Barry Town United have struck up a firm friendship with Panjab FA, a team representing areas in North East India and North West Pakistan.
Panjab have played in two World Cups, while they have also faced England C, Liverpool’s under-23 team and Burton Albion.
This weekend Panjab play Welsh Premier League Barry Town at Jenner Park in the Vale of Glamorgan (3pm).
Association chairman Harpreet Singh has talked warmly about Gavin Chesterfield, describing the Barry’s manager as ‘a man who has everything football should represent and one of the nicest men I have met in years.”
Panjab include a striker – Amar Purewal from Sunderland – who is the first British player to score in a senior World Cup final since Sir Geoff Hurst in 1966.
Purewal, aged 28, fired Panjab ahead in the 2016 Confederation of Independent Football Associations World Cup final, before host nation Abkhazia levelled with two minutes remaining. With no extra time scheduled, the match went straight to penalties and Panjab lost on sudden death.
“I didn’t realise I was the first British scorer in a senior final since Sir Geoff Hurst for some time,” said Purewal.
“Sir Geoff Hurst is a national hero and to even have my name next to his is a great feeling.
“The game was tight and there were 10,000 fans in the stadium. It was a great atmosphere.
“I remember pulling away from a defender and I hit my shot early with the outside of my foot because I knew the keeper wouldn’t expect it.”
Conifa is the international governing body for non-Fifa affiliated associations.
Panjab have played in two Conifa World Cups, following their runners-up slot three years by earning a place in the last eight of last year’s competition which was hosted by Barawa, a region in Somalia, with all matches played in and around London.
Padania, representing eight northern regions of Italy, defeated Panjab 2-0, while the eventual champions were Karpatalia, representing the Hungarian minority in Carpathian Ruthenia.
Players in the Panjab squad are descendants of ethnic Punjabis who emigrated out of the region in the northern part of the Indian sub-continent to other parts of the World, mainly Britain, North America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The team was formed in 2014 in the United Kingdom with the primary aim of representing the community of the Punjab across the world.
Their players include gas engineer Aran Basi from Bradford and Toch Singh, a Metropolitan police officer.
Centre-back Basi was a schoolboy at Leeds United before being released when he was 14 after breaking his collarbone. The 25-year-old then embarked on a change of career – although he has not given up on his football dreams.
He was one of three Panjab players to win a trial at Notts County following the last Conifa World Cup, although none of them were offered deals by the League Two club.
Right-back Singh from London plays club football for Glebe FC in Kent and has been a police officer for the past eight years.
Hosts Barry Town are preparing for their Europa League preliminary round tie against Cliftonville.
The first leg against the Northern Irish club is scheduled for Thursday, June 27 at Cardiff Athletics Stadium with the return on Thursday, July 4 at Solitude.
WATCH: Assistant Manager @MikeCosslett reflects on yesterday’s @EuropaLeague Draw….. pic.twitter.com/xZC6naogOj
— Barry Town United (@BarryTownUnited) June 12, 2019
Barry will be in Northern Ireland to play Ballymena in a friendly on Saturday, June 22 (1pm).
“Going out to Ballymena we might show a little bit of our hand, but in reality when it comes down to the night I’m sure it will all be different,” says manager Chesterfield.
Barry also play The New Saints in a friendly at Jenner Park next Tuesday (7.15pm).