Stereotypes, bias still weighing British Asian footballers down: Academic expert Daniel Kilvington
Why are there very few British South Asians in English football? Only 115 of them, to be exact, out of almost 15,000 footballers in the country, according to the Professional Footballers’ Association data published last year. That is a shockingly low number for a group that makes up for around seven percent of the country’s population.
When posed with this question, Dr. Daniel Kilvington, a senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Leeds Beckett University and a prominent researcher in racism, sport, and media, delivers a candid and unequivocal response, leaving little room for ambiguity.
Dr. Kilvington stresses it’s got nothing to do with Asian parents telling their kids to focus on school or the South Asian children preferring other disciplines like cricket or hockey over football. “These are all misconceptions about British Asians which are completely untrue,” he said.
He pointed to a University of Manchester survey which found that 60 percent of British Bangladeshi youth played football regularly while the number was 43 per cent for British Pakistanis and 36 per cent for British Indians – which were similar or in one case more than the 47 percent of white children who were playing the sport.
“It shows that the Asian community has a strong interest in playing football. But whether this has translated to more success for Asian players, I’m not sure,” said Dr. Kilvington, author of the book ‘British Asians, Exclusion and the Football Industry’ which is a deep dive into the plight of Asians on the pitch and in the boardrooms.
According to Dr. Kilvington, it is persistent stereotypes and biases that are the major hurdles for those from the South Asian communities in football. “The difference in culture or the lack of interest no longer remain valid, but the racialized stereotypes surrounding South Asians are what is really holding them back,” he said.
It wasn’t until 1978 when Viv Anderson made his debut against Czechoslovakia that a Black person played for England and today a good number of players in Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad are Black. But the Asian community has not had that success and their wait for a senior England international continues.
“Black players are often seen as stronger, quicker and gifted, but when it comes to South Asian players, they are seen as technically good but not physically as strong and are almost hyper-feminised in terms of traditional representation in media and culture which doesn’t bode well for a physical sport like football.”
“Genetic groups and races are social constructs. There’s no valid biological or genetic evidence in science to suggest that groups sharing the same skin colour, which is how we’ve been classified, have inherent characteristics. So obviously we know these notions are baseless.”
So how does someone’s perception of a player affect his performance on the pitch? “A scout on a mission to find a player is less likely to focus on areas in the country where there are British Asian players. And when they do go there, they are more likely to view that player through a racialized lens,” Dr. Kilvington said.
“They might think the player is a gamble; that they are not good enough, quick enough, or strong enough. They have this framing of those players, which is very problematic,” he said. It might explain why we haven’t seen a British Asian in the Premier League since Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury in the 2020-21 season.
“In short, the recruitment system in football is fundamentally biassed. There is also a lack of networks and connections between British Asian children and mainstream football spaces. Due to this disconnect, these players are not being evaluated at the same rate as players from other backgrounds,” Dr Kilvington said.
“The other thing is the lack of role models. When young kids growing up do not see representation and visibility, they are less likely to consider football as a career. Moreover, if scouts, coaches, and managers also lack that visibility, they will continue to think in certain stereotypical ways as we see now.”
Former Arsenal winger Jimmy Carter, the first British Asian to play in the Premier League, Zesh Rehman who played for Fulham, former Swansea City full-back Neil Taylor who won 43 caps for Wales and Michael Chopra who played for Newcastle United are among a handful from the community to have made an impact.
“There’s also a high degree of verbal abuse and discrimination that occurs in mainstream spaces. There’s also physical abuse. So, individuals from racialized backgrounds might be more likely to step away from those spaces and play in unaffiliated spaces like a five-a-side game or a nearby park,” Dr. Kilvington said.
“Historically, there wasn’t a strong football infrastructure within predominantly South Asian areas. I’m from Bradford, which has a significant British Pakistani population, and access to football teams and good pitches were limited. In contrast, growing up in a more affluent area had opportunities for better coaching.”
“If you start playing when you’re 14 years old in the park without coaching, you’ll struggle to reach a high level in any sport.”
Dr. Kilvington said there is much to be done to challenge the stereotypes and make the sport inclusive. Football institutions should be reaching out to the Asian community more effectively, creating networks, diversifying their workforce and scouting players from marginalised backgrounds like Chelsea’s ‘Search for an Asian Star.’
“The excluded communities should also initiate the change from the grassroots. They can seek out opportunities, create networks, and drive change themselves. It’s a two-way street. It’s not solely the responsibility of one party and institutional changes are needed across the sport to see changes,” Dr. Kilvington said, on the sidelines of the Sports Media Identity Network (SMIN) conference on ‘The Representation of Race in Sports Journalism and Media’ at Sheffield Hallam University.
Photo: Leeds Beckett University
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