Exiles Together is a brilliant partnership between Newport County FC and the ethnically diverse community right on the club’s doorstep. Their activities promote diversity, inclusion and diversion from crime through the power of sport.
The organisation, led by local resident Jalal Goni (pictured below), has joined Levelling the Playing Field as a local delivery partner. Their projects with local youth groups, charities and mosques are crucial to uniting the diverse communities around the areas of Maindee and Pillgwenlly, and keeping local children out of trouble.
The origins of Exiles Together come from its founder Jalal’s long career playing in the top divisions of Welsh football. “I never came across another south Asian player or even another brown face. I couldn’t understand it,” he says.
So when he finished playing, he set up the Bengal Dragons to encourage people of south Asian heritage to play football and as a method of engaging those who had “gone down the wrong path in life”.
In 2015 they went on tour to Bangladesh, did charity work and played a match against a local team in front of 7,000 spectators. On returning to Gwent, they joined the Welsh leagues and progressed up the divisions rapidly. Top clubs came calling and seven of their former players now play in the top three divisions of the pyramid.
One day, Jalal was approached by County in the Community, the charity arm of League Two club Newport County. The club’s ground, Rodney Parade, is situated in the heart of a richly diverse community, barely any of whose members attended home games. The club wanted to reach out and engage them.
Jalal explains: “I am well known in this community and they said to me, ‘There’s a barrier there we want to overcome – can you help us remove it?’ It was so refreshing. We grabbed the opportunity with both hands. That was the start of Exiles Together.
"There was a pre-conception among community members that football is all about hooliganism, fighting and drunkenness, but when they went to a game, they loved it. They were sitting next to members of other ethnic groups and white British counterparts, all cheering for the same team. Before the pandemic, we were taking 30 to 40 people to every game.”
Jalal realised pretty quickly that he “had found something special.” With the help of Newport Live, he started football, cricket and boxing sessions for local youngsters from all different backgrounds - Bangladeshi, Yemeni, Sudanese, Polish and more. "We were getting crazy numbers and had 30 volunteers,” says Jalal.
Sessions continued while Covid restrictions permitted, but had to cease over the winter. Jalal is in no doubt of their importance: “Our activities are preventative. These communities are most vulnerable to crime. There are big problems with kids selling drugs. We need to work with kids before they get into serious trouble and go to prison.
“There’s also a big taboo about mental health in the south Asian community. Poor mental health is seen as being for weak-minded people. But the pandemic is making them realise how bad it can be, with kids suffering from anxiety and depression. Parents don’t understand what they can do. We’re working alongside them and children to be that middle man.
“When I played football, the team was like my second family. Kids need that same sense of belonging to make them feel safe and supported. Very limited numbers of their parents are in a stable job. They need role models and someone to give them love, respect and attention.”
Talking of role models, Jalal organised for local boy (and Positive Futures ambassador) Ashton Hewitt, the Dragons and Wales U20 wing, to join in with some Exiles Together sports sessions and inspire local children. Hewitt spoke to them about the dedication it took to get to the top of rugby union. There have been similar inspirational link-ups with Newport County players via Zoom during lockdown (see below).
Jalal’s next project is the Newport Community Cohesion Cup – a football tournament with a twist aimed at repairing damage to the community’s relationship with the police following recent incidents.
Timed to coincide with Euro 2021, the Community Cohesion Cup will see teams represent their communities (Polish, Sudanese, Yemeni, Bangladeshi etc) and each community’s local PCSO will be their ‘supporter’, attending every game to cheer them on.
LtPF's Local Strategic Partner, Newport Live, and its Positive Futures programme (funded by the Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner) are supporting the police with the cost of the event.
“It’s an ice breaker for both sides,” says Jalal. “It’ll be funded by the police and won’t be a box ticking exercise for them. I’m hoping it will break down a lot of barriers and forge more positive relations.”
That’s just one of several initiatives Jalal has up his sleeve to further his mission for community cohesion and crime prevention. In that regard, he’s delighted to join Levelling the Playing Field as his work so closely overlaps with our common goals.
“In Wales, we tend to be a little bit behind trends in England. Knife crime, for example, is not that much of an issue here yet, and I hope it never will be. But if Levelling the Playing Field helps identify a formula to deal with community problems that I can replicate and use to prevent it coming here, that’s massive. For me, it’s about networking, learning the good bits from others and trying to implement it what we’re doing.”
He concludes: “Apologies if this sounds a bit cliched, but I’m from this community and I just want to give something back to it. We want to bring children together and help take positive routes in life.”
Lucy Donovan, Senior Positive Futures Development Officer at Newport Live, said: "As the local and strategic delivery partner for the Levelling the Playing Field project, Newport Live's Positive Futures programme is delighted to have Exiles Together on board with us.
"Locally, we are seeing the impact of Levelling The Playing Field through bringing about important partnerships that are addressing the needs that young people from culturally diverse backgrounds currently have throughout the city.
"We are really excited about the Community Cohesion Cup and can’t wait to get our communities together to enjoy a day of sport and community engagement."
Follow Exiles Together on Twitter.