The Last Stand is at its heart a street football tournament, created to unite communities and break down social, cultural and religious barriers through sport. The event is 28 year-old Sikh Londoner, Gundeep Anand’s answer to the divisive events of 2016 and to London’s increasing postcode wars. It has been developed without funding and with the help of a few select partners. Gundeep devotes much of his time to motivating London’s youth and lobbying for their needs.
‘These kids are being educated to fail’ says visionary Gundeep, ‘I believe that if you want it, you can achieve anything and we are using sport to unite people and break down barriers that can often cause conflict or divisiveness amongst communities. We also want to show them that they can achieve and to help create opportunities for them to do so.’
‘It’s creating genuine opportunities for these kids. We want to showcase their talent both on and off the screen. We want them to become stars within their own communities, because we believe in them and want to share their gifts with the world.’ Gundeep intends to find mentoring opportunities within sport and the arts for the players, beyond the event and comments, ‘It’s about creating real change for these kids and enabling them to become positive role models for change for the younger members within their communities.’