Khalsa Football Federation & Panjab FA Win Sport England Community Sports Project BEDSA 2020

The annual British Ethnic Diversity Awards took place on 14th March 2020, at the Hilton Hotel Park Lane, London. They are designed to not only recognise and celebrate the contribution of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities in sport and physical activity but inspire the next generation.

The Sporting Equals British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards aim to create a positive impact towards the sport sector, where more role models from diverse communities in various sports are a priority to increase participation. 

The KFF network of clubs have been providing Grassroots to the local Punjabi community for over 55 years and have doubled youth football in the last 3 years to over 60 teams in 2019 including the introduction of girls football last year.

The merger with the Panjab FA was undertaken with multiple aims in mind but with the common shared goal of increasing participation for British South Asians in football, it became clear this merger was pivotal. With 300 new participants, the introduction of multiple girls' teams and a real investment in youth participation the work being done by this organisation is truly staggering.

This organisation has worked tirelessly to build communities that are actively engaging in sport here in Britain. British South Asians are incredibly underrepresented at an elite level in sport here in Britain and so to tackle that issue as well as issues of inactivity the Khalsa Football Federation & Panjab FA are very deserving of this recognition at the 2020 BEDSAs. 

When speaking to Sport England in regards to the BEDSAs as well as Khalsa Football Federation and Panjab FA's award; Phil Smith, Sport England Director of Sport said: "Sport England were absolutely delighted to renew our sponsorship of the BEDSAs again this year, as well as the Community Sports Project of the Year Award.

The BEDSAs are a fundamental part of celebrating ethnic diversity success in all areas of sport, and we are very proud to be able to support Sporting Equals to deliver the event annually. I want to offer my personal congratulations to this year's Community Sports Project of the Year Award winners, Khalsa Football Federation & Panjab FA, for all of their incredible work providing Asian football teams in England a platform to compete competitively at grass roots level."