This won’t mean a lot to most people, but I am a Level Seven. That is a refereeing qualification, and means I can officially take charge of amateur level, grass roots games under many guises. Last weekend, I officiated in a two day tournament organised by the Khalsa Football Federation, which is an Asian-run organisation. The games were fun, high tempo, very competitive and hugely enjoyable, but were also open to a quota of non-Asians.
As a referee, I found the level of respect shown to both myself – a non-Asian – and other colleagues exceptional and, quite frankly, very refreshing. The suit of armour was left in the car, as were the earplugs and gumshield. No need for that here – the players were largely impeccable in their behaviour and it makes me as a match official more than happy to keep coming back for more.
But this threw up a nagging question I still can’t answer. And maybe throwing it open to readers might add some perspective. Or perhaps not. Because the one conundrum I couldn’t figure out was…where are the Asian football stars? And not just among the Sikh community but in the wider parameters of other religions – where are the soccer stars within the Muslim religion, the Hindu faith or the Buddhist movement? I just cannot get my head around the fact that for such a vast number of a representative populace, not a single person has made it to the highest ranks of domestic football. Not one.
My curiosity was such that I took to asking some of the officials in between games what their thoughts were. A team called Wondervaults from Birmingham gave me a wide range of answers. One official pointed out that Harpal Singh, a Bradford-born Sikh had been signed on professionally by Leeds United. However, a quick inspection of his career highlighted that, far from making the grade at Leeds, he was loaned out elsewhere to the likes of Stockport County, before moving to Ireland to seek his fortune there.
Yet that didn’t really answer the question. There are apparently around half a million Sikhs living in Britain today. And they make up roughly two thirds of India’s population. How is it possible that not one person has made the grade and not picked up the baton? Another competitor told me that he believed it needed a ‘Three Degrees’ moment akin to the situation that occurred at West Bromwich Albion in the late 1970s. The ‘Three Degrees’ were the trio of black players – Cyrille Regis, Brendan Batson and Laurie Cunningham – who exploded onto the scene when non-white footballers were an extremely rare sight – and made names for themselves and became the darlings of The Hawthorns.
He told me that for an Asian footballer to make it big there needed to be less pressure – and that should a group of players make it as a collective, then it would open doors of opportunity and entice others to see what could be achieved. He said Asian footballers needed role models to show them what they were capable of – as at this moment in time there were none to look up to. Cricket, Snooker and Boxing have their Asian professionals – but not football.
Having seen the skill sets and athleticism of such players even in the very humblest of amateur surroundings, there was certainly no shortage of talent and desire on show. Other comments made in response to my query were that there were more suitable, pre-conceived ways to earn a living, and other paths more readily available. But that just makes me want to see an Asian trail blazer more than ever.
The ‘Rooney Rule’ has been in the sports news recently – where clubs must, by definition, interview a percentage of those with different ethnicity for roles widely canvassed among whites. Yet this would surely be better served by more diverse role models at first making it as players, before moving on to other things when their playing careers are over.
The conclusion seemed to be then that even those participants I asked had no real answer. Football is a worldwide community that thankfully breaks down all barriers pertaining to race, colour or creed, but it still has no bona fide figurehead representing those communities and faiths I have mentioned that can claim worldwide fame or fortune in a sport watched by billions.
Hopefully this erratic and incredible statistic will soon be reversed, because I, for one, believe our sport would greatly benefit from such an arrival, and would do more for unity and peaceful diversity than anything a political party or ideology ever could.
