Why is there a lack of British Asians in English football?

When the issue of race is talked about in football, it is usually concerned with attempting to increase the amount of black managers in the higher echelons of the English league system. However, sometimes it is easy to forget the other pressing concern - the very apparent lack of Asian players in English football in general.

In terms of the oriental community, there have only ever been two British Born Chinese professional football players in England: Frank Soo (Stoke City and the only oriental player to ever play for the England team) and Sammy Chung (Reading and Norwich City). Both these players plied their trade many years ago between the 1930s and 1960s.
Frank Soo 


Before going any further, I would like to define my terms. When I say Asian, I am of course, referring to both individuals from the Indian subcontinent and the Far East. In addition to this, I am also referring to British Born Asians – not overseas Asians such as Park Ji Sung of Manchester United or Ryo Myaichi and Park Chu Young of Arsenal.

However, being of South-East Asian descent, my article will focus on the lack of British oriental players. Despite this, I feel these issues raised are also shared with the South Asian community.

So why is there a lack of British Asians in English football? Especially considering that the South Asian community in UK is the largest in the world outside of Asia, and the oriental population is the third largest ethnic group on these isles and has seen a steady growth in numbers over the years.

The easy answer could be the lack of talent in these communities, but having been heavily involved in football in the oriental community for a few years now, I can say this is certainly not true. There are certainly some very gifted players plying their trade in various Chinese or Oriental midweek or Sunday leagues and competitions across the country. The same can also be said of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi descended players who mostly, I have noticed, have terrific dribbling and technical skills.

So where does the problem lie?

Judging from my own personal experience, I can lay down the answer with two main factors: Community culture and British culture.

In terms of the first factor, the oriental community (and particularly the British Chinese), have always placed a huge emphasis on education as a means to better oneself. This predisposition to education and achieving success by such means is an aspect of Chinese culture that has existed for many hundreds of years. It explains why Chinese parents are always incredibly pushy, and why their children always seem to excel in education and end up in well paid careers such as accountancy, finance and law.

The arts and sport are not considered ‘proper’ subjects or viable career options in the eyes of Chinese parents and so their children are discouraged from pursuing them at school. In fact, this also goes some way in explaining why there are not many British Chinese in the media or politics – although this is, of course, another discussion for another time.

In my 11 a side football team, there is one individual who once played for Chelsea youths in 1990s whilst he was in primary school. His aspirations of becoming a professional footballer, however, were eventually quashed by his parents who put him back on the path of education. He is now a successful accountant who plies his trade with us on Sundays when he has time and permission from the wife.

Whilst I do not know the ins and outs of the South Asian community I can say that, having spoken to many friends within it, the mentality amongst the parents is similar to that of the oriental community.

The second factor is English culture. Or perhaps more specifically, English football culture. The fast paced, kick-and-run, physical style football in England exists at all levels of the game. Many Asians, particularly the Chinese, simply do not have the physical attributes for this style of football.

The physicality of English football
This is particularly evident at youth level where children who are the biggest, most athletic and can punt the ball the furthest on an 11 a side pitch (which is often criticized as being too big a pitch to coach youngsters) are the ones earmarked for the future.

Consequently, white and black children are often considered by scouts and youth teams as their often, naturally bigger frames, gives them an automatic advantage in this physical style of football. Even the overseas orientals that have been transferred to the Premier League, are often tall in stature (considered abnormal in their homes countries). Lee Chun-Yong of Bolton Wanderers, for instance, is 5ft 11 – a giant by South Korean standards where the average height of males is 5ft 8.

Lee Chun-Yong of Bolton Wanderers

English football favors strength, size and athleticism over technical skills. And with most British Chinese men being only around 5ft 6 to 5ft 9 tall, and British South Asian men being only slightly taller, there is very little chance of them being considered by professional teams.

