Maybe Few "Asian" Players, But Asian Fans

[Macmoish]

The Guardian Blog/Mehreen Khan

British Asians are in the stands even if the pitch remains a battleAs clubs such as Chelsea look to develop British Asian footballers, the growing number of supporters of subcontinental origin feel at home in grounds

In a column last week, Dear Gérard, How times have changed ..., Louise Taylor intimated that the lack of Asian players in the British game was one of the many indicators of how little football had moved on from the last time Gérard Houllier was standing in an English dug-out. And she was, of course, right.

The dearth of British Asian players, not simply in the top flight – where there are currently none – but throughout the lower leagues is astonishing given that Brits of subcontinental origin make up 4% of the UK's population according to the 2001 census. The most recent figures show that there are only 10 British Asian players enrolled in the Premier League's 20 club academies and a mere five full-time professionals throughout the English leagues.

Chelsea are one of the most high-profile clubs who have sought to address and redress this imbalance by establishing their "Search for an Asian Soccer Star". Now in its second year, the competition is run in conjunction with the Kick It Out campaign and is an opportunity for British South Asian children between the ages of eight and 13 to win a week-long trial at the Chelsea academy in Cobham. On an individual level, the former Fulham centre-half Zesh Rehman – the first British Pakistani to play in the Premier League – has set up a foundation that aims to engage and encourage Asian youngsters to get involved in the game.

Suggested reasons as to why ethnic-minority Britons are not forging careers as full-time footballers have ranged from their unsuitable diets, the shackling effect of cultural taboo, and the Norman Tebbit school of thinking that claims British Asians have their colours too tightly tied around the cricketing mast to take any serious interest in football. Needless to say most suggestions are hopelessly misinformed and often laced with xenophobia.

Searching to explain precisely why a sector of the demographic is not represented on the pitch every weekend is fraught with problems. It can presuppose that the group is culturally homogeneous or that its members' experiences are uniformly negative. They are not. Most often, the reasons as to why not enough British Asians have established themselves as professional footballers are as divergent as the players themselves. The approach of such clubs as Chelsea is similar to that of many positive action schemes: the more Asian kids to whom they can give chances, the more who will eventually trickle through the academies and make it in the modern game.

Nonetheless, the dilemma over the lack of British Asian players, although pressing, can be something of a red herring when trying to measure the reach of the country's national sport into those communities. A more accurate barometer of how far the top flight has come in terms of diversity would be to take a look in the stands.

A recent survey carried out by the pollster Populus revealed that 8% of attendees at Premiership games in 2008-09 were from black or ethnic-minority backgrounds, while 16% of fans who had been attending matches over five years were from minority communities. This is the first time that a comprehensive survey of crowd diversity has been carried out but the figures confirm my anecdotal experiences around second- and third-generation British Asians: the popularity of the sport has never been higher. Football is usurping cricket in the hearts of the most recent generations of ethnic minorities in Britain, and this is despite the absence of British Asian players and strong Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi national teams.

The culture of going to games every weekend is gradually becoming ingrained and it is England's elite clubs who lead the way. Kuljit Randhawa, the founder of the Asian Football Network, acknowledges the radical change that has occurred in English stadiums. "I've been going to support my Premier League team since the mid-80s," he says, "and at that time there were very few Asian faces. This is no longer the case.

"At the bigger clubs you'll see far more Asian supporters. This is a result of the general trend in the Premiership to make grounds safer, the introduction of discrimination legislation, and positive work by clubs who work with community groups to improve accessibility. All this has culminated to make top-flight grounds far more inclusive environments for British Asians."

Although non-white fans still consider themselves persona non grata in the lower echelons – and Randhawa reiterated that more can be done outside the biggest Premiership teams – British minorities, have been undoubted beneficiaries of the middle-class revolution in the stands. Attending games for most Asian fans no longer carries with it the concern for personal safety or the expectation of casual racism disguised as "banter". Moreover, Wolverhampton Wanderers are the first Premier League club whose Asian fans have established a dedicated supporters group – the Punjabi Wolves.

