Pardon the phrasing, but there has been an 'insurgence' of interest in Asian talent in the last couple of seasons. West Ham run the 'Asians in the Community scheme' which looks to get the majority population of Boleyn involved at the club in different non-playing capacities. Last season saw Chelsea launch their 'Asian star scheme' talent competition. Whether this is a search into a virtually untapped pool or whether its a way to get more people through the turnstiles remains to be seen. No doubt both will have wanted to have seen their efforts recognised.
There are only 7 UK-born Asians out of nearly 1,900 Football League players (calculated on each of the 92 football league teams having an average squad of 20 players, though this figure is likely to be greater). But what are the reasons for this insignificant percentage, considering that most of the Asian youth are 2nd or 3rd generation British?
My assumption is that parents have a large role to play in this. Not many view football as the holy grail of neither sport nor a long term career as their sons or daughters may now do. With the higher importance of cricket in the region, one only has to look within the boundaries to see the strides made by the likes of Monty Panesar, Ravi Bopara and Adil Rashid have made recently. Not forgetting former England captain Nasser Hussain either (Although he was born in India). So culture does play a part, as one can expect.
Secondly, Perception and Pride. Not all Indian and Pakistani doctors and lawyers ply those trades by coincidence. Some are spoonfed the idea from a young age, that the professions you choose during later life, will impact EVERYTHING! And to an extent that isn't wrong, but successes can be made outside of these fields. Somehow, 'Doctor' or 'Lawyer' reasonates better than 'footballer' at the big family gatherings. This really is the 'Show and Tell' for the older generations.
So, we've discussed the role of clubs in this situation, the role of parents as a possible reason. But how about the aspiring players? I mean with the expansive network of scouts that operate at each EPL club, surely a vast number would have been approached. There is the possibility that asian players simply are not good enough. We must remember that compared to the rest of the world, asians are relatively new to the playing side of the game (30 years max.). There is almost an element of giving the culture time to change. Time to learn football. Yes, some are fast, some are skillful but the vast majority lack the positional and technical guile required at the top level.
One must not forget role models. Cricket will always have its asian turnover due to the successes of Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan. But who have the UK asian footballers got to look up to? 7 in total is probably the answer.
I think it will be around 5-10 years before we see an influx of asians in the EPL, as most of them are currently in the academy assembly line, learning the game to the level which is required. Hopefully one day, we'll see a young man of pakistani origin cause a stir upon their £80million transfer. He might even be moving from Benfica.
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Good stuff. I think it is a mixture of all those points mentioned above, but you missed out that asians have a diet of greasy food twice a day!!!
Anyhow, I remember talking about this about 5 years ago, and still we don't really see any progress from the asian community. Parents don't want their son's to be a football player, it's not waht they are used to. Given that asians don't have the experience. In addition, it may also be down to a complete lack of ambition and dedication within themselves. However, I think with the new generation of slightly more open minded asians, they will allow their children to fulfil these less traditional careers.