Bengali diaspora in and around London zoomed in at Arbour Park, home Slough Town Football Club on Sunday to celebrate IFA Shield UK’s annual football tournament organised by Heritage Bengal Global (HBG). It was a festive atmosphere throughout the day with several food stalls selling Bengali delicacies and sweets.
After a well fought game, Mohammedan Sporting Fans emerged as the winner of the SNU IFA Shield UK for Men beating the Indian High Commission's team at 2-0, which had former India international’s Jules Alberto playing for them.
The women team saw a very exciting round of penalty shoot-out where Mohun Bagan won the IIHM IFA Shield UK for Women. The children’s shield was won by East Bengal.
All the players of the tournament signed a congratulatory card for the SAFF Cup winning India Team, which was later handed over to the Indian Deputy High Commissioner Sujit Ghosh.
The event was attended by representatives of the British Royal Army and Royal Air Force, who handed over the winning trophies along with the Deputy High Commissioner Mr Ghosh and representatives of the lead sponsor GBS.
The event sponsors Tushar Fas Ghosh of ETOS from London, Surajit Nandi of Floral from Kolkata and Deepak Pramanik of Aidias based in the UK and India, expressed similar feelings of happiness at the way the event was delivered engaging the diaspora.
The director of Heritage Bengal Global, Anirban Mukhopadhyay, thanked everyone for their participation and announced their plan to organise a diaspora cricket event in August, called the Indian Professionals Cricket League (IPCL) for the Independence Day Cup.
