| Somalis in Manchester | - Somalis are one of the oldest African communities in Britain
- Manchester's Somali community has grown rapidly in the past 12 years
- it is centred on Rusholme and Moss Side
- majority of Somalis are Sunni Muslims
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20-year-old Mahamud Osman has a passion for football. As a teenager, he even had trials for Manchester City. But after leaving Abraham Moss High School, Osman decided to set up a football club to help the mainly Somali community of Rusholme. The first kit for Manchester Somalis FC he paid for with his own money. Back at the club’s storeroom on Claremont Road West, he brings out a shirt with pride. "If you look at the kit now, it’s pretty small. It’s these under-15s who are playing now. If they tried to wear it now, it would be too small!" Osman’s goal is simple: to keep youngsters in his community off the streets and out of trouble. And he believes football is the key:  | | Parklife: Whitworth Park Rangers |
"I’ve always felt that football is more than sport,” he said. "Football can break down barriers. For instance, lots of people feel there is a barrier between Somalis and West Indians. With all these different communities, I think it’s the perfect way of breaking those barriers. "The most important thing football can do is to educate them, discipline them and teach them respect. I also figured that it could be a way of sending a message that this was a friendly community, that it was nothing to do with all the problems in society." Whitworth Park Rangers Osman learned what football can do after arriving from Somalia at the age of ten. Struggling at first to grasp English, he soon discovered that he could earn respect and make friends at school on the football pitch. So when a group of Somali youngsters in asked him to referee their game in nearby Whitworth Park, he decided to organise a proper club. "I felt a duty to the community to do this: no-one else is going to come forward to do it. I could have just played myself in Sunday League but I chose to take responsibility and try to organise this club." | "When one of the youngsters is playing for this club, he’s got something to motivate him. If he’s going to follow the wrong path, that will stop." | | Mohamud Osman |
Manchester Somalis FC became Whitworth Park Rangers and the under-15s have just completed a successful first season in the Reddish and District Junior Football League, reaching the semi-finals of the U-15 Plate Cup competition. There is no shortage of willing players: there are 250 youngsters on the club’s books desperate to wear the Rangers shirt. Trouble is, with no sponsorship, Whitworth Park can only afford to field the one team. No funding "We tried to apply for funding through Sport Relief but that didn’t succeed," said Osman. "So we fund it from our own pockets – two quid, three quid, ten quid whatever – to buy kit, and use it for transport. And we ask people in the community to donate money. There are league fees, referees fees, training equipment, kit needs to be washed and that’s the smallest thing.  | | Film maker: Conor Hartnett |
"This club is owned by the people of this area, so you always go back to the parents and people who live in this community and you ask them to put more funding towards it so we can help to keep their kids of the streets." Osman’s efforts in Rusholme were noticed by local filmmaker Conor Hartnett who shot a DVD chronicling the club’s first season. He feels strongly that the vast wealth in professional football is failing to reach local teams like Whitworth Park Rangers: “Manchester likes to present itself as quite serious about sport. For example, Sportcity is quite an achievement. But here on the doorstep of where Man City used to play at Maine Road, it seems there is something going on here which is making more of a difference than stadia, or council initiatives or European finals. It’s football being played by the kids and it’s making a difference on the ground.” "I just find it odd that we can spend hundreds of millions of pounds on stadia, and yet when it comes to actually making a difference to the lives of 50 or 100 kids locally, there’s no money in the pot. And that’s what upsets me. If you’re going to value sport, then you value it in this way too.. you put money into grassroots sport, you try and support it on your doorstep. And I just don’t see that happening." Life skills Under Osman's guidance at Whitworth Park, life skills are as much a part of the under-15's training sessions as passing and shooting.  | | A young Somali boy enjoys training |
"When they play football, I expect them to be a role model for the little ones and try to teach them some of the things that they learn in life. Because you’ve got kids who are seven-year-olds who are coming to training and watching these lads. I think these kids are going to look up to them because the under-15s are the first group playing for Whitworth Park who are doing well." "When one of the youngsters is playing for this club, the first thing he’ll be thinking is: I’ve got a game on Sunday morning, I’ve got training on Wednesday afternoon, I’ve got to get fit. He’s going to compete to play for that club, he’s got something to motivate him. If he’s going to follow the wrong path, that will stop." Whitworth Park Rangers will be playing their home games at Manchester Academy (formerly Ducie High) next to Whitworth Park from next season | 
