British Asian footballers

N

northernrower

Well-known member
Why do the British Pakistani, Indian, etc groups seem under represented?

At Boro have we ever had a homegrown Asian player? I'm struggling to think of one.
 
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From our academy, I don't think there have been any.

But we've had Neil Taylor and Danny Batth play for us recently.

It is a strange demographic quirk, and only some of it will be down to cultural preferences.
There are far more British Asians (9.3% of the population of England and Wales) compared to Black British (4%), with a decent chunk from both in Mixed on the census, but you see far, far more black British footballers.

It's something that the government and FA are aware of though, there are plenty of efforts to try and increase the involvement and representation amongst the British Asian population.
 
EDIT: I missed the "homegrown" part of this... Does Rhys Williams count? He came through the academy

Danny Batth's father is Indian.
Rhys Williams mother is Indian.
Neil Taylor's mother is Bangladeshi.
 
TeaCider said:
Woops, obviously there has been at least one then, I thought Rhys Williams was Australian.
Click to expand...

He represented Australia because he was born there.... I think his mams Indian and his dads Welsh. He played for Wales U21s.
 
Is it a traditional and cultural thing that British people of south Asian descent have more of an interest in other sports?
I know there has been quite a few top class boxers who are British Asian and lots of top class cricketers.
Sports such as Football, Rugby and athletics sadly seem to be under represented, hopefully in the future these issues can be addressed.
I watched an interesting documentary a while back about a football team set up by some British Asian blokes(I can't remember the name of the team possibly in Greater London or Kent, and can't find it on YouTube) but if anyone can find it then it's worth watching.
 
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