Jewel in crown for dad

GOLDEN goal . . . Jewel Miah wins the Pride of the Civil Service North West award

AN OLDHAM man who was awarded an MBE for using football to bring communities together has won two further accolades.

Jewel Miah, from Coppice, won the Pride of the Civil Service North-West for his contribution to voluntary work in the category of sports and recreation, as well as the Manchester Football Association's volunteer of the year award.

He has also been put forward for the Civil Service's national award and will find out the results next month.

Role

This comes just months after Jewel was made an MBE for voluntary services to British-Bengali football.

Jewel, a border force officer at Manchester Airport, played an important role in introducing junior football in Glodwick through his chairmanship of the junior team, Red Star Bengal FC.

He soon became a widely respected and recognised member of the community and went on to organise tournaments involving Asian teams from around the UK.

As a role model to the younger members of the Asian community he has been credited with using the sport as a force for good to salvage youngsters who may otherwise be lost to drugs, crime, violence and anti-social behaviour.

He is also chairman of Oldham Veterans Football Club, which consists of over-35s getting back into playing football.

Proud

He says it has inspired the start of vet teams in other towns such as Rochdale and Bradford.

They recently returned from a football tour in the UAE, where they played in four matches against local teams.

Jewel, a father of three, said: "I was proud to receive the awards, after many years of volunteering for communities in Oldham.

"I've always tried to create opportunities for the young people.

"You don't realise you're volunteering, because I enjoy it. It's a part of my life.

"It's all about breaking barriers. Hopefully it will inspire other ethnic minorities to come forward.

"For me it's about promoting my local town and it's satisfying to see it in a positive light on a national level.

"There are a lot of people out there doing similar work who also deserve credit."