By JARROD POTTER
MINARET College excelled at the recently held Bachar Houli Cup – finishing third in the state-wide tournament with a 108-point victory over Al Siraat.
The four-week tournament has been an initiative of Richmond player Bachar Houli – the AFL’s first Muslim footballer – and provided seven schools across Victoria the chance to play.
In the third place decider, Minaret easily accounted for Al Sirrat College- with a convincing 15.20 (110) to 0.2 (2) win.
Minaret College head of physical education and sport Adrian Pop said the school is thrilled to be involved in the Bachar Houli Cup and all the players are keen to lace up the boots again for next year’s tournament.
Fayaz Shinwary, Osman Alam, Ornal Memedovski and Said Hamid Sadath were named in the best for the college and team coach Sajid Chaudhery was named an inaugural member of the Bachar Houli Academy.
“We’ve been very fortunate to play in this because of Bachar Houli – it’s a great initiative,” Pop said.
“We’re looking forward to the next year of the tournament as it’s getting bigger every year and I think the students are seeing there are great opportunities to show their skills and coming from different backgrounds and it is opening doors for them.
“It’s a great opportunity for the students to express themselves through sport.”
Minaret year 10 student Fayaz Shinwary was the college’s star forward throughout the carnival, especially the final in which he kicked six goals, and was named the college’s most valuable player and presented with a trophy by Houli.
Shinwary said it was fantastic to be a part of the tournament after starting playing football recently.
“Not long – I started playing a couple of years ago with friends and at school,” Shinwary said.
“It was pretty good – good to see different people from other backgrounds and pretty good playing with them.
“It’s a pretty good sport – it’s very enjoyable and it’s good to see a lot of people getting involved.”
Keysborough based Mt Hira College was the other City of Greater Dandenong based school to participate in the Bachar Houli Cup.
