Emdad Rahman

"I like giving young people a chance"

Emdad Rahman is a superstar of our community. He regularly helps out with fundraising initiatives; be it for school funds, children's Christmas parties, funds for communities affected by disaster, women's refuges and a soup kitchen at Christmas. He has thrice run the London marathon for local causes and also runs the British 10K every year to raise money for the homeless at the Whitechapel mission.

A qualified level 9 football referee, Emdad is the only ethnic minority published football poet in the world. Through his individual sporting endeavours and his published football poetry, Emdad has been a credit to the borough of Barking & Dagenham. He is an eminent scribe and through his various writings, including his poetry (www.football-poems.com) and his blog has proven to be an expert in modern and contemporary avant-garde writing.

I would thoroughly recommend Emdad for recognition based on his outstanding services to the community through sport (running, walking, refereeing, football coaching, football poetry), though there are 2 or three other strands for which I believe he could be considered and could easily receive an award for. Emdad has been at the forefront of community service for many years and has been recognised by his community. An award as such couldn't be more deserved and prove to be the icing on the cake.