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 community 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 Asian Outsiders

The Daily Mail. The holy text of middle-England house wives. The voice of good old fashioned Conservatism with a capital C. If The Daily Mail were a person, it would be that annoying middle aged woman from next door whose only topics of conversation are to vilify asylum seekers, homosexuals and muslims – who are all apparently in some sort of pact to destroy the fabric of British society.

Yes the Daily Mail is very good at propagating extreme right wing views under the guise of a serious tabloid (which happens to be quite the oxymoron). Seemingly harmless news stories in this paper are all given their special brand of right wing treatment before being published as I observed in an article from last week:

“Chinese and Indian pupils get more top grades at GCSE than British children”

Whist seemingly harmless at first, I soon cottoned on to the fact they were separating us Asians from the British. This was confirmed in the first paragraph:

“Chinese and Indian pupils gain more top grades than white British children in every school subject.”

So according to the Daily Mail, Chinese and Indians cannot also be British despite the fact many of us were actually born and raised on this island and have as much of the culture within us as our white counter parts. (Hell I even have a British accent. Go me).

What the Daily Mail has done is to ‘Other’ us. A term that Sociologists (like myself) and studiers of the media love to use. It is a process where our race and heritage are highlighted and used to negatively separate us from the rest of society. In this case, the implication is that you can only be British if you’re white NOT if you’re Chinese or Indian.

Whilst a seemingly banal observation, when you start to look at the news more intimately you gradually start to notice all these little facets that make up a big problem. Muslims suffer from this ‘Othering’ worse than other religious or ethnic group. It doesn’t matter if you were born in London and have lived there all your life – if you’re a member of the muslim faith you will be labelled as an outsider whether you like it or not.

This has serious implications for British society who will continue to see us ethnic minorities as the mysterious unknown. It will continue to proliferate racial divide and tension as media publications such as the Daily Mail hinder our acceptance into British society.

I don’t want to be seen as that ‘Chinaman’ who lives down the road. I want to be referred to as the British guy with a Chinese racial heritage.

As for the article itself, this seems to be regular story that crops up every year. Whilst the foolish will point to the idea that Asians are supposedly naturally more intelligent (it’s genetic?!) the sensible will realize that our culture places great importance on education as a means to better oneself. In other words, if we don’t get an A in all our subjects, Mummy and Daddy will go apeshit on us.

Whilst education is important, I do however question the Asian propensity towards achieving high grades and pushing their kids (sometimes to near breaking point in some cases). Is it a healthy? Do we want all our kids to be Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers and Accountants? Or should we also encourage them to pursue other less traditional paths that they enjoy and find more fulfilling? I mean I seriously doubt that each and every one of these kids enjoy their chosen career paths and have not just done so to appease their strict Asian parents.

I don’t know about others, but I’d love to see more Chinese in the media instead of cooped up in the accounting office. Perhaps even a British Born Chinese professional footballer in the Premier League – well, we can all dream...