SOCCER players in Burnley gathered for a weekend multi-cultural tournament.

The beautiful game was used by Prince's Trust volunteers to bring players from Burnley's diverse communities together.

The tournament, which was played at Barden Leisure Centre in Barden Lane, was hailed as a success by organisers.

Prince's Trust project manager Julie Bateman said: "We received funding from various organisations and decided to put it towards devising activities that would bring people together. A lot of people are interested in football and it is a great way to get people working with each other developing team skills."

After the Burnley riots of 2001 the body set up to investigate the cause of disturbances said more should be done to encourage people from different ethnic backgrounds to mix.

The Task Force said that prior to the riots there had been little opportunity for whites and Asians in Burnley to mix socially.

But Saturday's event did just that, bringing crowds of young men and boys together, some for the first time.

As the tournament got under way crowds of excited youngsters hugged the touchlines to check on the progress of opponents. Standing together they cheered and booed teams playing on the pitches.

One teenager from the Daneshouse area said: "Today was all about community cohesion. We don't want any trouble between people in Burnley. We want everyone to get along together and things like this show the adults that we can. Most of the time white kids and Asians just hang around separately, but they should be doing things like this more."

Medals and trophies were handed out to competitors by local community beat police officers.

Similar events are being planned at other locations across Burnley.