![\"Boys](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01C-cardiff-community-football.jpg\")
Boys play football together in free sessions in Cardiff\u2019s Butetown. Photograph courtesy of Cardiff PL Kicks\/Sophie Jordan Photography<\/p>\nBoys play football together in free sessions in Cardiff\u2019s Butetown. Photograph courtesy of Cardiff PL Kicks\/Sophie Jordan Photography<\/p>\n
Hashim Mustafa leads free sports sessions in Cardiff\u2019s neighborhoods with higher deprivation, helping youngsters build community and friendship<\/p>\n
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As a child, Hashim Mustafa couldn\u2019t always afford to go to weekly football sessions in his Cardiff neighbourhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Raised by a single dad in Butetown, he remembers that the few pounds he needed to go and play sports were not always guaranteed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we meet, Mustafa, 31, is carrying training bibs and footballs into the sports dome behind Cardiff and Vale College\u2019s city campus as it slowly fills with excited children. They\u2019re here for Butetown Kicks, a free weekly football session for youngsters aged eight to 18, led by Mustafa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s mayhem,\u201d says Mustafa, as he looks around at the children. \u201cBut in a good way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid, we never had much,\u201d he adds. \u201cGetting money from my dad for activities like this, it was like: \u2018If I\u2019ve got it, I\u2019ll give it to you\u2019. We had to pay \u00a35 so I could go play football with my friends. These kids don\u2019t need to worry about that. They just come and kick a ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
By day, Mustafa works as a fire warden for Cardiff council. In the evenings, he gives up his spare time to run the weekly sessions in Butetown and neighbouring Grangetown, where 20 to 30 local children come to play football for free in a safe, supervised environment.<\/p>\n
![\"Riz](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/02-cardiff-community-football.jpg\")
Riz Rehman, Hashim Mustafa (centre) and Scott Walker. Photograph courtesy of Cardiff PL Kicks\/Sophie Jordan Photography<\/p>\n
A father himself, Mustafa says he pushes the project \u201cas much as possible\u201d because of his love for the game and what it can offer young people growing up in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat [keeps] me coming back is the love for the community. I want to make a positive difference to the community and help them become the best version of themselves,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
One of Cardiff\u2019s most multicultural areas, Butetown \u2014 formerly known as Tiger Bay \u2014 is home to generations of working-class families with roots from across the world. According to the 2021 census, 39.7% <\/a>\u00a0of residents are from a minority ethnic background. Butetown remains among the 10% most deprived areas in Wales,<\/a> with 49% of children in the neighbourhood living in poverty, according to an analysis<\/a> of local data by news outlet Wales Online in 2022. For many of the families in Butetown, paid activities for children can be difficult to sustain.\u00a0<\/p>\n The football sessions are funded through the Premier League Kicks<\/a> project, which was first launched in Tottenham, north London, in 2006. More than 600,000<\/a> young people have since taken part in programmes across the country. Designed to create safe spaces for children<\/a> and young people in areas facing higher levels of anti-social behaviour or youth violence, the programme has been running in Butetown since 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI do see myself in some of them,\u201d Mustafa says of the children he works with. \u201cMe stepping into this is to help them as much as possible. It\u2019s a big achievement for myself because I\u2019m happy that I could help a child not be in the situation where they have to pay for football. I\u2019m trying to do my best while I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n For the boys who come each week, these sessions offer more than just football. \u201cI keep coming back because Hashim and the workers are kind,\u201d says Malik Abdulmajeed, a regular at the sessions. \u201cWe have so much fun here because we\u2019ve got nothing to do at home if we\u2019re bored. I can come play every week and I am part of something in Butetown.\u201d<\/p>\n Diaa Mohammed, who also regularly attends, says: \u201cWhen I make mistakes in games, Hashim helps me make the right decisions. He also helps me learn what\u2019s good and what\u2019s right. I look up to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Mustafa takes his responsibility as a role model seriously. \u201cThere are people that do drugs around the area. I\u2019ve got two kids myself \u2014 you just want the best for your children, you don\u2019t want them to be around that. So when they come here, they see a friendly face and parents know, \u2018Oh, my kid\u2019s safe\u2019 because they can see I\u2019m doing good for the kids,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Cardiff](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/03-cardiff-community-football.jpg\")
Hashim Mustafa pictured with the boys who take part in the football sessions. Photograph courtesy of Cardiff PL Kicks\/Sophie Jordan Photography<\/p>\n