Flying High at College ESOL Football Tournament

Over 100 staff and students came together in Edinburgh last week for the second annual ESOL (English as a Second Language) Football College Cup.

Hosted by a group of Active Campus Coordinators, the event provided opportunities for eight ESOL departments to come together, engaging students outside of the classroom.

Historically underrepresented in organised sport, events like this provide a key avenue to engage with minority groups in Scotland’s colleges with a love of football bringing students together.

This tournament provided a useful warm-up for many of these players who will be participating at our College National Finals, held at Oriam on Wednesday 29th April.

On the day Dundee & Angus College took the win in their first tournament appearance, beating UHI Perth in the Final. Emad Abdulrahman (West College Scotland) was named Player of the Tournament while Shazyar Rasouli (Forth Valley College) and Mustafa Ibrahim Abdullah (Edinburgh College) picked up Goal and Goalie of the Tournament respectively.

More importantly, this tournament provides an opportunity for ESOL students to connect and engage when many are still settling into the country. Across the tournament there were stories of individuals who had travelled to Scotland together and were finally meeting again having been separated on arrival.

The talent on show was evident. Participating players included students who competed for Team Scotland in the Homeless World Cup while there was a real emphasis on participation across the college teams.

Our thanks to the Project Group of Grant Sutherland (Glasgow Kelvin College), Natalie Dott (Glasgow Clyde College), Savannah Antoine (West College Scotland) and Xsara Murray (Edinburgh College) for their time dedicated to growing the ESOL football programme. Its growth in the last 12 months is clearly evident with the amount of sport on show.

The Active Campus Coordinators involved hope this event will continue to grow with more colleges joining in coming years, alongside regional projects to provide further support such as that seen in Glasgow. What’s for sure is that there is plenty more to come!