In his early years as a youth footballer, Steven Gerrard was written off by his youth team coaches due to his small frame. It was only after his growth spurt in his mid teens when he was finally taken seriously.

Unless English football culture can change its perception of how the game is played, and unless the British Asian community sees a rapid rise in youngsters going against traditional Asian values, there will be very little opportunities for British Asians in this area.

Of course, there is hope for the Asians.

Rory Underwood, the England team's highest ever try scorer in Rugby Union (a sport dominated by big, burly, middle-to-upper class white British) was of Chinese descent.

It can be done.

The Most Testing 24 Hours of my Life

It is the day after I completed the Three Peaks Challenge. I climbed the three highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales in a respectable time of 23 hours and 33 minutes. Consequently that means I was victorious in completing it in under 24 hours. 

 

It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most physically and mentally testing thing I have ever done. There will be very few things in my life that will push both my body and my mind to such a limit.

 

Ben Nevis, Scotland

Our challenge began at Ben Nevis in Scotland at 4:45pm. At 1,344 metres (4,409 ft) it is the highest of the Three Peaks and the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. The unknowing would immediately assume that being the highest, it would be the most difficult. Surprisingly it wasn’t with only one straight forward path up that was fairly busy with other climbers. It was however, tediously long. At several points, I felt a sense of optimism of nearing the summit, only for it to be quashed by the appearance of yet another ascent.

It did however, offer some spectacular views of the many lochs and valleys in the surrounding areas. Such was our energy and excitement of reaching the first peak, we ran down some of the flatter sections of Ben Nevis and arrived back at the car park in just over 4 hours. This put us ahead of schedule.

With Ben Nevis completed, we jumped into our 7 seater VW with Sarah Cheung, our dedicated driver, behind the wheel. From then on, it was a 6 hour drive to Scafell Pike in England. It is at this point in the challenge that most people would try to get as much sleep as possible. However, I can tell you, this is virtually impossible in a cramped VW that is racing down A roads and motorways with a suspension that’s firm enough to break your back. 1 hour of light and highly disturbed sleep was probably the most I managed.

Scafell Pike, England

We arrived at a small village in the Lake District at 3.30am with several other vehicles carrying other Thee Peaks teams arriving. After some last minute stretches and packing of food into our rucksacks, we began the ascent.

Nearing summit of Ben Nevis

I had already read about Scafell Pike being the most difficult peak out of the three mountain, despite being the smallest at 978 metres (3209 ft). They could not be more right. With it being 3.30am, the area was pitch black and the only illumination came from our torches. The first half mile or so involved walking on a narrow path with a steep drop on the right hand side with a gushing river. With our torches providing only enough light to give us 5 metres of visibility, it was a fairly nerve racking start.

Our pace however, meant we caught up with some other Thee Peaks hikers who had stopped to find a way to traverse the gushing river. It was quite apparent that a recent heavy rainfall before we arrived had turned this, normally small stream, into a raging torrent that was quite capable of sweeping away the careless. On top of this, it was the middle of night and so the danger was very evident.

After a moment of discussions with our new friends, we decided to cross. I have to say, despite the water being only a foot deep, the power of it and its freezing temperature was a huge shock to the system. We however, crossed safely.

After a short attempt to squeeze out the water from our boots and socks, we continued on. The ascent up Scafell is a lot steeper than Ben Nevis and really puts a lot of strain on the calves and thighs.

As we neared the summit, dawn was breaking although the area was heavily misted. Alan, who had taken several strong pain killers for muscle pain during the drive, was nauseous and was sick by the path. I was suffering from a caffeine and sugar crash and was highly irratible.

Spectacular Snowdon views

As a whole group, we were mentally and physically exhausted from the steep climb in the dark and the final 500 metres, which involved scrambling up steep and large boulders, pushed us right to the limit.

Quite honestly, in that last thrust to reach the top, I came close to breaking down and collapsing.