None of this is to deny, or make light of the fact, that racial barriers exist for players trying to get into professional clubs. But at present it is the turnstiles and not the squad sheet that provide a truer reflection of the status of English football among Britain's minority communities.

www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/sep/24/british-asians-premier-league-football

[toboboly]

As far as I am aware there are no racial barriers for players getting into clubs, you just have to look through the leagues for that.

The lack of asian players is a complete misnomer, football is a meritocracy and quite frankly they just are not good enough and there is far less interest than from other racial groups in the sport.

I have dated and been friends with Asian people and not only do they all support Liverpool, Arsenal and Manure but they have never wanted to attend a game and would rather watch it on tv. Which is fair enough if thats what they want to do but then stop ramming down this politically correct view that all asians are desperate footballers trying to get out and are simply being impeded by the white masses.

Grrrrrr!

[klr]

Agree, if you are not good enough, you are not good enough, thats life, different people have different physical & mental attributes.
Massive generalisation alert, but most Asians tend to be Manchester United "fans" in my experience.
I have met quite a few Asian R's though, the disabled fella who is a lovely guy & the quite lairy cockney fella who sits in South Africa Road, does anyone know the guy I mean ?
He cracks me up.

[Macmoish]

Presumably there's a "Cultural" obstacle - maybe to them trying out and they need encouragement.

When you think of the mid-70s when teams almost all white (including QPR), makes one wonder what brilliant talents there may have been out there which were missed

[klr]

Sept 25, 2010 13:12:43 GMT Macmoish said:

Presumably there's a "Cultural" obstacle - maybe to them trying out and they need encouragement.

When you think of the mid-70s when teams almost all white (including QPR), makes one wonder what brilliant talents there may have been out there which were missed

"Cultural obstacle"

What a load of rubbish. That sounds like something New Labour would come out with & then force through legislation that all professional football teams must field three Asian players at any one time.

The harsh fact of the matter is that you are either physically & mentally up to it or you are not. Zesh Rehman, a player whom I grew to respect my the end of his tenure at QPR, IMO he had the physical tools, but couldnt cope with the mental side of the game

"Cultural obstacle" lol thats the biggest load of rubbish I've heard in a long while !

You would be very very hard pressed to pick an Asian 11 across all of the professional football leagues in the World, & that says all that needs to be said.

[bowles]

well talking of fans , i sat in the east paddock today and there were about 7 teenage asian fans sitting round me all enjoying the game! i might add they were really well behaved as well! un-like me!

[toboboly]

I don't notice rugby beating itself up at the lack of Asian players/fans.

[cpr]

Asia is a big place, why don't they say what they mean. They mean Indian and Pakistani heritage, cricket heritage, not a football heritage.

There are plenty of Indian and Pakistani footballers about at lower levels and as previously stated, when they are good enough the breakthrough will be made.

There are plenty of very good young footballers in this country but the system fails them. Should return to school and district progression up to 16 and not allow big clubs to cherry pick players then not allow them to represent anyone but themselves. My mate told me yesterday that Arse had "signed up" a six year old lad. WTF is that all about eh?

[klr]

Nevermind "cultural obstacles" & Asian players.

The question we should be asking ourselves in this country is the question we should have been asking ourselves ten years ago & the question we will still not be asking ourselves in ten years time,

Which is why are the youth set ups in this country still picking "athletes" over football players ?

Big, fast, strong & absolutely no footballing brains whatsoever, this is still the players that youth coaches are fast tracking through in this country, these are athletes, not football players,

I find it mind blowingly depressing that if Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Andrei Arshavin etc etc etc were born English then they would not have made it through the youth set ups in this country because they arent 6 foot tall, strong & cant run the hundred metres in a certain time & dont mention Arsenal & Jack Wilshere, because they are the exception rather than the rule.

