A FOOTBALL tournament held to unite the community and raise funds for the victim of the Manchester terror attack has been hailed a huge success.

More than 40 junior teams from East Lancashire and beyond took part in the Unite the Community event at Witton Park.

The tournament was a joint initiative between Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Blackburn United FC and the Blackburn Referees Associations who officiated all of the matches then held their own annual competition.

Ismail Esat, who helped run the event, said: “The purpose of the event was to bring together people from all backgrounds and show unity against the barbaric attacks that deeply affected everyone.

“It was a great day all round and I would like to thank all the volunteers and helpers.

“It was wonderful to see clubs from the region uniting for football. A big thank you to local councillor Suleman Khonat and Colin Hargreaves for their help as well Blackburn with Darwen Council for their support.

“All the referees provided their services for free.”

The tournament ran until 5pm and, during the day, more than 100 trophies were handed out to the participants with guests from as far as Oldham coming to support the event.

Soli Khonat, president of News Federation and Moulana Tayab Sidat, chairman of Interfaith in Blackburn and Darwen were among the guests who handed out trophies.

As well as the football, there were plenty of stalls with food and drink available throughout the day.

Esat said the the annual referees tournament is held to bring more community cohesion between referees from all backgrounds and 45 match officials took part.

“It was a great effort from the referees,” he added. “They worked from 7am until after 6pm without getting paid and gave their time and effort to make sure everything went ok.”

Esat said organisers were delighted with how the event went.

He added: “The committee were delighted on what was a perfect day

“In times where people from all different backgrounds are distancing themselves from one another, it was paramount that an effort was made to unite us all once again and that really did happen.’

“Unite the Community really did Unite the Community and we had some great feedback from clubs that took part.”

n Roll of honour:

Under 14s: Winners Blackburn Elite; Runners-Up: Pleckgate Under 13s: Winners Darwen Rangers; Runners-up: Blackburn United Under 12s: Winners: Feniscowle and Pleasington Green; Runners-up Blackburn United Under 11s: Winners: Burnley Bel Under 10s: Winners Greeat Harwood; runners-up Blackburn United Under 9s: Winners Junior Gardeners; Runners-up Blackburn United Under 8s: Winners: Mill Hill Blue; Runners-up AFC Darwen

n The event was supported by: Tudor Nursery, Star Tissue UK Blackburn United Blackburn Referees Association, Floor’ z’ Doors, Churchill Private Hire and the North West News Federation.