FROM CAMPION TO CHAMPION

If you happened to be in the curry capital of Britain and not particularly interested in Bradford Park Avenue or Bradford City, then why not take a trip to the Manningham district in the city where you may find on a side street a pitch with a single "stand" running half way along the touchline with no seats and a corrugated iron roof. Bradford, an old mill town, has been used to having a melting pot of workers and their families living side by side and this city based club mirrors the make up up of the city.

The AFC Campion football club, formed in 1963, started as the St Edmund Campion Youth Club. It has memorabilia adorning the club house walls and has proved to be a well founded community club. Its early matches were played in the Bradford Sunday League. Over the decades, everyone associated with the club has found a job to do and their many hours of devoted service has been rewarded with a promotion this season to the Toolstation Northern Counties East League Division One.

For the players this means going semi-professional so there will a bit more money flowing through the account, but more importantly, those back room staff have shown what can be achieved with a large helping of community spirit.

This club is sited in the heart of the Bradford which in June 1995 and 15 years ago (July 2001) suffered infamous riots, where a massive "mix" of cultures and races created ethnic tension, aggression and violence. In the aftermath there were nearly 300 arrests and 200 jail sentences, totalling 604 years handed down. A BMW business was burned to the ground and other public buildings fire bombed and looted. Unemployment was measured at 40% and of corse there were many associated issues.

AFC Campion, in the heart of the problem area, decided to play their part in the area's healing process and immediately ran a football tournament which gradually brought people together. This move led to a funding award to build a new club house and in 2006 the club hosted the Manningham World Cup was held, bringing teams from the Caribbean, Europe and Africa took part. The "English" side did not make the final and Jamaica and Palestine got to the final.

Taking on the new league means that the profile of the club has been raised and this parallels Bradford's urban revolution, as the new city centre, recently completed around the Broadway Shopping centre and City Park, is making the city a whole lot better to live in, replacing a "blot on the landscape" created during the decline of the city's textile and engineering industry.

The first fixture for Campion is on August 6th in East Yorkshire against Westella and Willerby so there will be a lot of travelling and Campion will have to strengthen their squad with players from further afield, but this is progress for the club and inevitably the region.