BLACKBURN team AHF FC will travel to Wembley on Sunday to be recognised for their dedication to grassroots football at the 2015 FA Community Awards. after winning the prestigious FA Charter Standard Club of the Year Award.

AHF FC achieved Charter Standard status in its first year and has recently gained the FA Respect Award.

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Founded in 2012 with 60 children it has since grown to nearly 300 boys and girls attending the academy every Saturday.

The academy has an excellent ethos of positive encouragement and technical development of the children, run via 15 coaches with a mix of level 1 and level 2 qualifications. Additionally 17 of the club’s volunteers have developed into referees which assist in the local leagues.

AHF is working closely to strengthen links with Manchester City to provide development opportunities for children within the community, many from differing backgrounds.

On the day, AHF FC will be collecting the national award in front of football legends set to include Sir Geoff Hurst MBE, Martin Keown, Casey Stoney and Pat Jennings. They will then join Sir Geoff on the pitch in front of an expected crowd of 90,000 football fans, at half-time of this year’s FA Community Shield, presented by McDonald’s, between Premier League winners Chelsea FC and FA Cup holders Arsenal FC.

Over 2,400 nominations were put forward for this year’s FA and McDonald’s Community Awards, with grassroots football volunteers being recognised at county and regional level, culminating in the national ceremony which takes place ahead of a greatly anticipated match with the close London rivals.

McDonald’s Director of Football, Sir Geoff Hurst, part of the national judging panel, comments: “This year we have been overwhelmed with the number of nominations we received for the awards.

“The standard of nominations continues to remain at an extremely high level and we have read about some incredibly inspiring individuals over the last few months. Clubs like AHF FC keep the grassroots game alive in this country. Their efforts give children and adults of all abilities the opportunity to enjoy and participate in the beautiful game in a safe environment, and without them the game that we know and love couldn’t exist.

“The awards are an opportunity for us to thank them for their dedication and I’m looking forward to meeting them at the ceremony to congratulate them personally on winning a much deserved award.”

The Club Chairman Noormohamed Valli said: “We’re so pleased at winning the award. Knowing we’ve been nominated by people within the community is so gratifying.  The award really does recognise the amazing work our volunteers have put into the Club over the last 3 years”. 

Club secretary Yasir Sufi spoke on behalf of everyone at AHF FC.

“We’re all still completely shocked at being chosen nationally. It’s a fantastic achievement and a testimony of the relentless work done by our volunteers.  We really can’t wait till Sunday!”