Tributes were paid to a ‘charismatic’ Banbury man as scores of footballers came together to play a tournament in his memory.
Mohammed Hashim Asadullah Ijjazudin, 21, was killed in a crash near Leicester last February. Eight people are accused of his and friend Saqib Hussain’s murders, with a first trial abandoned late last year.
The Banbury man was a keen footballer, who supported Liverpool FC and grew up playing near his home in Grimsbury.
He played six-a-side for Hashim United, a team set up in 2018 and which bore his name.
And it was his former teammates who put on a football tournament on Boxing Day, bringing together 15 teams from as far afield as Reading and Birmingham to play in his memory.
Relative Asad Hussain, 20, lived with Hashim and was devastated by the older man’s death last year.
Paying tribute, he said: “I promise you when I say he was loved, I don’t mean just by me. If you rang up 25 random people in Banbury they would know him and say the exact same thing.
“He had charisma, he could talk to anyone. It did not matter if you were young or old. He loved everyone and everyone loved him.”
Learning of Hashim’s death last February ‘didn’t feel real’, he said.
“It didn’t feel right at all,” Asad added.
“I had a call saying ‘come home’ and I heard the tragic news. Even then, I was baffled. It didn’t hit me for a few days.”
He developed the idea for the football tournament in the wake of Hashim’s death, with planning for the sports festival helping him to ensure that something positive could come out of the tragedy.
On Boxing Day, 15 teams took to the pitch at the North Oxfordshire Academy on the outskirts of Banbury.
It was an all-Banbury final, with teams Poetry in Motion taking on Young Guns facing each other across the half-way line.
The event has so far raised £3,000 for charity and further funds are expected to be generated from the sale of Hashim United branded t-shirts this year. The money could help fund the building of a mosque or water filtration plants.
Former teammates in six-a-side team Hashim United described the player after whom their side was named as a ‘man with a heart of gold’ and ‘one of the most genuine blokes I’ve come across’.
One said: “He will and always [will] be my gaffer.” Another said: “He was the one guy I knew I could always count on to be there for me no matter what.”
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward
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