When will an Asian player play for England (1 Viewer)

[skybluetony176]

When will an Asian footballer play for England? - BBC Three

Interesting question from the BBC. I’ve never been able to work out why more British players of Asian heritage don’t play professionally let alone for England. With the exception of one friend of Indian heritage every Asian I know is football mad and many of them played grass roots football when younger. When you consider that they arrived in large numbers at the same time as other ethnic groups from the commonwealth after the war you would have thought that Asian players would have been coming into the game at the same time as black players but it’s never happened. As someone who celebrates diversity I’d love to see a British Asian player pull on an England shirt.

 

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[wingy]

When will an Asian footballer play for England? - BBC Three

Interesting question from the BBC. I’ve never been able to work out why more British players of Asian heritage don’t play professionally let alone for England. With the exception of one friend of Indian heritage every Asian I know is football mad and many of them played grass roots football when younger. When you consider that they arrived in large numbers at the same time as other ethnic groups from the commonwealth after the war you would have thought that Asian players would have been coming into the game at the same time as black players but it’s never happened. As someone who celebrates diversity I’d love to see a British Asian player pull on an England shirt.

It's a good question.
Think I've tried to address it on here before .I speculate it's about priorities .
Acedemic achievment is highly prioritised ,then I think football would come behind Cricket in terms of first choice in sport and leisure preference.
But that doesn't really explain the dearth .
Clearly there should be some that have made it through.

 

[I_Saw_Shaw_Score]

Michael Chopra was the nearest I guess made it to u21’s didn’t he?

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

There’s Yan Dhanda at Swansea

Footballs just not a high priority sport in India and the pitches and coaching available for interested youngsters at grassroots is at a low level. The likes of Danny Batth (Wolves), Neil Taylor (Swansea) and Michael Chopra all wanted to play for India but they don’t allow dual citizenship. Surely it would help increase interest and government funding if India had internationals playing at a good level in England

 

[fernandopartridge]

When will an Asian footballer play for England? - BBC Three

Interesting question from the BBC. I’ve never been able to work out why more British players of Asian heritage don’t play professionally let alone for England. With the exception of one friend of Indian heritage every Asian I know is football mad and many of them played grass roots football when younger. When you consider that they arrived in large numbers at the same time as other ethnic groups from the commonwealth after the war you would have thought that Asian players would have been coming into the game at the same time as black players but it’s never happened. As someone who celebrates diversity I’d love to see a British Asian player pull on an England shirt.

Isn't cricket still number 1 sport for Asians or Asians from the Indian subcontinent?:
Asians of Pakistani or Bengali descent often aren't particularly well integrated so don't get involved in grass roots football. L

 

[Nick]

Doesn't kabbadi have a fairly big following here too?

 

[Gazolba]

You could say the same thing about athletics, look at our male and female sprinters, all black no Asians.
And why are there so few black or Asian cyclists? And when did you last see a black or Asian F1 driver?

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

You could say the same thing about athletics, look at our male and female sprinters, all black no Asians.
And why are there so few black or Asian cyclists? And when did you last see a black or Asian F1 driver?

Lewis Hamilton?

 

[Nick]

Is it also cultural?

I used to play in a team with a fair few Indian lads, think there was about 6 or 7 all together. A couple of them were pretty decent but it was like they grew out of football, just didn't seem that arsed at all when they got a bit older and hardly turned up.

 

[Sick Boy]

Lewis Hamilton?

Made me 'LOL'

 

[SlowerThanPlatt]

Is it also cultural?

I used to play in a team with a fair few Indian lads, think there was about 6 or 7 all together. A couple of them were pretty decent but it was like they grew out of football, just didn't seem that arsed at all when they got a bit older and hardly turned up.

Yeah I’d say so, it seems to be seen as a hobby and not a serious career path

 

[Terry Gibson's perm]

Not their priority my little boy had his nursery graduation a few weeks ago the Asian kids said they wanted to be doctors and one even said a family doctor my son said he wants to be a digger man and most of the white lads said they wanted to be footballers

 

[skybluetony176]

You could say the same thing about athletics, look at our male and female sprinters, all black no Asians.
And why are there so few black or Asian cyclists? And when did you last see a black or Asian F1 driver?

My eldest is a keen junior athlete so I go to quite a few junior meetings and there are young athletes of Asian decent. I wouldn’t say it reflects the U.K. population though, it’s definitely lower. It’s mainly white kids that you see, I would say that children of Afro Caribbean descent are also under represented compared to the population breakdown of the U.K. at this level. Obviously in the seniors that dynamic changes completely. Certainly at the top level anyway.

 

[rob9872]

With athletics it's genetics. It's no coincidence that the 100m Olympic final is contested by 8 black guys and the 100m swimming final by 8 white guys. Celebrate the differences rather than pretend we're all built the the same and that a particular race is under represented.

