Fisher In Iraq To Set Up Links With Refugee Camp

Last updated : 24 September 2017 By CNS Sport

Coventry City Chairman Tim Fisher has revealed that he has been in Iraq setting up links with a refugee camp.

Writing in his progamme notes for the game against Exeter City, the Otium Entertainment Group and Sky Blue Sports & Leisure Director wrote: "I will be talking about a trip I recently made to a refugee camp in Iraq and how Coventry City will be supporting those living in the camp.

"Barely a day goes by when here in the UK, we do not see the latest news reports from the Syrian refugee camps in the Middle East. I had the opportunity to visit the Darashakran camp in Northern Iraq last week. It was an unforgettable experience.

"The camp is about 40km north of Erbil, a city in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. There are several refugee camps in this region. Some 13,000 refugees are in this one camp alone, fleeing the war with ISIS and its population has increased constantly since it was set up four years ago.

"In this camp, the conditions are very poor with little by the way of sanitation facilities, which obviously has an impact on the health and well being of the refugees seeking shelter there, just last week they ran out of various medicine.

"These people and their plight have been forgotten - but we simply must not allow this to happen.

"To help manage social problems in the camp, the UN has installed a five a side football pitch and now there are fourteen teams of all ages and a league running in the camp truly showing the power and inspiration of football.

"This is where Coventry City can and will help these people. The fight against ISIS goes on in Syria and Iraq with people continuiing to be displaced from their homes and every day lives.

"Following conversations with CEO David Boddy, Richard Stevens and David Busst on my return from Iraq, I am delighted to say that Coventry City have arranged to send a huge amount of old, used and second hand football kit to the camp to support and run the football efforts in the camp.

"The people I met, both refugees and workers in the camp are truly remarkable and visiting the camp really does put our lifes in the UK into context.

"We are the first English club to visit and support a refugee camp in this manner and this is something we should all be very proud of, as we help some of the most disadvantaged people in the world."