Racism: Thousands of British-Asians in the country, but only 12 play professionally
I am a British South-Asian football fan, and pretty much every Asian I know watches football.
I was reading this article here:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-british-asian-footballers-scouts-professional.html
The article mentions this:
One white scout from a professional club told him: "They [Asians] don't like physical contact, I think that's their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact?"
The article also mentions this, which really hit me:
He interviewed 75 Asian men who played amateur soccer, who said there was little interest from professional clubs. One told him that though he had played for Asian teams with talented players that had done well in amateur leagues, "but I've never seen a scout watch a match in 18 years."
Is this country racist? I've played amateur football in the past. There are some seriously talented players out there...why is it that we can't get a SINGLE South-Asian football player playing in the top-flight? The 2011 consensus tells us that 4.9% of the total population in this country are South Asian. Why isn't there a single SA footballer playing in the Premier League?
People will argue 'it shouldn't be about race, it should be about whether they're talented enough'...well, my question is: how would the scouts even know they aren't good enough if they don't even come down to watch them play?
So I pose the question:
Is this country racist towards South-Asian amateur football players?
I was reading this article here:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-british-asian-footballers-scouts-professional.html
The article mentions this:
One white scout from a professional club told him: "They [Asians] don't like physical contact, I think that's their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact?"
The article also mentions this, which really hit me:
He interviewed 75 Asian men who played amateur soccer, who said there was little interest from professional clubs. One told him that though he had played for Asian teams with talented players that had done well in amateur leagues, "but I've never seen a scout watch a match in 18 years."
Is this country racist? I've played amateur football in the past. There are some seriously talented players out there...why is it that we can't get a SINGLE South-Asian football player playing in the top-flight? The 2011 consensus tells us that 4.9% of the total population in this country are South Asian. Why isn't there a single SA footballer playing in the Premier League?
People will argue 'it shouldn't be about race, it should be about whether they're talented enough'...well, my question is: how would the scouts even know they aren't good enough if they don't even come down to watch them play?
So I pose the question:
Is this country racist towards South-Asian amateur football players?
Scroll to see replies
Nah they're just not good enough. Of course there are some amazing ones but not many and it's not to do with racism
Original post by AnharM
. Why isn't there a single SA footballer playing in the Premier League?
There is.
Hamza Choudhury - squad player for Leicester, of Bangladeshi heritage
But, bear in mind British born players are a minority in the top flight, about 60% of players are foreign. So even at proportional representation - 20 lots of 25 man squads, 40% British born, 5% of that population is then 10 players.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by TheYearNiner
Nah they're just not good enough. Of course there are some amazing ones but not many and it's not to do with racism
But how do they know “they aren’t good enough” if clubs don’t tell their scouts to go scouting in an area full of South-Asian kids, where a lot of South Asian players play?
It’s not enough to say “they’re not good enough” if we’re being made to feel that we don’t even stand a chance because we aren’t being looked at.
Let me give you an example, if, say, Arsenal FC came out with a statement saying “we will have a number of scouts going out in every single borough of London once a year, looking for the 10 best in London, and give them a trial” - do you not think South Asian kids in London won’t take their football more seriously? And we aren’t talking about 15 year olds here, they’ve already grown up. We are talking about 7/8 year old South Asian kids growing up, knowing that scouts will always be in their borough once every year, searching for the best. They’ll grow up, as a 7/8 year old, determined to achieve their biggest goal. South Asian parents will be notified, they will be aware and they’ll make sure their kids eat more healthily and stop eating rice and curry. They have hope knowing at least one scout will be looking to find a South Asian player and give them a fair trial.
It isnt enough to say “they aren’t good enough”, when there is no hope for us to ever become a football player to begin with. Give us something to work for, and we will work for it. This is the truth.
Original post by RichPiana
I would’ve became a pro footballer if I didn’t injure my knee 
You’re always in my threads, awww you must love me
No. Not everything is down to racism.
Original post by AnharM
You’re always in my threads, awww you must love me
The majority of the time I don’t even see who OP is. I just read the post and comment on it
Original post by AnharM
I am a British South-Asian football fan, and pretty much every Asian I know watches football.
I was reading this article here:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-british-asian-footballers-scouts-professional.html
The article mentions this:
One white scout from a professional club told him: "They [Asians] don't like physical contact, I think that's their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact?"