Pretty much sums up the sorry state of affairs of football in this country when people would rather waste money on left wing initiatives to find out why Asians cant play football when I dont see any initiatives to find out why none of this generation of English wingers can cross a football properly.

Laughable.

[ealingranger]

Sept 25, 2010 12:40:37 GMT @klr said:

Agree, if you are not good enough, you are not good enough, thats life, different people have different physical & mental attributes.
Massive generalisation alert, but most Asians tend to be Manchester United "fans" in my experience.
I have met quite a few Asian R's though, the disabled fella who is a lovely guy & the quite lairy cockney fella who sits in South Africa Road, does anyone know the guy I mean ?
He cracks me up.

Eh, haven't you just contradicted yourself there?

I've seen quite a few Asian QPR fans in my time and, indeed, I am one myself ;D

[klr]

Sept 26, 2010 14:43:34 GMT ealingranger said:

Sept 25, 2010 12:40:37 GMT @klr said:

Agree, if you are not good enough, you are not good enough, thats life, different people have different physical & mental attributes.
Massive generalisation alert, but most Asians tend to be Manchester United "fans" in my experience.
I have met quite a few Asian R's though, the disabled fella who is a lovely guy & the quite lairy cockney fella who sits in South Africa Road, does anyone know the guy I mean ?
He cracks me up.

Eh, haven't you just contradicted yourself there?

I've seen quite a few QPR fans in my time and, indeed, I am one myself ;D

Yes, absolutely contradicted myself, but I'm sure most people would understand the man united point I am making, I'm sure that does ring true for a lot of people.
As for Asians fans at Rangers, the more the merrier, I'm not trying to sound patronising there either, you arent the lippy fella that sits towards the away end in South Africa Road are you ?!
He's not Tommy Collins, but he's got a mouth on him, I'll give him that.

You can argue the rights or wrongs of it, but the local kids around Rangers now are Somalians, or at least the ones on the plastic pitch are, most shirts are Manchester United, with one or two Arsenal, probably a lot of them dont even know who or what QPR is even though its a hundred metres down the road, this is the world we live in nowadays, dont blame me, its not my fault, is it ?

[ealingranger]

Yeah I do know what you mean about the Man U thing (although I would have said Liverpool myself), I was just messing.

Not too sure why it is, but in general you're right, most Asians I've come across support Liverpool, Man U or Arsenal. Supporting a 'smaller' (for want of a better word) team generally bucks the trend. To me, it's all about supporting your local team and having pride when they do well, because you can relate to them. My bro supports Liverpool - what's the point? Fair enough, when we were kids they were one of the top teams, but we don't have anything to do with Liverpool as a city so I didn't see the fascination with supporting them!

[Hogan]

These kids you refer to KLR, they are predominantly African and muslim, they have no affinity to locality, it is about supporting a 'winning team' or one which is competing at the highest level. You will therefore only see these kids in Manure, chelscum and arsnal tops, there is no place for fulham or the like. So should we be promoted, you will only see the majority of these kids attend a QPR game when 'their' team is playing 'our' team.

[klr]

Sept 26, 2010 15:59:58 GMT ealingranger said:

Yeah I do know what you mean about the Man U thing (although I would have said Liverpool myself), I was just messing.

Not too sure why it is, but in general you're right, most Asians I've come across support Liverpool, Man U or Arsenal. Supporting a 'smaller' (for want of a better word) team generally bucks the trend. To me, it's all about supporting your local team and having pride when they do well, because you can relate to them. My bro supports Liverpool - what's the point? Fair enough, when we were kids they were one of the top teams, but we don't have anything to do with Liverpool as a city so I didn't see the fascination with supporting them!

Absolutely.
I support Rangers because its where my Dad is from & QPR is one of those clubs that is passed down from Grandfather or Father to Son, or if you havent got that, then of course the logical thing is to support your local team because you identify with the area, I come from a different part of town, but feel a certain affinity with the area when I get off the tube at White City or down the Uxbridge Road or Goldhawk Road, its not my home, but it feels a little bit like it.
When I see those Somalian kids playing football on the plastic pitch in their Manchester United shirts, that to me is a different World.

