There was a special football event before the Premier League fixture between Brentford and Leicester City last month. On Sunday 24 October, a short walk from Brentford Community Stadium, at Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, the two trust organisations came together to provide participants of their respective inclusion programmes the unique opportunity to take part in a football showcase. Participants took part in a round robin tournament before getting into a larger game with all players involved.

Matt Bray, Health and Wellbeing Manager at Leicester City in the Community said, “It was a great experience taking our participants to an away fixture, and reinforced Brentford Community Sports Trust’s reputation as a true community club.”

After the match at Gunnersbury Park, all participants had the opportunity to walk across to Brentford Community Stadium to watch the Premier League fixture between the two professional clubs. Leicester won the game 2-1.

John Kisby, a lecturer in supported learning at West Thames College relished the opportunity for his students. He said: “The students played with a wonderful spirit and great respect for each other. I saw the excitement this brought to our learners at West Thames College weeks before the event even took place!

"To then have the chance to go and watch the match at the new Brentford stadium was a real treat, seeing their faces and hearing the cheers throughout is something I will cherish always. On behalf of West Thames College I would like to extend our gratitude to Chris Tribe and his team at Brentford FC Community Sports Trust for giving us all a magical day.”

Chris Tribe, Brentford FC Community Sports Trust Disability Sports Provision Manager, highlighted the success and importance of events such as this. He said: “Since the Club’s promotion to the Premier League and the Trust’s recent move to Gunnersbury Park Sports Hub, it’s been a priority of ours to organise a partnership event with another club, so the match against Leicester was an obvious opportunity, given the fact we already have close links with Leicester City in the Community. It was wonderful to see our two groups of participants come together for a fun-filled day of football including the friendly matches at Gunnersbury Park, which were played in great spirits throughout.”

To find out more about disability and inclusion programmes please email [email protected]. Pictures from the event can be seen on the Trust's website here. More about all Trust activities can be seen here. More on the new Gunnersbury Park hub can be seen here.