The article also mentions this, which really hit me:
He interviewed 75 Asian men who played amateur soccer, who said there was little interest from professional clubs. One told him that though he had played for Asian teams with talented players that had done well in amateur leagues, "but I've never seen a scout watch a match in 18 years."
Is this country racist? I've played amateur football in the past. There are some seriously talented players out there...why is it that we can't get a SINGLE South-Asian football player playing in the top-flight? The 2011 consensus tells us that 4.9% of the total population in this country are South Asian. Why isn't there a single SA footballer playing in the Premier League?
People will argue 'it shouldn't be about race, it should be about whether they're talented enough'...well, my question is: how would the scouts even know they aren't good enough if they don't even come down to watch them play?
So I pose the question:
Is this country racist towards South-Asian amateur football players?
I was reading this article here:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-british-asian-footballers-scouts-professional.html
The article mentions this:
One white scout from a professional club told him: "They [Asians] don't like physical contact, I think that's their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact?"
The article also mentions this, which really hit me:
He interviewed 75 Asian men who played amateur soccer, who said there was little interest from professional clubs. One told him that though he had played for Asian teams with talented players that had done well in amateur leagues, "but I've never seen a scout watch a match in 18 years."
Is this country racist? I've played amateur football in the past. There are some seriously talented players out there...why is it that we can't get a SINGLE South-Asian football player playing in the top-flight? The 2011 consensus tells us that 4.9% of the total population in this country are South Asian. Why isn't there a single SA footballer playing in the Premier League?
People will argue 'it shouldn't be about race, it should be about whether they're talented enough'...well, my question is: how would the scouts even know they aren't good enough if they don't even come down to watch them play?
So I pose the question:
Is this country racist towards South-Asian amateur football players?
No. It's more to do with interest.
I presume this is the case because most Asian parents are very career minded and don't see sport as a viable career and therefore do not push their children towards sports
No it isn’t down to racism. It’s down to south Asians not liking or not being good enough for football. ****ing annoying when the race card gets played for no reason, even more bizarrely when you’re talking about a league where white English players barely make up 30% of the premier league.
Original post by jackdaww
No it isn’t down to racism. It’s down to south Asians not liking or not good being enough for football. ****ing annoying when the race card gets played for no reason, even more bizarrely when you’re talking about a league where white English players barely make up 30% of the premier league.
But but but, you can only be racist against non whites... it must be true, I saw it on the internet.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by AnharM
I am a British South-Asian football fan, and pretty much every Asian I know watches football.
I was reading this article here:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-british-asian-footballers-scouts-professional.html
The article mentions this:
One white scout from a professional club told him: "They [Asians] don't like physical contact, I think that's their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact?"
The article also mentions this, which really hit me:
He interviewed 75 Asian men who played amateur soccer, who said there was little interest from professional clubs. One told him that though he had played for Asian teams with talented players that had done well in amateur leagues, "but I've never seen a scout watch a match in 18 years."
Is this country racist? I've played amateur football in the past. There are some seriously talented players out there...why is it that we can't get a SINGLE South-Asian football player playing in the top-flight? The 2011 consensus tells us that 4.9% of the total population in this country are South Asian. Why isn't there a single SA footballer playing in the Premier League?
People will argue 'it shouldn't be about race, it should be about whether they're talented enough'...well, my question is: how would the scouts even know they aren't good enough if they don't even come down to watch them play?
So I pose the question:
Is this country racist towards South-Asian amateur football players?
I was reading this article here:
https://phys.org/news/2018-04-british-asian-footballers-scouts-professional.html
The article mentions this:
One white scout from a professional club told him: "They [Asians] don't like physical contact, I think that's their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact?"
The article also mentions this, which really hit me:
He interviewed 75 Asian men who played amateur soccer, who said there was little interest from professional clubs. One told him that though he had played for Asian teams with talented players that had done well in amateur leagues, "but I've never seen a scout watch a match in 18 years."
Is this country racist? I've played amateur football in the past. There are some seriously talented players out there...why is it that we can't get a SINGLE South-Asian football player playing in the top-flight? The 2011 consensus tells us that 4.9% of the total population in this country are South Asian. Why isn't there a single SA footballer playing in the Premier League?
People will argue 'it shouldn't be about race, it should be about whether they're talented enough'...well, my question is: how would the scouts even know they aren't good enough if they don't even come down to watch them play?
So I pose the question:
Is this country racist towards South-Asian amateur football players?