[klr]

Sept 26, 2010 16:05:33 GMT Hogan said:

These kids you refer to KLR, they are predominantly African and muslim, they have no affinity to locality, it is about supporting a 'winning team' or one which is competing at the highest level. You will therefore only see these kids in Manure, chelscum and arsnal tops, there is no place for fulham or the like. So should we be promoted, you will only see the majority of these kids attend a QPR game when 'their' team is playing 'our' team.

Yep, its a different World.
100 metres down the road & I bet a lot of them dont know who or what QPR is.

[Macmoish]

I guess what I was trying to highlight was at least the possibility that there are undiscovered classy potential players - Just as there were in other communities.

[Zamoraaaah]

Welcome to the board EalingRanger.

Interesting thread btw.

[Hogan]

Sept 26, 2010 16:25:25 GMT Macmoish said:

I guess what I was trying to highlight was at least the possibility that there are undiscovered classy potential players - Just as there were in other communities.

What we need are kids with talent who have an affinity to the club. Every club should have and need some players that regard the club as their club. Always easier in a town or area with one football club, in our case with many clubs around, the job is much harder and even more important.

[cpr]

Fascinating thread Zed, as I alluded to, with cricket as your sporting heritage, football takes second place in the family. having run junior, youth and senior sides I have seen this at first hand.

I have also worked in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and India. Liverpool and Manure shirts are everywhere. They are the teams that are truly "global brands", Arse are minimal and Chels*** virtually non-existant. People growing up in these areas who move to Britain will carry that same following with them. It does not follow that their beliefs regarding football will be thrust upon their offspring as it is with diehard Rangers fans. My three sons are fifth gen Rangers, my daughter, who cares!!! ;D

[cpr]

Sept 26, 2010 17:21:08 GMT Hogan said:

Sept 26, 2010 16:25:25 GMT Macmoish said:

I guess what I was trying to highlight was at least the possibility that there are undiscovered classy potential players - Just as there were in other communities.

What we need are kids with talent who have an affinity to the club. Every club should have and need some players that regard the club as their club. Always easier in a town or area with one football club, in our case with many clubs around, the job is much harder and even more important.

You are spot on there Hogan, two of my friends work for QPR Community scheme and the work they do is incredible. I'm not sure I could do what either of them do as I do not have the patience for it. One of my sons has also applied to work in the community scheme.

We certainly do need to see kids, of whatever colour, kicking about on that plastic pitch in blue and white hoops, this in turn leads to a pride in the manor, as it were.

[klr]

I havent got a Son, but I'd happily cut my cream crackers of with a rusty scalpel right now if I thought there was any possibility that he could end up supporting Man U!

[klr]

Sept 26, 2010 19:01:43 GMT cpr said:

Sept 26, 2010 17:21:08 GMT Hogan said:

What we need are kids with talent who have an affinity to the club. Every club should have and need some players that regard the club as their club. Always easier in a town or area with one football club, in our case with many clubs around, the job is much harder and even more important.

You are spot on there Hogan, two of my friends work for QPR Community scheme and the work they do is incredible. I'm not sure I could do what either of them do as I do not have the patience for it. One of my sons has also applied to work in the community scheme.

We certainly do need to see kids, of whatever colour, kicking about on that plastic pitch in blue and white hoops, this in turn leads to a pride in the manor, as it were.

Your last sentence in particular is absolutely spot on.

