The Gurkha Cup Tournament was organised with the aim of providing outdoor entertainment to the Nepalese community in the UK where everyone could converge to meet their friends and family whilst watching highly competitive games. It was also to create an interest in the younger generation to give them an opportunity to hone and display their football skills in the hope that they may one day play for a club in the UK. We are hoping that the day will come sooner rather than later.
Since its inception in 2003, the Gurkha Cup Tournament has proved to be immensely popular attracting huge crowds and ever more participants. A total of 22 teams participated in the 2003 tournament. In 2004, we had 28 teams participating in the tournament on top of 3 veteran teams that was introduced to add some light fun and entertainment to the game. Participants consisted of servicing Gurkha soldiers from the Brigade of Gurkhas and many civil businesses, organizations and clubs coming from as far away as Kent, Wales and London. This was another noted achievement for the Association.
The 2005 tournament was organised on Sunday, 28 th May, a day before the May Bank Holiday, so that participants, spectators and the organisers alike could put their feet up the next day to rest and recuperate after a hard days work. Such was the response from participants that we had to limit main teams to 28 and veteran teams to 8. We would have been very hard pressed to take any more teams due to the number of grounds and referees that were available to us. Despite a few hiccups, the tournament went smoothly and was indeed a great success. So impressed were the participants and spectators alike that we have had nothing but good positive feedbacks from them.
The tournament has indeed achieved its aim as more and more people are coming to watch it and to meet their friends and families whilst meeting and making new friends. It has also slowly but surely attracted young generations of players who may one day be our future football stars whilst providing fun and entertainment to the older generation.
