Refugee week marked by football match between Lancaster and Barrow asylum seekers

The Lancaster team – the city's first refugee team – won 5-2, and the match was followed by a party with music and Kurdish and Sudanese foods.

Ali, Lancaster’s captain, said, ‘It was a great game, and it was nice to show other refugees what a welcoming place Lancaster is for refugees. I love Lancaster.’

Ali is an asylum seeker from Iran who trained with a view to playing for Iran’s Premier League but became a victim of Iran’s corrupt, undemocratic and inhumane dictatorship.

He escaped Iran to save his life and spent more than three years travelling to the UK. He has been waiting for more than a year to make his case for asylum to the Home Office.

In the meantime, he is not permitted to work or cook his own food, or to leave the hotel for more than a day.

Ali’s digital story can be seen online at https://youtu.be/J6Y5TOVF46Y

Gisela Renolds, the director of Lancaster charity Global Link, said: "Football is so important, not just for physical health, but for asylum seekers’ mental health, to cope with the anxiety and stress caused by the Home Office delays and the detention in the hotel."

The match was organised by Global Link for Refugee Week, which is celebrated nationally in the third week of June to recognise the contributions that refugees make to the UK, as well as a reminder of the UK’s commitment to human rights.

Gisela added: "The theme for this year’s Refugee Week is Compassion, and while the people of the Lancaster district have shown great compassion for people fleeing war and persecution, our Government is dismantling the fundamental rights to asylum which are enshrined in international laws that the UK helped draw up after the devastation of World War Two.

"The people coming across the Channel are fleeing war in Sudan, the Taliban in Afghanistan, dictatorships in Iran and Eritrea, and conflict and persecution from many other places.

"They are coming to the UK in boats because there is no legal way for asylum seekers to enter the UK."