The 2024 edition of the Ramadan Tapeball Competition again brought together communities from different areas, this time at a new venue, the Frame 2 complex in Bradford on Sunday, 24 March 2024. Two teams from Bradford, two from Leeds, and a team each from Huddersfield, Batley, Rotherham and Skipton all took part in what was a brilliant day for bringing together the communities through an informal version of cricket.
Tapeball is a tennis ball wrapped in electrical tape and is used in playing backyard cricket. This modification of the tennis ball gives it greater weight, speed and distance while still being easier to play with than the conventional cricket ball.
The increasing popularity of the tapeball in informal, local cricket has transformed the way games are played.
The Yorkshire Ramadan Tapeball Competition is one of the initiatives Yorkshire Cricket is showcasing this month to highlight and support Ramadan 2024.
Sohail Raz, the Diverse Communities Manager, organised the community competition with the Core Cities team and said: “At the Yorkshire Cricket Foundation, we believe cricket brings people together, no matter where they come from or what they believe. That’s why we set up the Ramadan Competition—to celebrate Ramadan and promote understanding between different communities. The event provided lots of positive feedback, with people from all backgrounds playing in a tapeball tournament, sharing a meal together, and enjoying delicious food. We hope this event encourages others to come together and celebrate our community’s diversity. We’re excited to plan more events like this in the future.”
The day started off with teams playing their opening matches against their respective opponents, 4 games in total. The winners of each game would progress to the cup semi-finals, the teams that lost their respective matches would go down to the lower bracket semi-finals (shield). After some brilliant matches, the eventual winners of the cup were Bradford Peel Park, whose players performed consistently throughout the competition. The shield trophy was lifted by Leeds Wristy Strokers, their standout player with the bat was Tom White.
After the award ceremony it was time for Maghreb prayer, this is when Muslims who are observing the month of Ramadan break their fast. Once the congregational prayer was observed everyone sat down to eat together. Former Pakistan international player Junaid Khan and current Yorkshire CCC bowling coach Kabir Ali, who presented the awards, also joined the participants to enjoy the food.
“These events are very important for bringing communities together, it helps others that are not observing the month of Ramadan to learn and discuss the difficulties of engaging in physically exhausting activities whilst they are fasting. More events like these need to be held to increase the love between different beliefs and communities,” said Kabir Ali.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam. The overall purpose of the fast is to gain Taqwa (which means to gain piety or God-consciousness). This is achieved through an increase in prayers, reading the Qur’an, self-reflection and self-discipline.
This year, in the UK Ramadan 2024 started in the evening of Monday 11 March and ends the evening of Wednesday, 10 April.
The dates of Ramadan and Eid depend on the moon cycle, and when the new crescent moon is first sighted, so these dates can vary slightly.
Skipton Hanover captain Muhammad Sudais said: “It’s our first-time taking part in an event like this, we would like to thank the staff who have put this together. It’s brilliant to see and interact with teams from across Yorkshire, our team really enjoyed it and are already looking forward to the next one.”
A big thank you to our partners Regal Foods, participants and volunteers for supporting us with the day.
