10 x 10 Shireen Ahmed on the groundbreaking British film 'Bend it Like Beckham'

The 10 x 10 podcasts started out as 10 writers speaking for 10 minutes about their favourite football book. But, this one is our first about a film. Canadian writer, football activist and podcaster Shireen Ahmed fell in love with Gurinder Chadha's 'Bend it Like Beckham' 20 years ago. As a Asian Canadian woman of Pakistani origin who grew up playing football, Chadha's quietly revolutionary film about a young British Asian woman doing the same in London connected very deeply with her. In the first 10 x 10 about a film, award-winning football activist Shireen talks about her intense love of the film and then expands as she explores what 'Bend it Like Beckham' tells us about developing diversity in football, creating confidence and bonds of friendship and support among young players, and why we need to look after grassroots football. This is a podcast full of passion, enthusiasm and hope. You can follow Shireen on Twitter at @_shireenahmed_ and her website is http://www.shireenahmed.com/