With football I think it's more cultural and as someone said higher up, concentrating on studies. I think that stems from a generational thing though from the elders and the next generation it will change as they've become more westernised and lazy like the rest of us

 

[skybluetony176]

With athletics it's genetics. It's no coincidence that the 100m Olympic final is contested by 8 black guys and the 100m swimming final by 8 white guys. Celebrate the differences rather than pretend we're all built the the same and that a particular race is under represented.

With football I think it's more cultural and as someone said higher up, concentrating on studies. I think that stems from a generational thing though from the elders and the next generation it will change as they've become more westernised and lazy like the rest of us

You’re definitely right on sprinting. I can’t ever imagine a white athlete breaking the 100m world record again and apparently it’s down to snatch muscle. Which is a type of muscle that all people have but black people by way of genetics naturally have more, which in turn makes them better sprinters. Especially over the shorter sprint distances.

I think swimming is down to cultural and dare I say it class differences. Swimming tends to be something middleclass white kids do. At the last Olympics a black Dutch female swimmer won a gold and set a new WR too if I remember correctly and she basically said the same thing. Seen it in golf, tennis and motorsport too and as old barriers are being broken down black athletes are rising to the top in all. Something to be celebrated.

 

[Gazolba]

Lewis Hamilton?

He's mixed race. His mother is white (British) and his father black. I don't know his father's background but in photos he looks to be from the Caribbean, so he's zero percent Asian. Motor racing is one of those sports where race really shouldn't make a difference since all you are doing is sitting in a seat controlling a vehicle.

 

[Macca]

When one wants to and is good enough?

 

[speedie87]

He's mixed race. His mother is white (British) and his father black. I don't know his father's background but in photos he looks to be from the Caribbean, so he's zero percent Asian. Motor racing is one of those sports where race really shouldn't make a difference since all you are doing is sitting in a seat controlling a vehicle.

Racing a f1 is one of the most physical things you can do due to the g forces.

 

[Covstu]

I asked this question to an Asian friend who was extremely talented footballer and he said it was definitely a cultural matter from his perspective. It was about career and family rather than pipe dreams which seemed a shame. Not saying he would have made it but there surely must be high potential out there. Football is huge in other Asian countries like Japan, Korea and China so maybe a matter of time?

 

[Macca]

You’re definitely right on sprinting. I can’t ever imagine a white athlete breaking the 100m world record again and apparently it’s down to snatch muscle. Which is a type of muscle that all people have but black people by way of genetics naturally have more, which in turn makes them better sprinters. Especially over the shorter sprint distances.

I think swimming is down to cultural and dare I say it class differences. Swimming tends to be something middleclass white kids do. At the last Olympics a black Dutch female swimmer won a gold and set a new WR too if I remember correctly and she basically said the same thing. Seen it in golf, tennis and motorsport too and as old barriers are being broken down black athletes are rising to the top in all. Something to be celebrated.

My snatch muscle has been under used recently

 

[covcity4life]

As an asian i would say this is how i see it

*the whole my son will be a doctor or laywer stuff is still about no way pushed as much as it used to be, parents know that footballers make lots of money!

*diet could be an issue, lots of oily food and carbs(roti) in the diet so maybe around teen years kids not in good shape.

*talent is not an issue, have seen many many asian footballers steal the show in the semi pro leagues like alliance south or whatever the fuck its called. but do they have the all round game to make it? i find many asians join asian teams or as kids have mostly asian mates so i find they love the messis and ronaldos and have skill,dribbling,shooting etc but they do not clatter each other(could be argued thats a good thing) wheras in 5 a side leagues u see white/black lads trying to break each others legs or shoulder barge people head first into walls. thats wrong but the ability to take a tackle should not be underestimated in getting someone to top level. i find asian can be hot headed and once hit like that will have a fight rather than continue the game.

*no doubt imo racism is still about within clubs. Even if head honchos want asian footbalelrs the scouts and coaches might still be old school. i mean even from a non race pov the dinosaurs in this country have only just realised that playing out from back and tiki taka is the way forward, heck we still have posters on SBT who want 442 and hoof. These people need to be moved out of the sport so real talent is identifyed.

*cultural thing. non asians can film videos with prossies and doing drugs and being drunk etc and despite being frowned upon not much really changes in their lives. asians would get disowned by families! the whole world of a footballer is very different to asian upbrignings and that might be a reason they drift away from the lad culture and pursue other career opporutnities.(not that asian lads dont have their own culture of drinking! but i find white/black have different idea of a night out to british asians)

*and finnaly it is also a case of needing one good breakthrough to get the ball rolling, is a lot of footballers who prob just think forget it, i prob wont be the one anyway. Yaan Dhandas success has been great for asian community. long may it continue

just my opinion as a british asian who dreamed of being a footballer(but was fat and cant run, great finisher though!), no one has to agree.