I have to say, Scafell Pike is the most unrewarding summit I have ever seen. It is a flat, bleak top made entirely of rocks and boulders, devoid of anything green, and shrouded in a heavy mist; which meant there were no spectacular views on offer like Ben Nevis. Alan quite rightly said that it resembled many people’s idea of limbo.

After taking a few photos, we began our descent. Our haste to get down, our tiredness, and the confusing, desolate summit of Scafell; meant that we took the wrong bearing down and ended up going down an extremely steep, 45 degree slope which was made of up loose rocks and gravel. Had any of us had lost our footing, we could have easily slid all the way down to a cliff edge and that would have been the end of us. Thankfully, we managed to edge ourselves towards a safer section to descend.

Crossing the Scafell river on the descent

After a few moments of map reading and asking fellow hikers, we managed to put ourselves on to the right path back to the van.

A gruelling and wet descend down sharp rocks for an hour and we were back at the car. Almost broken physically and mentally after experiencing what Scafell Pike had thrown at us. I can tell you now, I will never return to that mountain again. Ever.

Because we had got lost briefly during our descent, it meant we no longer had the extra time we had gained from arriving at Scafell early. It was around 8:50am when we set off for our last and final peak, Snowdon in Wales.

Between 8:50am and 1pm, Sarah demonstrated some absolutely brilliant driving skills in order to get us to Wales so we would have enough time to climb Snowdon in under 24 hours.

Snowdon, Wales

Although we had originally chosen to do the Pyg Track path, the extra 20 minutes needed to drive to it meant it was unfeasible. We therefore opted to climb the Llanberis path which was about a mile longer but was slightly easier.

Having already climbed Snowdon for a practice run in the two weeks prior to the challenge, we knew that it was entirely possible to ascend and descend in under 4 hours which meant we would complete the challenge in under 24 hours.

It was tough. Having already climbed two mountains, driven 11 hours and only managed 2 hours sleep each, we were utterly exhausted. But we powered up the mountain via the more touristy Llanberis path with very few breaks and reached the cold, wet, windy summit.

Snowdon is probably the easiest of the three mountains to climb if you take the popular Llanberis path, but it is still by no means easy with a steep beginning and end section and highly changeable north Wales weather; which was wet and rainy during our ascent, but dry and sunny during the climb down.

At the top of Snowdon

Our descent was rapid as we skipped and jogged down certain sections to make up time at the risk of destroying our knees.

We were all in pain, tired and reeking of sweat. But we made it to the bottom at 4:18pm. This gave us a time of 23 hours and 33 minutes. We were victorious! I had gone through blood, sweat and tears and near mental breakdown, but we had succeeded and the sense of achievement was simply amazing.


What I learnt from the Three Peaks Challenge

• Copious amounts of Haribo and Percy Pigs will keep you going up a mountain.
  
  
• No matter how much you stretch, you will still feel like you’ve been on the receiving end of a vicious beating the next day.
  
  
• Scafell Pike is definitely the most unkind, most testing and most unrewarding mountain out of the three. It can make or break men.
  
  
• It is not possible to finish the challenge in under 24 hours if you stick to the speed limit.
  
  
• Mental strength plays a much bigger role than I thought.
  
  
• Sarah Cheung, our driver, is good enough to drive on the Red Bull F1 team.

Could Usain Bolt actually play for Manchester United?

I don’t think Usain Bolt had his tongue anywhere near his cheek this week, when he remarked in an interview with the BBC that he would one day like to play for Manchester United after hanging up his running shoes.

I have never seen Bolt with a football and have absolutely no idea what his skills with one are like. However, I will try and make some sort of honest assessment of how he would fair in football, based on what he has now.

