A NEW multi-faith prayer room inside Bradford City’s home has been hailed as an important and further step towards making all fans feel welcome.
The facility will replace the current prayer room at Valley Parade, and has been refurbished in partnership with Regal Foods, which is also a club sponsor.
The new prayer room, which is open to people from all faiths, was officially opened by executives from both City and Regal Foods at a ceremony held on Thursday, February 23.
It is available to be used by City fans for its first matchday at the club’s home clash with Colchester United on Saturday, March 4.
The prayer room, located in the JCT600 Family Stand, is only a few steps away from the seats and will give fans a facility to reflect and pray. It will be predominantly open to supporters on Bantams matchdays and features prayer mats and benches and seats for people to use.
It is not the first multi-faith prayer room at a Yorkshire sports ground that Regal Foods has contributed towards. The Bradford food firm also supported a similar facility at Yorkshire County Cricket’s Headingley ground when it opened in 2016.
Younis Chaudhry, CEO of Regal Foods, based in Wallis Street, has heralded the new facility at Valley Parade, saying it shows the progression made in football to welcome fans of all faiths.
The former Bantams season ticket holder remembers having to pray at his seat inside Valley Parade in past years before the first prayer room was opened.
He said: “It’s brilliant. It is for every faith. It is available for everybody.
“This is very important to us. It will be a big thing to the different communities.
“We have contributed towards it. This helps with inclusion. It’s great and not a lot of clubs have something like that. It is really important for people to have something like this.
“We are short sponsors at Bradford City, so the prayer room is the second initiative we have done with the club.”
City’s new multi-faith prayer room is larger than the previous facility it had available to fans to use on a matchday inside the stadium.
Ryan Sparks, Bradford City chief executive, said: “We want people to feel welcome here.
“Bradford is a very diverse and multi-cultural city and we have to represent that.
“We want a stadium full of Bradfordians from all walks of life. That’s what Bradford is all about. It’s a welcoming city.”
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