Project to document Bengali football heritage in London’s East End
Ansar Ahmed Ullah
Contributing Editor,Shottobani
London: A major new heritage project has launched in Tower Hamlets to document and preserve the largely untold history of football within the borough’s British Bengali community over the past 50 years. Bengal United: The Story of British Bangladeshi Football in Tower Hamlets is a Swadhinata Trust project supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. It will trace the development of football in the community from the arrival of large numbers of Bengalis in London’s East End during the 1970s to the present day.
The project is being led by local historian and author Tharik Hussain, who grew up playing for Bangladeshi-founded teams including Stepney FC, Sporting Bengal and Beaumont Athletic. Over the next year, Tharik Hussain will work with young volunteers and community members to collect photographs, documents, memorabilia and first-hand memories from more than five decades of local football.“For people like me who grew up in Tower Hamlets, football was never just a game,”said Hussain. “It was where lifelong friendships were made, where we found community and where many of us first began to feel that this part of London belonged to us too.” He said football had played an important role in British Bangladeshi life, helping communities respond to racism in the 1970s and providing young people with positive opportunities during the social problems of the 1990s.
“Football has played so many different roles in British Bangladeshi life,” Hussain said. “In the early years,teams and youth organisations became part of the struggle against racism.By the 1990s, when drugs and substance abuse were devastating parts of our community, football gave many young people somewhere to go, something positive to focus on and people to look up to.” He added that football tours broadened the horizons of young East Enders, while village and Upazila tournaments today are helping British Bangladeshis reconnect with the places their parents and grandparents came from.
Despite its significance, the history of organised Bangladeshi football in Tower Hamlets has never been comprehensively documented. Many people involved in the earliest teams are now elderly or have passed away, while photographs, old kits, flyers and other memorabilia remain in private collections and risk being lost. Young volunteers involved in Bengal United will receive training in local-history research and oral-history interviewing before helping record the experiences of players, coaches, managers, organisers, families and others who shaped the community’s football culture.
Jamil Iqbal, Chair of the Swadhinata Trust, said,“Football is one of the great untold stories of the British Bangladeshi experience in Tower Hamlets. It has been part of our community for generations, but so much of that history survives only in people’s memories, family photographs and personal collections. “We are delighted that Tharik is leading Bengal United. He brings considerable experience as a historian, writer and heritage professional, but importantly he also knows this story from the inside. Our hope is that this project will finally give this vital part of our heritage the visibility and recognition it deserves and preserve it for future generations.”
The material gathered will be shared through a free online resource, educational publications and a touring exhibition, while oral histories and selected digitised material will be permanently preserved through Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives. The project is being delivered with support from Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, Queen Mary University of London, Four Corners and the Oral History Society.It will culminate in a public celebration bringing together the stories of generations of people who helped make football an integral part of British Bangladeshi life in Tower Hamlets.