Speed

Well, he is the fastest man in the world. That alone is a significant advantage. Forget the fact that his first, second and third touch would all probably send the ball 5 metres ahead, beside or behind him. His, quite frankly, frightening pace would compensate for this and allow him to catch up with it before any other player can intercept it. Ashley Cole, Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott would all be eating his dust. And let’s be honest, when you’re in the Premiership, speed can make any below average player significantly better. Just look at Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Height

Manchester United lack a target man. And at 6ft 5 inches, Usain would be the perfect target to aim for. Height, like speed, compensates for lack of footballing skill in the Premiership. One only needs to look at Nikola Zigic and Nicklas Bentdner for evidence. In fact, I’m pretty sure, given his immense speed, that Usain Bolt could chase his own flick-ons from goal kicks. He could be making a mockery of experienced defenders like John Terry.

                                                                                   A United striker in the making?

Strength

The man has one of the mostly finely honed bodies in athletics. Frank Lampard would look even more of an abusing pie eater next to him. I mean Usain’s arms are almost as wide as my torso. He would be battering his way through defences Drogba-style with ease. The Arsenal defence would be torn to shreds.

Attitude

Usain is extremely dedicated to his training. He doesn’t drink alcohol at all, and when he goes clubbing you won’t ever see him in tabloids the next day falling into a taxi with Kingston’s finest. Alex Ferguson loves players like these. Just look at all the role models that have stayed at Manchester United for most of their careers: Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs. Actually, I think that last one might need revising.

Conclusion

So could Usain Bolt play for Manchester United? I definitely think so. All they would need to do is to teach the guy to be able to vaguely kick a ball in one direction, and they could possibly have one of the deadliest players in the Premiership. Possibly.

Super Injunction Farce

So it's Ryan Giggs. How many of you didn't know this? Not many. I thought so.

To put it quite bluntly, the whole super injunction saga for the past few weeks has been completely and uttely ridiculous. A gag on the media in order to cover up celebrity wrong doings, which, only apply to England and cannot possibly be policed online.

Let's face it, in this age of mass media and technology, one cannot possibly cover up information of this nature. Even if I had tried to avoid finding out who this "Top Premier League Footballer" was, I would have failed miserably. Facebook and Twitter are like the women's bookclub in a small village. The purveyors of gossip and rumour.

And isn't this just a complete mockery of our so called liberal democracy which supposedly gaurantees a free press? I mean, the very fact that a wealthy person can pay for the courts to control the media should have the North Korean government scoffing at our supposedly superior system.

If a famous person does something wrong or immoral, they should face up to the consequences. Part of the package (or curse depending on how you see it) of being in the public eye, is that the media will report and scrutinize your actions should they get any sort of whiff. It is harsh but then if they did not want this happening, they should not have have done what they did in the first place.

Bin Laden’s death – A contradiction in reaction

It is a peculiar sight to behold, on the day of Osama Bin Laden’s death, to see two headlines on the BBC website that seemingly contradict each other. “World safer without Bin Laden, says Obama” and “UK warning after Bin Laden death”.

It would seem that it depends entirely on how you interpret Bin Laden’s demise on whether the threat of terror really will decrease. On the one hand, the al-Qaeda leader’s termination is a blow to the movement - he was the global symbol of Islamic extremist fundamentalism and although not always the orchestrator, he was often the voice of justification that his followers admired and the rest of the world abhorred.

Yet on the other hand, his death will encourage a response from Islamic fundamentalism who will seek to avenge his death with further violent acts of terrorism.

And then there is the third question of whether his death will have any impact at all on disrupting al-Qaeda – a worldwide movement with hundreds of factions and numerous other leaders. Since 9/11, it felt at times, that the media and the US and British government were elevating Osama Bin Laden’s status to an unrealistic level. To a level where his importance and influence in extremism was hugely overstated. Governments become so embroiled in capturing this bounty “dead or alive” that they began seeing it too much as a game of cat and mouse, rather than a campaign to topple terrorist movements.

 

It would also seem that his media coverage will continue to contribute towards the leader’s mythology for further years to come, even helping to attract new supporters.

