| Many South Asian youngsters in the UK take to their school playground this summer wearing the jersey of their favourite team England. They cheered David Beckham and his men in the World Cup. But when in comes to representation of South Asians in English soccer, the scenario is not too encouraging. TWF correspondent Rajshekhar reports from London.
It is a comdey film that revolves round football passion of an eighteen-year-old Sikh girl in England. “Bend It Like Beckham” is the coming-of-age tale about 18-year-old Jesminder "Jess" Bhamra in the suburbs of London whose first-generation Punjabi immigrant parents push her hard to become a physician and marry while she dreams of football, inspired by one of England's most famous players, David Beckham.
Everyone loved Jess and stood by her in her struggles, albeit in reel life. But how are the real life Jesses of opposite gender faring in England? Or are there many Asian or South Asian footballers in England?
In Southall, a London suburb dominated by people of South Asian origin, youngsters take keen interest in watching soccer. “We will go all out to support England ,” say Manjit and his friends. However, in reality there is a shortage of South Asians in English football.
Chris Dolby, though the name might not sound that of an authentic South Asian, was the first Asian footballer to play in the English football league. Dolby, who was adopted by English parents and hence the name, joined Rotherham football club as a professional in 1993.
Says Dolby, “The situation is improving and Asian kids are now playing at grassroots, comprehensive schools and Sunday leagues, which was not happening before.”
According to him, “the typical South Asian mindset” kept them away from the football ground.
“South Asians used to play in Asian-only leagues and if they are to progress at the national level then they need to play in mixed local teams.”
The subtle change in outlook resulted in the arrival of a few other South Asian footballers at the professional level.
Harpal Singh was the first South Asian footballer to be signed up by top premiership team Leeds United. Others to follow suit were Michael Chopra, who joined New Castle and Anwar Uddin, who joined Dagenham and Redbridge.
Singh thanks the Football Association (FA) – the premier soccer regulatory body in England for the growing interest of South Asians in football.
"The fact that many of the top clubs, managers and organisations like the FA are backing this will only encourage more South Asians to realise there are more opportunities out there for them in football."
The FA has been “trying hard to encourage more people from the ethnic communities to join professional football”. According to a conservative estimate, while 20 per cent of the professional footballers in England are from the Afro-Caribbean community it is negligible when it comes to South Asians.
Says an FA spokesman, “The football association is committed to ensuring that football at all levels can be both played and watched by everyone, regardless of their background.”
“The reasons for lack of representation of South Asians in English football are complex but the FA is committed to working towards ensuring that the footballers from this ethnic group are welcome at all levels of the game.”
The FA study on why no South Asians were progressing into the professional version of the game – named “The Asians Can't play football” report – has identified two main reasons for South Asians keeping out of the game.
The report says that the football clubs were not engaging with local ethnic minority communities and many people in the positions of responsibility in professional football clubs viewed South Asians as either not interested in the game or were unsuitable for it.
According to Singh, “lack of support from clubs and football organisations in the past has made South Asians feel they were not wanted, making it harder for them to break into mainstream leagues.”
"South Asians also need to receive the backing from their families," Singh says. "If I hadn't received the support from my family from a really young age, I wouldn't be where I am today. They helped me all the way from taking me to training to regularly watching me play."
He also says that in his experience South Asian players find it harder to mix in with the white players than the black children do.
"If South Asian players are used to playing only with other Asians, they find it harder to come along to trials and participate in predominantly white games," says Singh.
Some see, what they term as “racism in English football” as the main reason as to why the South Asians keep away from playing the game with the majority white community.
An organiser of the annual Asian football festival in the UK , Majid Lavji agrees that racism is one of the main obstacles that is preventing the South Asians into the mainstream English football.
Leo Mann of an anti-racism group feels, “ there is enough evidence that South Asians are interested in football, but the reason why they don't find more players from the ethnic group is that they fear verbal and physical harassment.”
The FA says that they have already identified ‘racism' as one of the hindrances and have initiated “Lets kick racism out of football campaign”.
They have also started special programmes specifically targeted to South Asian communities in areas like Luton , Tower Hamlets, Nottingham and Northampton .
The FA is also encouraging South Asians to take up refereeing at the national level to popularise professional football within the ethnic group.
Like the FA, Harpal Singh is also confident that the initiatives would bear fruit and many more South Asians like Manjit and this friends would not only take pleasure in sporting the England jersey but would also be interested in representing England. |
