David Alexander Robertson, coach of Kashmir’s well-known soccer membership Actual Kashmir FC, has been honoured with British Empire Medal (BEM) for his providers to the neighborhood within the valley and strengthening UK-India relations, a feat he devoted to the individuals of Kashmir and the crew he has been engaged with.
In keeping with the checklist launched on the event of Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday on Friday night, “Supervisor, Actual Kashmir Soccer Membership, India, receives a British Empire Medal (BEM) for providers to the neighborhood in Kashmir and UK-India relations.”
The awards had been introduced on Saturday by the British authorities to mark the monarch’s official birthday.
The 52-year-old Robertson, who has been coach of Actual Kashmir Soccer Membership, has acquired a British Empire Medal (BEM) within the Queen’s Birthday Honours Listing for providers to the local people.
“The award recognises Mr Robertson’s excellent contribution to the game and the neighborhood as head coach of RKFC since January 2017. This included guiding the soccer crew into the I-League. the primary time the crew has competed at this stage,” the official checklist learn.
“The final season of the I-League noticed RKFC attain the best variety of residence floor match attendees, averaging 25,000 individuals per match.”
Robertson mentioned he was “completely delighted” and honoured to have been recognised and awarded this honour for his work in Kashmir.
“I’ve loved each minute spent in Kashmir. It has been an actual pleasure to have labored and met so many fantastic individuals. I consider Kashmir as my second residence,” he mentioned.
Delighted to have been honoured with a British Empire Medal on the Queens Birthday Honours Listing. @JanThompsonFCDO @RichardBarlow6 @realkashmirfc @robertson_kym https://t.co/ztFaEwUfhr
— David Robertson (@dajrobbo1968) June 12, 2021
The BEM is a British and Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or navy service worthy of recognition by the Crown.
When contacted, Robertson instructed PTI from his residence in Scotland that it has been an incredible journey of virtually 5 years of working with the individuals of Kashmir and the membership.
“I keep in mind the preliminary days when barely a couple of dozen turned up for a match of RKFC to a crowd watching from even bushes and close by constructing tops and cheering the crew,” Robertson mentioned.
“I dedicate this to my membership particularly my proprietor Sandeep Chattoo and folks of Kashmir.”
The story of RKFC is all about dedication to attain the perfect in soccer and win hundreds of thousands of hearts throughout the globe, he mentioned.
Speaking about his proprietor, David mentioned Chattoo is not like different membership homeowners and added, “He treats everybody within the membership as his personal member of the family. This positively makes a distinction.”
“I thank him for all of the help prolonged to the membership as a result of his goal is to win hearts of the individuals within the Valley by the sport of soccer.”
Chattoo congratulated Robertson for being awarded the medal by the British authorities and mentioned this could assist in additional boosting the morale of individuals in addition to the crew.
“David Robertson has been related to the crew since 2017 and as soon as I made it clear to him about my goals of RKFC, there was no trying again.
“A minute observer of the sport, he used to mark each transfer of his crew and later inform the gamers concerning the shortcoming no matter whether or not we gained or misplaced,” Chattoo instructed PTI from Srinagar.
He mentioned the final season was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and hoped that the forthcoming one would convey the sport again to the house crowd.
Re-run of the BAFTA successful Actual Kashmir documentary tonight 10pm on BBC Scotland HD pic.twitter.com/sAqAtbkLEi
— David Robertson (@dajrobbo1968) June 1, 2021
The membership, which got here into existence in 2016, shot to limelight by successful the second division I-league in Might 2018. They stood third in the primary I-league of their maiden season.
Popularly generally known as ‘Snow leopards’, the crew gained final 12 months’s IFA Defend event, the membership’s first main victory since its inception.
The membership has acquired consideration the world over and BBC Scotland made a documentary named “Return to Actual Kashmir FC” that adopted the crew and their Scottish supervisor Robertson.
The documentary gained the ‘Single Documentary’ class award on the British Academy Movie and Tv Arts (BAFTA).