And so, whilst the patriotic cheering American citizens rejoice outside the White House, whilst the American forces pat themselves on the back, whilst Obama laps up the media acclaim for his country’s success in ridding this pest of a terrorist, we have to ask: has Bin Laden’s death actually done anything good for us?

Changing attitudes towards the British Empire.

David Cameron recently suggested, at a conference in Pakistan, that Britain and its Empire are responsible for many of the world’s problems.

If you conducted a survey one hundred years ago on the thoughts of the British people on the Empire, I am sure the results would have overwhelmingly displayed feelings of pride and accomplishment.

However, conduct the survey today, and I am sure a good proportion of the responses would be mixed, and would question the moral and ethical decisions that the British government made in their campaigns to bring civilisation and order to foreign lands they saw as wild, and undeveloped.

The shift in attitudes in some members of the British populace can be attributed to changing cultural attitudes to imperialism; a vast, rapid and highly critical media; and a re-interpretation and re-evaluation of history.

People now see imperialism as an arrogant belief in one’s superiority over other nations and cultures, and that attempts to impose one’s way of living on to others is unjust. This has been particularly evident in the rise of demonstrations against government intervention in foreign lands, which started in the 1960s with the protests in America against the Vietnam war, and have been continuing ever since with protests against British and American intervention in Iraq in recent years.

The media and its technological advances has disseminated information and reported on events that were previously extremely one sided or unknown to people back at home. When a war breaks out in Iraq, a journalist is already there reporting on the loss of civilian life and destroying of people’s homes and livelihood. We realize that there are two sides to every coin.

And now, history is no longer taught with a glorified sense of British achievements in foreign lands. We are also taught the ugly side of history – of the negatives British rule also brought; and the atrocities that some committed.

Perhaps it is no wonder than that even a Conservative Prime Minister has admitted that Britain’s history with the world has been problematic.

However it would be unfair to say that the British Empire was all bad. It did bring stability, technological advances and economic development to many regions. It did lead to the establishment of the commonwealth which has promoted just political causes.

Therefore this presents political leaders with a problem when they choose to praise or criticize British imperialism. They are damned if they do, but damned if they don’t.

I hate to admit it, but David Cameron has a point…

…and I feel dirty for saying so.

His speech detailing the failings of multiculturalism at a security conference in Germany (which can be found here) made a lot of sense to me. In fact, the points made were fairly similar to the ones I made in an essay I wrote on multiculturalism in my first year of university.

Multiculturalism has not entirely failed. But it does need to be reworked and reshaped.

The problem with the multiculturalism we have in Britain is that it creates insular factions within society. Racial groups who live in bubbles where they choose to interact only with people and processes within their culture. This can breed racial tension, as these groups are deeply suspicious of other groups, as well as mainstream society. And in some cases, it can breed extremists.

I am not saying we should get rid of multiculturalism. The right to celebrate and honor one’s cultural heritage is a right that should always remain intact. What Britain needs , however, is a mixture of assimilation and multiculturalism. Different cultural and racial groups should recognize that they are also part of one society and culture; and that they also have a set of British cultural values that everyone adheres to and is proud of. A collective identity.

By doing this, we allow ethnic minorities to celebrate their own cultural background, but also feel they are part of British culture. This will invariably lead to more trust between different racial groups and less racism.

Here is an example to illustrate. Amongst my British Chinese friends, there are two different types:

• The well rounded British Chinese person. He or she has friends from many different cultures and racial backgrounds as well as friends from his or her own community. He or she also embraces British culture alongside Chinese culture.

• The insular British Chinese person. He or she lives in a bubble where they only interact with other Chinese. He or she does their best not to interact with other races or cultures and is deeply critical and suspicious of British culture, choosing only to celebrate their own way of life. As a result of this, they find it very difficult to fit in to British society and do not make many friends at, for example, work.

As a society, we need to be to be encouraging the first option.

I therefore grudgingly admit David Cameron is right.