Small differences often have big consequences. But most professionals have needed help to make it: whether it is continuous support from an FA coach, a tip-off to a league club, or a manager giving them a contract over a rival player. That is no doubt correct if you are a Lionel Messi or Raheem Sterling, a diamond that shimmers from an early age. Why are they good at cricket?”Īt this point somebody is bound to say that if a player is good enough they will make it, regardless of skin colour. Kilvington says that a white coach at a professional club also once told him: “They don’t like physical contact, I think that’s their problem. That is another head-scratcher, given the game caters for just about every shape and size, from Peter Crouch to Adebayo Akinfenwa to Ryan Fraser. Is it any wonder that many set up their own teams and leagues?Īnother stereotype that lingers, according to Kilvington, is that the “British Asian ‘body’ is perceived to be paradoxical to ‘football bodies’”. Academics have found that many British Asians “attempted to join white clubs during the 1960s and 1970s but they were met with a non-welcoming exclusionary policy, with many being verbally and physically assaulted”. Others will say that south Asian communities have never wanted to integrate in the game. One University of Manchester survey found that 60% of British Bangladeshi boys played football regularly, along with 43% of British Pakistanis and 36% British Indians – similar numbers, in fact, to the 47% of young white boys. Kilvington notes that while a quarter of the 3,700 professional players are black, only 0.25% are British Asian.įorty years ago, the reflex response was that kids of south Asian heritage preferred cricket and hockey. It is not much different lower down the pyramid. While there are the odd exceptions, such as Neil Taylor at Aston Villa or Hamza Choudhury at Leicester, you can count the number of British Asians in Premier League history on one hand. How many other sliding-doors moments might be out there? I ask because amid all the important and overdue discussions about the lack of diversity in the game’s boardrooms and management, another topic is being overlooked: the lack of British Asian players on the pitch.
The kicker? According to Kilvington: “This individual is now a relatively high-profile and respected figure within the game.” So instead he adopted his racially ambiguous nickname instead, and found himself increasingly shortlisted for positions.
It concerns a British Asian who used his real name when applying for jobs in football only to fail to gain any interviews. T here’s a story the academic Daniel Kilvington tells in a new book – Race, Ethnicity and Racism in Sports Coaching – that speaks volumes about how far football has to go to tackle its final frontier.
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