I would say its a bigger point that most of us can imagine, including those working at the club & especially the so called "big wigs"
We, rightly or wrongly have portrayed ourselves / been portrayed in the last few years as "The Richest Club In The World" or "The Billionaires" etc, yet, you have to laugh when the Somali kids living on the local estates a hundred metres away havent even heard of us & probably couldnt name any of our players.
I would say it is a good 10 years since I saw a kid or a bunch of kids on the astroturf in QPR shirts whilst walking past on the way down South Africa Road, again you cant really pinpoint the exact time when indigenous people stopped living in the area around our football club & it became a Somali area.
People travel in to see their football clubs nowadays, its true of us, its even more true of clubs like Spurs & West Ham, where you probably would struggle to see an indigenous person on non match days.
Probably true of most clubs in London nowadays, Spurs & West ham are blatant examples, QPR has very much becomes that way over the last ten years or so, Uxbridge Road now is pretty much an Arab district.

[cpr]

Sept 26, 2010 19:11:00 GMT @klr said:

I havent got a Son, but I'd happily cut my cream crackers of with a rusty scalpel right now if I thought there was any possibility that he could end up supporting Man U!

That made me laugh until the rusty scalpel image made me throw up!

Twenty years ago, number one son asked if he could have a Liverpool shirt. I was divorced by this time and said he could, with two provisos, I wouldn't pay for it and if I saw him in it I would muller him. A tad extreme? Maybe but I took him him to Rangers and that was it, no 2 and no 3 sons have never mentioned any other team. All of them go to Rangers and it's one of the rare occassions where I see all my boys together.

I've done something right by my boys! ;D

[bowles]

welcome eailing as you can see they are a lively bunch on here!!!!!

[ealingranger]

Thanks everyone for the welcome...

I like it here on this board, think I'll stick around

[Macmoish]

Sept 26, 2010 19:33:50 GMT ealingranger said:

Thanks everyone for the welcome...

I like it here on this board, think I'll stick around

A big welcome Hope you don't mind the Initiation Ceremony that Klr alluded to "...cut my cream crackers of[f] with a rusty scalpel"

[klr]

Football team is non negotiable if your Dad or Grandad is QPR.

Sort of thing that the average Manchester United fan or Tim Lovejoy style "footie" fan will never understand.

[cpr]

I blame Bowles.

[Hogan]

Yes welcome ealing!!

[cpr]

Sept 26, 2010 19:20:53 GMT @klr said:

Sept 26, 2010 19:01:43 GMT cpr said:

You are spot on there Hogan, two of my friends work for QPR Community scheme and the work they do is incredible. I'm not sure I could do what either of them do as I do not have the patience for it. One of my sons has also applied to work in the community scheme.

We certainly do need to see kids, of whatever colour, kicking about on that plastic pitch in blue and white hoops, this in turn leads to a pride in the manor, as it were.

Your last sentence in particular is absolutely spot on.

I would say its a bigger point that most of us can imagine, including those working at the club & especially the so called "big wigs"
We, rightly or wrongly have portrayed ourselves / been portrayed in the last few years as "The Richest Club In The World" or "The Billionaires" etc, yet, you have to laugh when the Somali kids living on the local estates a hundred metres away havent even heard of us & probably couldnt name any of our players.
I would say it is a good 10 years since I saw a kid or a bunch of kids on the astroturf in QPR shirts whilst walking past on the way down South Africa Road, again you cant really pinpoint the exact time when indigenous people stopped living in the area around our football club & it became a Somali area.
People travel in to see their football clubs nowadays, its true of us, its even more true of clubs like Spurs & West Ham, where you probably would struggle to see an indigenous person on non match days.
Probably true of most clubs in London nowadays, Spurs & West ham are blatant examples, QPR has very much becomes that way over the last ten years or so, Uxbridge Road now is pretty much an Arab district.

My apologies as I missed that reply KLR. Intersting observation that the kids now kicking about on the plastic are Somalians. It's been a number of years since I approached Rangers from White City station, I would guess five years minimum. It used to irritate me seeing black and white kids kicking about there with only 2 or 3 in hoops and 15 to 20 in various other club shirts.

In the past few years I've approached from Uxbridge Road so I do not see the kids kicking about there. I think I'll raise this with my community mates as you do not get closer community than that pitch. As I alluded to, get them onside with Rangers and the process of pride in your manor also begins.