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Dear fellow Maher’s,
The samaj’s sports committee have been silent for the last few years now but we have still been working away and making steady progress with the assistance of members from the samaj.
The current committee took over some 8 years ago and despite having success for many years in organising the community’s sporting activities we have lapsed off late. Generally this has been down to some of the volunteers standing down from their positions due to personal commitments and the remaining members tied up with their personal lives.
After looking closely at this and to install some force into the sports again we decided that it was best to merge with the samaj’s UK committee in a hope to install the same passion that the community has had for sports in the last two or three decades here in the UK and further back in Africa and India.
We have been working along side the UK committee from 2008 and already in 2009 we are seeing great development and interest again. This year the 11-a-side football tournament was held in Loughborough and spread over a weekend. The final was a epic with Luton coming back from a goal down to claim the trophy for the 3rd year running! The outdoor tournament is a relatively new in our calendar and has been an instant success with 5 tournaments to date. The cricket this year was organised by volunteers from Leicester but due to being unable to arrange a suitable pitch in Leicester made arrangements in Loughborough instead.
The summer also brought a golf tournament, another new even in our calendar, which was also a success. The final sporting event of the year was the main indoor tournament in Luton which proved to be a memorable one. When we first approached Luton to step forward and hold the tournament we were confident that given the proud members of the samaj there it would be a great success which it was!
Below are 3 excellent articles written by 3 sisters from London who attended the tournaments and are also the daughters of one of our members, Suresh Modhwadia! Thank you ladies for you efforts and taking the time to provide these.
We, the sports committee, would like to thank all volunteers involved in the sports this year from referee’s to people cutting the onion’s when making the curries! Without mentioning names (as there would be too many to write) the success we have had this year has largely been down to you, those involved know who they are!
In terms of finances since we began our term we have to date accumulated a fund of approx £12k (final figures to be accounted following 2009 tournaments) which includes £3k that is held for the New Maher Era group. £10k of the fund is in a high interest fixed bond at the moment but can be withdrawn if and when required with notice. Although raising funds has not been our key objective it is rewarding to see that we have been self sufficient and built up a fund for the future of Maher sports. We would like to thank the Leicester Maher Association for their continued support in funding venue costs for us year in year out and also many sponsors over the years that have supported us.
Going forward we are already thinking about and planning ahead for 2010 along with the UK committee. The outdoor football tournament will be in Birmingham and we are planning to arrange the main tournament in Milton Keynes. The cricket and golf are yet to be arranged so towns willing to take this on will be great! We will be more then willing to help where required.
Overall we seam to be going in the right direction again and we now have the momentum to take this forward. We need your help in keeping this momentum up so anyone interested in being a part of the sports committee or simply assisting when they can please let us know as extra pairs of hands and heads would helpful and appreciated.
As a committee we also suggest and even request individual town’s to keep up with sporting activities, especially at youth level and also females! The only way we can have bigger, better tournaments with more sports is by having more participants from the community.
If you have questions, ideas, suggestions etc please contact us via the Maher Centre.
Wishing everyone a blissful end of 2009 and a prosperous 2010.
Thanks & Best Regards,
Mahesh Shiya Odedra (Leicester)
On behalf of the Maher Sports Association UK