El Ahmadi, Dunne and Bent visit the Birmingham Mosque

[Louzie0]

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/TV/FeaturesDetail/0,,10265~2958761,00.html

I thought this was very interesting and wondered how many Villa fans had seen it. Dunne and El Ahmadi make good interviewees and seem to have enjoyed the visit and appreciated the work of the people at the Mosque and the point of the visit from a Villa perspective.  (Bent looked as if he liked being there but any comments he may have made are not included.)  I also thought that Dunne's comments towards the end of the clip about  the availability of a place to pray and the 'kick it out' campaign were thoughtful, timely and pertinent.

Apologies if the link is crap but I don't know how to make films work on here, yet!  Perhaps a more IT savvy poster (or Mod) could improve it.  Anyway, good on the Villa and the players concerned for an excellent initiative.

Only one extra comment - maybe there could be a way to include women and girls in future, in this kind of 'community outreach' visit. We are fans as well.  The kids are all potential players, of course; boys and girls.

Islam is a world religion which transcends specific 'culture'-imposed costume and behaviour regulations, as we know from watching the Olympics and seeing world-class female athletes, this summer. Everybody deserves a chance to make their mark as a superb player or even just to turn up on a saturday in a claret and blue scarf.
 The world is ours as Villa fans!

[1874]

Saw this story on the OS the other day. As a Muslim myself I thought it was a nice gesture from the club.

[Percy McCarthy]

Nice story, well done all involved.

[paulcomben]

That story is way too positive and admirable to get any mainstream media coverage. Sadly.

[peter w]

Although not just Villa doing this type of thing seeing the location of our ground has many muslims living around it Its good that we are being a club that they can identify with.

[martin o`who??]

I`d much rather they visited the training pitch.

[olaftab]

Great gesture and some very good comments from you Louise.  However  the mosque visited is not local to Aston.  There are at least three within half a mile of Villa Park.

[N'ZMAV]

Did Dunne & Bent pray for their futures?