Soccer Nation 09

(Date of issue: Thursday, 2 July 2009)

Carlisle City Council Aces and the Carlisle Bengal Tigers football teams met on a hot and humid July afternoon to contest the annual Festival of Nations Challenge match. The teams kicked off at 1pm on Wednesday 1 July, at the Sheepmount, in Bitts Park.

The gathered crowd were treated an energetic end to end game, which saw the Tigers, the current holders of the Culture Bazaar Football Match Trophy, 3 – 1 up at half time. However, the tables turned dramatically in the second half, with the Aces clawing back four goals and the Tigers only adding one to their score. The Aces flourished in the last ten minutes, pinning the Tigers in their own half, until the whistle, with the final score at 5 – 4 to the Aces, keeping hold of the Challenge Shield for the second year in a row.

The Challenge Match is part of the Festival of Nations Programmes, which is about bringing diverse communities together. The annual match is a great way of doing that and having a bit of fun in the process.

This year’s Carlisle City Council Festival of Nations will be held on Saturday, 4 July and will include musicians and dancers celebrating cultures from around the world performing in the city centre shopping area. The global street party is free and will be held between 10.30am and 4pm.

Thousands of visitors sample the free Carlisle City Council event each year and this year’s performers includes dancers from the Punjab, drummers from Africa, a Caribbean Steel Band, Hellenic Dancers, Polish dancers, a Samba band with bagpipes, rounded off with food from Asia.

Photographs of the day:

Below - Abdul Mumin and Gavin Capstick chase down the ball

Below - Juwal Amhed on the attack, up against Charles Bennett left back, who looks on as his Goalie Gary Oliver makes a vital clearance.

Below - Alistair Moore scores the winning goal past (GK) Maruf Ahmed and defender Koish Alom.