THE GLOBAL sport of football once again drew people from across the world together for a match.

Over 40 visitors seeking asylum or refuge - who are now living across Wales and Herefordshire gathered at Gwernyfed Rugby Club for a sanctuary event and a day of sport.

This included the much-anticipated rematch between Unity in Diversity and Talgarth Town FC.

An exciting game – which included two profoundly deaf players – featured a penalty for UID, goals scored from 30 yards out, and ended in a final score of 11-5 to Talgarth.

Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees (HBTSR) organised event, which was planned to coincide with Talgarth Sports Festival.

The day also featured a poignant tribute to Mohammed Abdurezek, a refugee who played in last year’s game, who was found stabbed to death in Gloucestershire on Christmas Eve.

HBTSR’s Ailsa Dunn said: “It’s been a busy month with four different respite days and a weekend of fund and awareness raising but, once again, our magnificent supporters rose to the occasion and turned out in their droves to welcome our visitors.

“We had asked people to bring fruit and toiletries and they heard our pleas and we had enough fruit for everyone to eat their fill and to send a very large box back to Swansea, enough toiletries to give everyone who came a bag to take home as well and to share out at the drop-in centres."

The day was also filmed to form part of a True Vision Wales documentary about the welcome refugees receive in this country.

“They saw how a small town and rural area can do so much to help people feel welcome and wanted,” Ailsa added.

“People who in their everyday life don’t often feel valued, believed or liked. People who have suffered from persecution, torture, danger and having escaped find themselves having to subsist upon £36.95 a week and with the constant threat hanging over them of being sent back to ‘where they came from’.

“People who may have had their story accepted and given refugee status for varying amounts of time but who now struggle to find somewhere to live, work and try to rebuild their lives in a country where they may not speak the language well and where the culture is very different.”

You can find out more about HBTSR, and how to get involved in its away days, at http://hbtsr.org.uk/ or on its Facebook page 'Hay, Brecon & Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees'.