Several thousand people gathered at the Law Society's sports ground in Dublin's Blackhall Place over the weekend for a unique multi-racial soccer tournament and sports festival. Some 24 teams drawn from refugee groups, the Travelling community, inner-city communities, the Garda Siochana, the media and others competed in a seven-aside tournament in the unseasonal sunshine.

The festival, which also included a basketball competition, music, open-air theatre, ethnic food stalls and children's entertainment, was organised by a group of Dublin community workers who came together last year to form "Soccer" - now changed to Sport - Against Racism Ireland (SARI). They were promised an EU grant of £320,000 to put on the festival, but this never materialised, and they went ahead anyway with £35,000 in sponsorship money from the Dublin Brewing Company and the All Sports Cafe.

Bosnian, Vietnamese, Congolese, Somali, Angolan and Nigerian teams were among the refugee teams involved. The final, overseen by the English Premiership's first black referee, Uriah Renee, saw Monto defeating Eire Og by three goals to One.

Yesterday afternoon saw a match between two celebrity teams, one headed by Curtis Fleming of Middlesbrough and Ireland (pictured above talking to young fans yesterday), the other by the comedian Brendan O'Carroll. Other star players included the designer John Rocha, the former Bradford and Stoke manager Chris Kamara and the actor Patrick Bergin. Pele, Eric Cantona and George Best, all patrons of SARI, sent their best wishes.

One of the festival's main organisers, Frank Buckley - a former road manager with leading Irish rock groups, and later a community worker in the Smithfield area - said the idea was "to integrate people through sport, which, like music, is a universal language. You don't have to speak the same language to play on the same football team."