Palestinian international turns out for the Cowboys

The lowest rung of the football pyramid was today graced with the presence of a genuine international, as Morad Fareed, a player with the Palestinian national team made a guest appearance for Easton Cowboys FC.

Alas Morad’s twinkle toed skills were not enough to stop the Cowboys Reserves from losing 1-3 to Clifton Rockets on the opening day of the Downs League season.

This story behind this bizarre turn of events dates back to earlier this year when the Cowboys became the first British football team to tour the Occupied Territories. They played in Hebron, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Abu Dis, and made many friends and contacts.

On their return to the UK they vowed to tell people about the things they had seen and the insights they had gained into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A few weeks ago the UK government refused tourist visas to the Palestinian national under 19 team that had been set to play a series of games with Premiership youth teams. It seemed that barring these young players had more to do from avoiding any reference to Palestine in the run up to England’s clash with Israel on September 8th than the official reason that they ‘were too poor’. This decision incensed Morad, a US-born player with the Palestinian squad, who came over from his home in New York to ensure if the Under 19s were not able to play, then at least one Palestinian international would make their presence felt in the UK this week.

Morad is on a whistle stop tour of British towns and cities that includes London, Blackburn and Exeter. When it came to selecting a British team to play with there seemed only one logical choice - Easton Cowboys, a unique club who, if not Bristol’s most successful football team, are certainly its most intrepid.

Since their formation in 1992, the Cowboys have toured in the Lancondon jungles of South East Mexico, played cricket with an inner city team in Compton, South Central LA and hosted teams from all over the world at their Alternative World Cups.

For further information contact Will Simpson on 0117 9354507 or 0779 8873577