Manchester Raiders: team in new British Kabaddi League excited to showcase their sport as it returns to TV

A new league is about to showcase the sport of kabaddi to a bigger British audience than ever before - and Manchester’s team is ready for battle.

Manchester Raiders are one of eight teams who will be competing for silverware in the inaugural British Kabaddi League, which is the highest-profile competition ever put together for the sport in this country.

The side’s founder Moinul Islam spoke of his excitement as years of development work by UK enthusiasts for the sport which was invented in India is finally coming to fruition.

The new league will be a major step forward for a sport which formerly intrigued British audiences on Channel 4, with the teams getting a professional look and arrangements made for games to be shown live on the BBC.

Here’s your guide to the Manchester Raiders, how you play kabaddi and when the new league is coming to Greater Manchester.

Who are the Manchester Raiders?

Manchester Raiders are one of eight sides who will battle it out for glory in the first season of the new British Kabaddi League (BKL).

Their opponents will be Birmingham Bulls, Wolverhampton Wolfpack, Walsall Hunters, Leicester Warriors, London Lions, Edinburgh Eagles and Glasgow Unicorns.

The side has been put together by Moinul Islam from Oldham, who co-runs social enterprise Outta Skool which has been going since 2005.

Part of its work involves introducing young people to non-mainstream sports and kabaddi is one of them, with Moinul even putting together a package for the sport to be an option in GCSE PE.

He is also a national development officer for England for kabaddi so when the BKL began to come together, Moinul knew he had to put a team together to be based in Oldham and represent Greater Manchester and the North West.

The team will take to the kabaddi arena in its kit of black, red and green, Moinul’s favourite colours with the latter two also being the ones found on the flag of Bangladesh, the country of his family heritage.

Currently the Raiders have 16 players drawn from across the north of England including Bolton, Bradford, Oldham and Manchester.

What is the British Kabaddi League (BKL)?

The British Kabaddi League (BKL) is a new competition representing the highest level of the sport in this country, with kabaddi previously restricted to university clubs and grassroots teams.

It is inspired by India’s Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), which glamourised and modernised the look of the game by giving it a Bollywood-aided image makeover.

There will be four rounds of competition weekends, with each team playing twice on those weekends.

Each side will play the seven other teams in the league once, before a finals day determines the standings and the all-important inaugural champions.

The action gets under way in Wolverhampton on Saturday 9 April and games will be available to watch thanks to a tie-in with BBC iPlayer, BBC Three and the BBC Asian Network.

Moinul said: “My whole journey has been to promote the sport and get it out to the wider community to a position where it is more accessible.

“The biggest excitement is that people will be able to watch the sport so we’re making sure it looks good for TV.”

Kabaddi previously became something of a cult favourite when matches from India were shown on Channel 4 and it is hoped a new generation of sports fans will fall in love with the game through the BKL.

Is the British Kabaddi League coming to Greater Manchester?

The second of the four weekends of competition will take place in Greater Manchester at Oldham Leisure Centre.

The teams will battle it out there over the Easter weekend on Saturday 16 April and Sunday 17 April.

It will be free to get into the Middleton Road venue but tickets will need to be booked in advanced using Eventbrite.

Moinul says there will a capacity of 500 in the venue and they will be hoping to invite schools and non-profit organisations to watch.

He is also hoping to bring a BKL event to Manchester city centre in 2023.

How do you play kabaddi?

A game of kabaddi is played between two teams which each have seven players on court at any one time.

The teams take it in turns to send one raider into the opposition half. The raider has to touch as many defenders as possible and return to their own half to score points.

The defence, on the other hand, will score points by tackling the raider and preventing them crossing halfway once again.

Each raid lasts 30 seconds and raiders also have to attack while holding their breath and chanting “kabaddi, kabaddi”.

The BKL has tweaked a few rules to make the action faster and more exciting, with a scoreless raid leading to the next one being “do-or-die”. Back-to-back scoreless raids will result in extra points for the defence.

Bonus points are also on offer to the attackers if they manage to tag all the defenders out of the game.

BKL matches will be played over four quarters of 10 minutes, and Moinul estimates each one will take about an hour.

Can I get involved?

Manchester Raiders are still looking for players so anyone fancying giving kabaddi a go can attend training sessions at Greenhill Community Sports Club.

In addition BKL teams will have to have womens’ sides from next year and Moinul is also hoping to set up a youth Raiders team.

What else has been said about the new league?

Moinul says he is fairly confident that the Raiders will match up well to their BKL adversaries.

He said: “We’ve been training since January and I do see the team getting to the final. I think we’ve got a good chance.

“The players are excited because they haven’t had this sort of platform before to showcase their talent.”

The new league has also been hailed across the world of kabaddi, which now has more than 50 countries playing the game.

British Kabaddi CEO Prem Singh said the BKL is an “amazing sports project” which it is hoped will “promote positive community engagement and celebrate cultural diversity.”

World Kabaddi and BKL president Ashok Das, meanwhile, said the league will set a new benchmark for club kabaddi being played outside India.