Why are British Asians left out of the beautiful game?

The ugly side of the so-called beautiful game

British South Asians make up over 7% of the UK population, so why aren’t there enough players in the professional game to fill a match-day squad?

Of the 3,700 professional footballers in the UK, only 12 identify as British-Asian, and with no player of south Asian heritage ever having represented the English national team there is an obvious problem with the representation of this minority at the elite level of the ‘beautiful’ game.

Is it due to a lack of Asian players participating at grassroots level? Are there cultural barriers in the way for young British Asians wanting to pursue a career in sport? Or Is there an unconscious bias and prejudice against south Asian boys from the scouts who believe stereotypes of Asians?

Former Birmingham City F.C academy prospect and British Asian, Nyle Patel, 22, isn’t entirely sure why there’s such a lack British Asian players, but did say in the academies he’d “always be conscious that I’m one of a few Asians there, but I was just playing, I didn’t really think about how it affected me, to be honest.”

Patel played at Leicester City from the age of 7, and then at 15 made the commitment of joining Birmingham City academy with his eyes set firmly on the prize of developing through the ranks and signing a professional contract at 18. At this time, Patel was not only juggling a football but also the hectic schedule of training sessions, which were a 2-hour round trip, multiple times a week on top of regular school and match days.

Unfortunately, by age 17 Patel was looking to leave Birmingham as the opportunities for him were no longer there, however, he searched further afield and was offered the chance to play college soccer in the USA under a scholarship. Patel said: “I thought it was an amazing opportunity for me.” And so, he went to study and play in the states for the next 4 years.

So Nyle is proof that young British Asian players are making it into top academies, so what is it holding them back from turning professional?

Raj Athwal, author and commercial manager for Burton Albion, believes that throughout all levels in football there needs to be a change in attitudes towards ethnic minorities. Athwal, who is one of the longest-serving Asians in British football, “broke a lot of molds”, to make it and have a successful career in the commercial side of football. He has worked at various levels within football clubs across Britain including Rangers F.C, Watford F.C, and Coventry City F.C for over 20 years.

He said: “I don’t blame the managers, I blame the scouts and what type of kids they look out for,

“Asian boys might not be the strongest at ages 13 and 14 but that’s because they develop later, that’s their DNA and biology, by the time they get stronger they’ve already been released,” Athwal suggested the way coaches and scouts think about development needs to change because a lot of these British Asian players are technically good enough at the younger ages, but they don’t get the chance.

Talking about his childhood, Athwal explained to me that despite his love for the game his parents, being first-generation immigrants from India, didn’t see sport as a plausible career path. This was because his father faced a lot of racism in the 1960s and 1970s in the UK as a laborer, so Athwal was encouraged to study by his father so he could have a better life.

He also added growing up in the 1970’s football scouts wouldn’t come to watch Asian players as they believed the stereotype that British Asian boys were not physically and mentally strong enough.

John Sangha, a British Asian grassroots level coach for over 20 years, also told me about his experiences dealing with racism in football growing up. When I asked him about stereotypes of Asian players, he frustratingly sighed and said: “It’s totally incorrect,

“At that time, we weren’t looked upon; scouts wouldn’t come to our games. And we didn’t have any role models. Although the talent was there, the stereotypes were still around about our build, our diet, about us only being interested in cricket, and the scouts would carry those stereotypes.”

He says: “Now those stereotypes have lessened to some extent in the last 5 to 10 years. I’m not saying they are gone completely, but its less and less with the new generation of scouts.”

Nowadays, Sangha is sure grassroots level participation has increased significantly and he puts that down to “a global interest of the game and the parents who grew up in the 70s and 80s are now encouraging their kids.”

“The grassroots participation is strong, you see Asians not just playing in Asian clubs but also English clubs. Back in the day, you’d say Asians stuck with other Asians but now it’s more widespread.”

And just like Raj Athwal in working in the commercialization of football, Sangha explained there are now more Asian physios, doctors and journalists all working in football, just not on the pitch, so there are British Asian role models in the game.

I also spoke with Manraj Singh Sucha, the national team manager for the Punjab FA, a team full of mostly British Asian semi-professional players. He believes the blame for lack of representation at the elite level shouldn’t just be aimed at explicit racism, but that Asian communities need to look at their own cultures as well and how they value sport.

He explained that because there is a lack of British Asian role models on the field some parents can’t see how football can become a career, and that it’s too risky when your child could channel those same mental skills they use on a pitch in their education, a safer route.

He added: “If a player is exceptional there should be no reason why he wouldn’t be picked for an academy and moved forwards, but in order to become exceptional you need to have the right support, the right development and the right amount of practice.”

Despite Sucha being reluctant to blame “external factors” he did mention “there absolutely are stereotypes around Asian players that still exist and come from society”, and discussed how it’s highly likely football scouts have an unconscious bias. “If they see an Asian player and non-Asian player with the same ability they are likely to question how far the Asian player could go, and its less risk to pick the non-Asian.”

When speaking to Raj Athwal he also spoke about how he’s been on the receiving end of micro-aggressions in his field within football. He’s experienced comments from high executives within the Football Association that weren’t intended to be harmful but came out as a form of “othering”. That’s why he suggested there should be a change of attitudes across football. He thinks clubs should work from the top down and start having more BME representations in the boardrooms and executive offices.

Without a doubt, it’s incredibly difficult to make it as an elite professional footballer in this country, “99% of academy footballers won’t make it pro”, said Athwal.

Sangha said: “the ones that make it we forget they are at an elite level, and they’ve given so much sacrifice to get there you’ve got to just live and breathe the game, and not everyone has got that mentality. It’s not necessarily about talent, it’s about mentality. A lot of talent, even non-Asian talent lose out simply because they’ve not got that mentality, we must not forget that, and you need a bit of luck.”

Athwal believes we will one day see a British Asian footballer represent England but it won’t be for a while, he imagines there will need to be a generational talent, like a Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard for a British Asian player to properly breakthrough.

Sucha also agreed saying a generational talent will need the support from early and mentality to make it.

He’ll have to defy the near-impossible odds to make it pro and on top of that fight against all the drawbacks that being an Asian in football will have, the unconscious bias and going against cultural norms. All that said it is undoubtedly a matter of when and not if we will ever see a British Asian male play for the England National Team.