Meet the local residents who build bridges between communities and positively glow when asked about Bradford City’s own input
From a distance, it appears as if the latter sits directly on top of the other, Bradford’s Main Stand towering comparatively high as if it is perched atop its own hill.Three hours before kick-off between Bradford City and Newport County, a group of local kids from various backgrounds are playing on the outdoor five-a-side pitch, a coach on each team.
Hiron Miah is the current chairperson of Bangla Bantams. He grew up on Cornwall Terrace, which literally runs to the edge of the Main Stand and the ticket office. Bangla Bantams started out by getting tickets at a reduced rate from Bradford City and giving them away to members of the local community who would otherwise not think to attend.
So far this season, at the Saturday home fixtures alone, more than 50 people have attended their first ever live match. Extrapolate that across the season and it will run into the hundreds. In 2021, work began on a community sport centre made possible by obtaining a grant from the Football Foundation. That is where the children are playing before the match. The centre has an indoor and outdoor pitch, gym and rooms from which other youth and community programmes are run.“The pitch is a gamechanger,” says Hiron. “It used to be a concrete pitch where kids used to have bonfires, a generally unpleasant place eventually.
As Lukman says: “When they go home, they’re so much more likely to say ‘We should send our child there; it’s a good place.’”But BEAP’s buildings are far more than that. More than two years after the official opening, Lukman beams with pride when he shows me how new everything still looks and feels, proof that it is cherished by those who live nearby.
Discounted tickets are still offered to continue the outreach programme for matches, although now Bangla Bantams can offer something in return: the use of the pitches for associated Foundation programmes comes at a nominal rate. “They get engaged in Bradford City. They understand Bradford City. They learn some of the history of Bradford City. They do some penalty shootouts or art and crafts. I’ve always been a firm believer that if you get the smallest children there and get them engaged, you have your future.”Something Lukman mentions there is something that Hiron is also keen to point out. Bangla Bantams, as the name suggests, was started as a Bangladeshi supporters group of Bradford City. That has changed over time.
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