To be honest when I played academy football and youth football, although where I'm from has quite a high number of people who originate from the indian subcontinent, I seldom saw a player of that ethnicity playing against my teams. So I'd think it is due to the relatively low numbers of people playing that are playing.
Also scouts now are rarely looking at older age group games it's become the race to the bottom to get the talent earliest. So I'd conjecture that there are not a lot of players playing at younger age groups.
Original post by mojojojo101
Its sort of the semi-racism of percieved wisdom.
The people who 'know' about these things, the accepted truth among those in football circles is that South Asian kids don't play football so they aren't going to bother going to look for South Asian players.
There could be plenty of good footballers there, but they wont find them because they have already decided there won't be before even looking.
There is another aspect of this in how big club academies work nowadays. Most scout players when they are under 10 at the latest so that limits significantly who they pick up. They also mostly have organised links with local amateur youth clubs where they will get most of their players from. The scouts don't really go out in the sticks as it were, they wait for contacts to tell them about a few players, then go watch them all at the same place.
The people who 'know' about these things, the accepted truth among those in football circles is that South Asian kids don't play football so they aren't going to bother going to look for South Asian players.
There could be plenty of good footballers there, but they wont find them because they have already decided there won't be before even looking.
There is another aspect of this in how big club academies work nowadays. Most scout players when they are under 10 at the latest so that limits significantly who they pick up. They also mostly have organised links with local amateur youth clubs where they will get most of their players from. The scouts don't really go out in the sticks as it were, they wait for contacts to tell them about a few players, then go watch them all at the same place.
You clearly have no idea how academies, scouting or junior football works.
Please spill your bile elsewhere.
Original post by jackdaww
No it isn’t down to racism. It’s down to south Asians not liking or not being good enough for football. ****ing annoying when the race card gets played for no reason, even more bizarrely when you’re talking about a league where white English players barely make up 30% of the premier league.
I’m not just speaking about the Premier League, even in the lower leagues, there are very little South Asian players. This is a massive problem and has been for years and yet, no attempt is being made to fix it.
Has anyone read the quotes? The scout literally said “they don’t like to be physical”???? Wtf is that about???? First of all, they’re literally stereotyping a whole race, like there aren’t 6ft+ South Asian kids around. And secondly, this is exactly the reason why English football and the England national team haven’t done well in tournaments for decades. Scouts tend to go for the ‘big, physical’ players, whereas, teams from Spain for example, look for smaller, agile, skillful, technically gifted players like Xavi, Iniesta, David Silva over the years, and this is why we’re so behind everyone else.
“South Asians not liking football” **** right off. Have you ever met a South Asian in your life? Cos you’d know like 90% of South Asian guys watch football. They grow up playing football. We’re not in Bangladesh, where everyone plays Cricket. Go to any area populated by South Asian people and you’d see in every park, they play football.
Original post by 999tigger
Nope. Why should it be? They want the best. Finding good players can be worth millions. Why not write to the clubs or suggest the really good ones try out?
Cricket was always the sport.
Cricket was always the sport.
Yes, finding the best you said, not finding the best white/black player. You don’t find it suspicious at all that not a SINGLE South Asian player can’t make it in the PL?
And not a half South Asian, a typical one. A typical 5’7 South Asian kid. You’re not suspicious at all?
How do you explain the fact that scouts don’t visit areas that are populated with South Asian kids, and watch them play football? I’ve never once heard in my whole borough that a scout has come round here to check football players, because everyone will know about it.
Original post by AnharM
Yes, finding the best you said, not finding the best white/black player. You don’t find it suspicious at all that not a SINGLE South Asian player can’t make it in the PL?
And not a half South Asian, a typical one. A typical 5’7 South Asian kid. You’re not suspicious at all?
How do you explain the fact that scouts don’t visit areas that are populated with South Asian kids, and watch them play football? I’ve never once heard in my whole borough that a scout has come round here to check football players, because everyone will know about it.
And not a half South Asian, a typical one. A typical 5’7 South Asian kid. You’re not suspicious at all?
How do you explain the fact that scouts don’t visit areas that are populated with South Asian kids, and watch them play football? I’ve never once heard in my whole borough that a scout has come round here to check football players, because everyone will know about it.
Nope.
PL is packed with black players
Also packed with foreign players.
Look how many top players india or pakistan has produced?
You also dont see the thousands that get kicked out of the academies.
You carry on believing its all down to racism if you want.
If a kid is good enough why dont they go to trials?
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