The event highlighted FURD’s grassroots work in promoting social cohesion, particularly among young people from diverse backgrounds. Through football, mentoring, and community outreach, FURD has created safe and inclusive spaces where differences are celebrated and common ground is found.
FURD’s approach to cohesion has become a national example of how sport can heal divisions,
foster lasting relationships across race and religion, support integration, challenge
discrimination and help build a shared sense of belonging.
Brian Deane, former England footballer and coach, and Mukhtar Mohammed, a British
long-distance runner and former FURD football coach. Both shared moving stories about their upbringing, the challenges they faced, how sport and community support helped shape their journeys, and what cohesion means.
“Cohesion isn’t just a policy objective,” said Deane. “It’s something you build on the ground,
in schools, youth clubs. That’s what FURD does.”
“FURD means cohesion, and my experience being with people at FURD made me who I am today,” said Mukthar Mohammed.
The event created interest in how FURD’s model could be replicated in other towns and
cities. With trust in institutions declining and communities feeling increasingly isolated, the
work FURD is doing offers a hopeful blueprint for connection and belonging.
Abtisam Mohamed MP, who hosted the event, noted, “What FURD shows us is that cohesion isn’t abstract—it’s practical, powerful, and urgent. We need more of such an approach to be
modelled in communities.”
FURD's visit to Parliament was not just a celebration, but a call to action: invest in
community cohesion, and invest in the future of our society.