Zesh Rehman Continuing His Help Kids Efforts + Q&A

And Rehman featured/interviewed in The Guardian

The Guardian/Chris Arnot

Footballer gives Asian youths a helping hand
Bradford City football captain Zesh Rehman tells Chris Arnot of his plans to encourage more British-born Asian youths into the game


A poster on the wall at Zesh Rehman's apartment in Bradford city centre frames a quote from New York business guru Peter A Cohen. Under the heading persistence, it reads: "There is no giant step that does it. It's a lot of little steps." Rehman, 26, had to climb a number of little steps to become a professional footballer – the only Asian man to play in all four divisions of the English game, including the Premier League. There were times, indeed, when it must have felt more like edging up a rock face.

Sheer determination enabled him to chip away at every obstacle to achieve a debut for Fulham against Liverpool at Anfield in 2004. Now he's offering a helping hand to youngsters from similar backgrounds who might want to follow in his footholds.

The Zesh Rehman Foundation has two aims. One is to address the noticeable under-representation of British-born players with south Asian heritage in the professional game. The other is to promote football as a "pathway to community cohesion" between young people from all cultures. At a time when lurid tabloid headlines have been dwelling on the sleazy off-field activities of a few highly paid international players, Rehman is keen to stress the benefits to youth of what is required to "make it" as a pro in the first place: determination, discipline and diet.

"When I was on the books at Fulham as a teenager, my mum was sent a diet sheet from the club," he recalls. "Out went the curries and in came pasta, fish and chicken for me and my older brother, Rizwan," he recalls. "We have four sisters and they went without any luxuries to help finance our football equipment and the cost of ferrying us around the country, chasing a dream."

Rizwan's dream came to an end when he broke his leg shortly before he was set to make his first-team debut at Brentford. He's now helping his younger brother with the day-to-day running of the foundation. Zesh is now club captain at Bradford City.

Good habits

Last month saw the foundation launch a pilot project that will see around 20 children, aged nine to 11, from Hill Top primary school in Bradford will take part in workshops after school once a week for 10 weeks. Pupils come from a range of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. "They'll be learning about nutrition, exercise and diet – trying to get them to adopt good habits that will stand them in good stead whether they make it in football or not," Rehman stresses.

"The course will include a visit to Valley Parade [Bradford's ground] to see what goes on behind the scenes in the football industry, and the job opportunities there for girls as well as boys. And on week three they'll go to a match for free."

Who's paying for all this? "Well, I paid to register the charity and for the tickets for the kids," he says. "You have to believe in your own project. But we're also looking for sponsorship. West Yorkshire police want to get involved. They've agreed to fund a venue and we're currently trying to find a floodlit pitch. As far as the police are concerned, it's far better to have youngsters playing football after dark than hanging around street corners while wannabe gangsters cruise around offering them drugs."

The plan is to roll out the scheme to secondary school pupils as well as other primary schools in Bradford and beyond. "I'm hoping," says Rehman, "that the pilot scheme will become a template that could be taken into places such as Blackburn, Burnley, Luton or the East End of London." All are areas that, like Bradford, have substantial Asian populations. "I'm inundated with letters from teachers and parents asking me to come and talk to the kids," he says.

Because you're a role model?

"Exactly." And sporting Asian role models are more plentiful on the cricket pitch than the football pitch. When I bring up the subject of the alleged betting scandal besmirching Pakistani cricket, he shakes his head and says: "It's very disappointing if those allegations are proven to be true. But my focus is football. Always has been. We played it summer as well as winter in inner-city Birmingham where I grew up. That's where I first became aware of the power of the game to bring all races together."

His father, now a driving instructor, was a passionate Aston Villa supporter in the 1970s and 80s. "The National Front was quite active at some clubs in those days," Rehman says. "But Dad always said he felt safer on the Holte End at Villa Park than anywhere else." Nonetheless, he was prepared to move the entire family south when London-based scouts began to take an interest in his boys. By that time, both had been toughened by exposure to the racism prevalent in Sunday league football – not just on the field but also from the touchline. Zesh Rehman remembers one coach shouting from the touchline during a youth tournament: "Your lot won't make it."

But he did. "You have to use comments like that as motivational fuel," he insists. "That's what I tell any lad who tells me that he's been racially abused and that he'll never get picked because he's Asian. You have to toughen up mentally and realise that racism stems from ignorance."

The same ignorant stereotyping once blighted black players' careers, he points out. "History repeats itself. I look at players like Viv Anderson, Cyrille Regis and Brendon Batson and draw inspiration. They took torrid abuse back in the 70s. But fast forward nearly 40 years and there are black players at every club and any number have played for England since Viv made the breakthrough."

Rehman has played for England himself, but only up to under-20 level. Frustrated by the lack of opportunity to progress further, he accepted an invitation to lead the Pakistani team. "To captain the country of my parents' birth is a great honour," he says. "But I was as gutted as anyone when England went out of the World Cup, as I have been at every major tournament since Euro '96."

Optimistic

Rehman concedes that it may be some time before a player of Asian heritage pulls on an England shirt at Wembley stadium. At the last count, Rehman was one of just seven on the books of professional clubs and only one of them is on the fringes of Premier League (Danny Batth at Wolverhampton Wanderers). But he remains optimistic. "I think the real breakthrough, though, will come with the fourth generation – the ones born to parents who were born here," he says.

Curriculum vitae
Age 26.

Status Single.

Education Cheam high school, Surrey; Nescot College, Surrey. Currently doing a part-time course in leadership and management at Bradford College and a level 1 online psychology course.

Career 2008-present: central defender, Bradford City, became club captain last season; 2005-present: captain of Pakistan national side; 2006-08: player at Queens Park Rangers; 2004-06: player at Fulham, whose academy he joined in 1996; loan spells at Brighton and Hove Albion, Norwich City, and Blackpool.

Public life Founder, Zesh Rehman Foundation; ambassador, Kick It Out, Show Racism the Red Card; ambassador, Asian Football Network; ambassador, Professional Footballers' Association; named PFA's Player of the Community at the 2010 Football League Awards.

Interests Cinema, snooker and music.

zeshrehmanfoundation.org Kick it Out begins its One Game, One Community week of action tomorrow. Details at kickitout.org

www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/oct/13/zesh-rehman-football-asian-community