrsquos of a good

quality We do things properly

we pay for their travel and

accommodaon and now wersquorein the process of incorporang

players from the diaspora

ldquoThere are a few who play

professional football in other

European leagues and while

they obviously canrsquot play for us

at the moment theyrsquore coming

to the end of their careers and

theyrsquove said theyrsquore happy to

play thenrdquo

The teamrsquos next target is a

tournament in Abkhazia a

disputed territory to the north of Georgia illustrang how the

ambions of the foundaon have

grown in a short space of me

Mohamed said ldquoIt started as

a small event to raise a bit of

money to get some food for

people and wersquore sll doing

that but now there is a broader

message about how Somaliland

is part of the global community

and raising awareness of issues

through expressing ourselves on

a football pitchldquoWe enjoyed being involved

with Charlton and the hospitality

extended to us Wersquore really

keen to connue our relaonship

in the near futurerdquo

983153 For more details on the

Somaliland naonal team and

the Not4Goen Foundaon see

wwwnot4goenfoundaoncom

Showing the flag Somaliland

fans in The Valleyrsquos west stand

Providing the opposion Tamil

Eelam line up before kick‐off

33

p32-33 somaliland_VOTV 09092015 2354 Page 2



jobs If there was the

opportunity to work and for

people to be able to feed their

families they wouldnrsquot have to

rely on others and handouts

ldquoThe administraon tries to

do its best but they donrsquot have

the capability to deliver and

inevitably the people at the

boom suffer the mostrdquo

He added ldquoIn 2014 we

decided to formalise our work

and establish a foundaon that

would also help young people in

the UK by mentoring them and

helping them get into

employment and overcomesocial issues using footballrdquo

Around 5000 people aended

Somalilandrsquos biggest fixture so

far at Barnetrsquos Underhill stadium

in 2013 when Somaliland vice‐

president HE Abdirahman

Abdillahi Ismail ldquoSaylicirdquo was

among the officials present

Their latest match was staged

at The Valley aer Mohamed

purchased access to the pitch as

part of the clubrsquos regular pitch‐

hire bookings aer the end of theseason and seemingly took place

unacknowledged by the club

ldquoWe tried to play at The Valley

the previous yearrdquo said

Mohamed ldquoWe spoke to

someone at Borehamwood FC

and they suggested The Valley

but when I called up

unfortunately they were full I

kept the details and tried again

this yearrdquo

CONIFA put Somaliland in

touch with the naonal team of

Tamil Eelam a proposed

independent state in the north

and east of Sri Lanka and the

match was arranged for May

17th Whatrsquos more Charlton and

The Valley were publicised on

primeme in Somaliland thanksto a programme about the game

broadcast by Horn Cable TV

ldquoThe facilies and the pitch

were brilliantrdquo said Ilyas ldquoThe

pitch was the best wersquove played

on Quite a lot of the team are

Arsenal fans and even they were

impressed going into the

changing rooms and appreciang

the football history behind itrdquo

Even though Tamil Eelam were

ranked 54th in the world in the

non‐FIFA rankings in 2012 theywere comprehensively outplayed

by Somaliland who cruised to an

impressive 5‐0 victory and now

have set their sights on new

opponents ndash at home and abroad

ldquoOur team comes from across

the UK and although the

majority of the squad are

ethnically Somali we do also

have players who are of mixed

heritagerdquo said Ilyas

ldquoThere are guys from

Sheffield Cardiff Bristol and

Coventry and many are players

who have been on the books of

the likes of Brenord and

Blackburn so itrsquos of a good

quality We do things properly

we pay for their travel and

accommodaon and now wersquorein the process of incorporang

players from the diaspora

ldquoThere are a few who play

professional football in other

European leagues and while

they obviously canrsquot play for us

at the moment theyrsquore coming

to the end of their careers and

theyrsquove said theyrsquore happy to

play thenrdquo

The teamrsquos next target is a

tournament in Abkhazia a

disputed territory to the north of Georgia illustrang how the

ambions of the foundaon have

grown in a short space of me

Mohamed said ldquoIt started as

a small event to raise a bit of

money to get some food for

people and wersquore sll doing

that but now there is a broader

message about how Somaliland

is part of the global community

and raising awareness of issues

through expressing ourselves on

a football pitchldquoWe enjoyed being involved

with Charlton and the hospitality

extended to us Wersquore really

keen to connue our relaonship

in the near futurerdquo

983153 For more details on the

Somaliland naonal team and

the Not4Goen Foundaon see

wwwnot4goenfoundaoncom

Showing the flag Somaliland

fans in The Valleyrsquos west stand

Providing the opposion Tamil

Eelam line up before kick‐off

33

p32-33 somaliland_VOTV 09092015 2354

somaliland football team at the valley

Documents