| The British
Asian Rugby Association (BARA) was the brainchild
of Ikram Butt, the first British Asian to
represent England at rugby league and Pakistan
at rugby union and Jug Johal, who has played
rugby union to a high standard. Other key
players include Jag Johal, Junaid Malik,
Nigel Goodings and Shahid Rafiq, amongst
many important others. The above group were
heavily involved in the South Asia Bulls,
an exhibition team which promoted both codes
of the game amongst the South Asian communities,
before last year setting up BARA.
One of BARA's primary aims is to work with
South Asian communities with the help of
the Youth Charter in developing young people,
through the medium of sport/rugby and also
helping them to over come the social, economic,
cultural and religious barriers that currently
exist in the UK and Ireland.
BARA provides an empathetic, safe and friendly
environment for children and young people
to participate and explore their talents.
The main point of our strategy is to develop
sport/rugby within the local communities,
to provide positive role models and to use
rugby as a medium to address key issues
in our communities - such as community cohesion,
low educational attainment, capacity building,
citizenship, crime diversity, healthy lifestyles,
cultural & religious understanding etc.
In addition to helping to attract the South
Asian communities to the sport, BARA is
also working with rugby's dual governing
bodies to help facilitate the progression
of participation within all areas of the
game.
As well as being a point of contact for
players, we will also be working with the
rugby unions within the UK & Ireland
(RFU, SRU, WRU & IRU) and the rugby
football league to encourage and assist
them to address relevant issues within their
own infrastructures.
To find out more about BARA's
aims, please visit the Aims of BARA
page.
Get involved
We are always looking for volunteers so
if you are interested in helping or working
with BARA then please visit the Working
for BARA section of our website.
BARA is always looking for sponsors
and would welcome any donations
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