United by name, religion and love of football

The Sikh Hunter New Boys football team is united by more than the will to win. Team spirit is also boosted by the fact that all the players and the joint managers have same surname, Singh.

The Birmingham Amateur Football Alliance side is six points clear at the top of Division Eight and the secret is simple: Singh always passes to Singh, all the tackles and saves are made by Singh and Singh scores all the goals.

Nick Singh, who manages the team with Shangara Singh, said the name can cause problems when giving instructions or analysing a game. He said: "We have to operate on a nickname basis, you don't go around shouting out surnames. It makes writing the team sheet easy, you just put down one name and then ditto the rest.

"There's a lot of commitment in the team, our goalkeeper comes from Sheffield every match and another member comes from Leicester just to play. They are an excellent bunch of lads.

"We are trying to promote Asian sport ... Cricket is not a big thing with Sikhs. It tends to be Muslims who are into cricket while Sikhs are more interested in football."