We watched a refugee football tournament and the atmosphere was electric

“It means everything to them, they look forward to it every week, and personally I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a hotel with not a lot of release, not many activities put on for them.” Those were the words of coach Jordan Murphy as he closely watches his players on baking hot astro at Solihull Moors FC. Jordan, 27, has been training teams since November for the refugee football tournament in Solihull.

The skills are slick, tackles strong, and atmosphere off the scale – it is a football tournament like no other. Players hail from Sudan, Eritrea and Afghanistan to name a few and all have one thing in common – they’re refugees and asylum seekers living in hotels as they wait for the Home Office to decide their fates.

Holed up in Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Walsall and Birmingham, most have fled war or persecution, but uncertainty gets left off the pitch, as this unique event brings around 60 players together for an all day tournament at the ARMCO arena. The sports programme runs in partnership with Solihull Moors FC, Solihull Council, Solihull Active and local refugee groups.

READ MORE: Life next to an asylum hotel where occupants can’t check out

Look through our photo story of the tournament below:

‘I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a hotel’

Some have made treacherous journeys to reach safety in the Midlands – but the sense of freedom and belonging on the pitch is clear to see. As we approached the sizzling hot pitch we could hear cheers and chants of players warming up.

The event, on June 21, fell within Refugee Week, which celebrates the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees. Jordan Murphy is head of Solihull Moors Foundation as well as coach, and said: “The fact we can put events like this on for them, as one-offs and special occasions is brilliant.

“We’ve been running since before November, and as far as I’m aware there’s no plans for it to stop. As a charity as long as there’s a need for it we’ll do our very best to facilitate it, but it’s part of our working schedule now.”

The idea of the sessions is to improve the group’s language, life-skills and get them out the confines of their hotel rooms. And what better way to do this than the beautiful game?

Moors staff told us that weekly training sessions are one day everyone at the club looks forward to, and the energy on the day was something to behold. Cheers and jostles accompanied fine planning of tactics – you can tell how much this day meant.

‘They’re not allowed to work’

Mohammed Fahim Zazai, founder of Afghan community and welfare centre in Walsall has brought a team of 18 over to play. He tells us proudly: “We’ve been working with Walsall FC, attending sessions, these guys regularly play at the park.

“They’re not allowed to work, but they can do these activities, [some] hope to be professional players. Football is very big here. That is a result of welcoming people here. They come here and hope to find a new life. The plan is they’re here for a short time [in the hotels] and then they are dispersed.

“Football is something that can bring people together. They just try to move on with their life.” Chatting to us off pitch is Kamran Khan, 19, who came from Afghanistan alone after Taliban militants swept into Kabul, pushing to takeover, sparking a humanitarian crisis.

Beaming, he tell us: “This event is important to me because I was in a hotel for some days, and for me, for my thinking, for my brain, I come out to enjoy with my friends and meet new people.

“I love football, so I play, I come out, it is important for me. We enjoy each other [as a team]. It’s new, it’s new for them, we try our best to be the good team yeah.”

Coach: ‘A lot of the stigma around refugees is entirely non-factual’

“When I was in Afghanistan I like to play football but you know, but there was a lot of problems for me and I couldn’t do my best. So I came here, to stand on my own two feet and whatever I can do I do,” Kamran said.

On his team’s progress, coach Jordan reflected: “Do you know what, there’s actually probably five or six players that are very very good and give us a run for our money as we tend to get involved and play. A lot of the guys are a really good standard and you can see them improving every day.

“A lot of the stigma around refugees is entirely non-factual. The guys are nothing but polite when they turn up, they’re always punctual, if they’re late they apologise, and they’re really building up their people skills as well as learning our language, so I think this is massively helpful for them.”

The day ended with a prize giving ceremony, with the Birmingham team crowned winners, and Walsall and Solihull teams coming in as runners up.

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