2021 for Austin BD Soccer was beautiful, touching an uplifting, quite soon after the 2020 Covid outbreak. Like all other things in life, the small soccer group of Austin’s Bangladeshi community were impacted by Covid in 2020. Few players took the field on the first Sunday after day-light saving started in March (2020), but that was it. There was no soccer for the rest of the year. But players decided to get back into the field wearing masks in the following year March (2021) again. During that time, the vaccination just started. There were not too many players though. Only 12-15 players played till Ramadan.
However, after Ramadan, the scenario was completely different. Most were vaccinated by then. On first Sunday after Ramadan, a lot of players came back to field. On the following Sunday, there was an influx of players at Williamson County soccer field (Wilco), with quite a good number of brand-new players. Summer soccer of Austin’s BD community suddenly reached its peak. It looks like soccer gave a collective sigh of relief after a year-long hiatus due to Covid.
However, with too many players showing up on the same day, it became difficult to accommodate too many players in the same ground. Due to lack of logistics, games continued but there were frustrations among players. Players coming from South at one point decided to play soccer in the South field on every Wednesday. But they also experienced similar problems. Despite all, game continued every Sunday (at Wilco) and every Wednesday in the South (Small Middle School field).
During the summer, some players from North, led by Mehedi Khan, formed a club of their own called Austin Bandits and signed up to player in a leader based 7vs7 soccer league for players of 30 years of age. It was completely a brand new experience for many players. Although the team didn’t do well, but most played enjoyed being part of the team. The team was managed by Austin BD’s star soccer player Abu Masud, who wasn’t playing at that time due to injury.
In the meantime, Austin’s BD-Soccer Tournament committee started planning for the tournament though some uncertainty remained due to rise of Covid cases around that time. The committee decided to include six teams for the annual soccer tournament (which would the highest number of participating teams tournament’s history). The draft took place on July 31st and the tournament was held between September 12th and October 3rd. All games of this tournament took place at Round Rock Multi-Purpose Complex (RRMC) soccer field, which has one of the best soccer grounds of Austin. Team Austin Powers, managed by Ehtesham Haq (Liton) and Nipu won the Championship. Teams star players were Rahil, Anuj, Munir (GK) and Zahedul. Other players of the teams were Ethan, Sushan, Khwaja, Kibria, Mukul, Mukit, Sabuj, Faisal Bashar, Wali sr, Aayan and Rashedul Islam. It should be noted that the tournament has seen a lot of new stars and young rising soccer players of Austin’s BD Community.
Also, during the year, Austin BD team took preparation for playing a match against Houston’s BD team in Houston, TX. However, due to covid situation (in Houston) the game was postponed.
Overall, the year 2021 was an amazing year for Austin’s BD soccer community. There were so many memorable moments we have experienced together. We whole heartedly welcomed all the new players (both who moved in Austin from out of state and our second generation who participated in our tournament for the first time). Together we can continue to grow and enjoy the beautiful game together in 2022.
