James Pearson, Hampshire FA Chairman, was invited by Dr Durga Bahadur Subedi, the Ambassador of Nepal, to attend a reception held in the Embassy of Nepal in Kensington Palace Gardens on Friday 20th September on the occasion of the National Day of Nepal. 

The Ambassador has shown a great interest in the work that Hampshire FA are doing along with the Football Association to enable a game to take place between the Nepal national team and the England ‘C’ team in 2020. 

2020 is an important year as the Nepalese Government are promoting ‘Visit Nepal 2020’ and it is hopeful that the game will promote this. The game will also provide a huge opportunity for Hampshire FA to showcase not only the work we are doing with the Nepali Community locally but also to underline the very important and positive historical, cultural and commercial links that exist between our nations. 

In attendance at the reception were several Members of Parliament, dignitaries from areas of the country that have a Nepalese Community, business leaders and of course representatives from the Gurkha Regiments past and present. The guest of Honour was Gareth Bayley who is the Director responsible for South Asia and Afghanistan for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 



Picture: Hampshire FA Chairman, James Pearson, with the MP for Ealing and Southall, Virendra Sharma, who is also responsible for UK-Nepal Government relations. The Mayor of Maidstone, Kent and members of the Nepali Community and their children who performed some Nepalese Dancing for the guests.