Why British Asians don't make it pro

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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It may have changed, but when I was at school (finished in 09) most of the asian lads weren't as interested in football as the white and black guys.

We got to pick what we did in PE and most of them did cricket.
 

Stacks

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Hindi is a language mate. And if you mean Hindu then Bengalis and Tamils are both Hindus. Also, I don't think Pakistani is any culture, Pakistan comprises of many cultural groups like Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis etc.
well then its even more relevant as there are many cultures in the Asian community. Indians always say to me "I am Hindi". also language you speak is a big part of your culture. I know Christian Tamils.
but anyway as you pointed out their are tonnes of cultural groups in a single Asian country so going back to what I was questioning was the idea that "Asians prefer their studies etc"
 

Foxbatt

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The Indonesian origin players seem to do well in Holland. I think it is the sub continent players who seem to miss out. I know a couple of players from Maldives was offered a chance to play in England and in the former Eastern Europe countries but turned it down. Even a couple of years back QPR was interested but he turned it down or something happened with the Visa rules in England.
 

norm87cro

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Isn't it the same with black players and cricket? Mostly a cultural thing I would say aldo England did have a few black players in cricket history and a bowler currently but I guess that is just because there are more athletic Black individuals who could be good at playing anything. And this
Multiple factors.

1. Most of us are more focused on getting an education or learning skills that will get you a job. As immigrants the main motivation behind migrating was economics.

2. Racism. I know black people have experienced it too, just this weekend you have Millwall fans chanting about Pakis. It kept my generation and that older than me from feeling a real sense of belonging.

3. Genetics. We're not as naturally athletic as other people, our diets aren't typically that suited to our current lifestyles. That's not to say we're not all capable physically, but it's not like we're naturally athletic, as say some people from afro carribean backgrounds are, or how certain Kenyan tribes are good at long distances.

4. In Pakistani culture sport is considered a form of play rather than a profession.
 

redMundo

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I really don't understand all this talk about physicality or athletism, football isn't a sport where you need to be the biggest or the most athletic to be the best, we're not talking about the NBA or the NFL where you first need to be an amazing athlete and then your skill comes 2nd.

It must be something to do with the English scouting system, I don't believe for an instant that all British Asians kids prefer Cricket to Football, in fact I'd be surprised if the majority wasn't more into football, It's the biggest sport in England and growing up there I find it more likely that they'd be interested in it rather than Cricket (also football is more accessible and far easier to play as a kid with your friends)

There's not a single one of them in the PL right? That's actually shocking.

Disagree with religion being brought up though, just look at French academies.

I can only go off personal experiences mate but that’s what I’ve seen first hand in my life.

I finished High School in 2005 so things may very well be completely different now.

Could just be a numbers thing I suppose.
The chances of making it as a pro are very very small as I know all too well.

There are probably more White British kids who try and don’t make in than there are British Asian kids who actually try.

So going just by numbers and percentages of populations etc there is a far lower chance of British Asians becoming pro, let alone Premier League/International level.

The very best I played with at that age are lower league players now so the percentages of kids making very top level is minuscule regardless of ethnicity.

The fact that there are simply fewer British Asians in this country than White British kids may explain why we haven’t had a breakout player yet.
 

ariveded

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Asian is a wide range of different cultures though. Are we talking Bengali, Pakistani, Tamil, Hindi?
You can include both India and China, and much of East Asia. These nationalities place a greater emphasis on education, degrees and that's very much case when they emigrate to Europe/USA.
 

King7Eric

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well then its even more relevant as there are many cultures in the Asian community. Indians always say to me "I am Hindi". also language you speak is a big part of your culture. I know Christian Tamils.
but anyway as you pointed out their are tonnes of cultural groups in a single Asian country so going back to what I was questioning was the idea that "Asians prefer their studies etc"
They are probably saying "I'm Hindu" because "I'm Hindi" makes no sense. There are Christian Tamils, just as there are Muslim Tamils, same way you'll find Muslim Bengalis as well. The cultures of South East Asia are quite complicated so there's no way you can make a blanket statement about South East Asian culture in general.

The thing is this region has not been an affluent region since colonization and as a result people encourage their kids into vocations that are more likely to guarantee income at minimal risk. Sports is an inherently risky proposition, one injury can end your career, plus the odds of making it are really really low, so people tend to encourage their kids towards jobs where they might not become millionaires, but will at least earn a steady income with minimal risk of loss of that income.
 

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They are probably saying "I'm Hindu" because "I'm Hindi" makes no sense. There are Christian Tamils, just as there are Muslim Tamils, same way you'll find Muslim Bengalis as well. The cultures of South East Asia are quite complicated so there's no way you can make a blanket statement about South East Asian culture in general.

The thing is this region has not been an affluent region since colonization and as a result people encourage their kids into vocations that are more likely to guarantee income at minimal risk. Sports is an inherently risky proposition, one injury can end your career, plus the odds of making it are really really low, so people tend to encourage their kids towards jobs where they might not become millionaires, but will at least earn a steady income with minimal risk of loss of that income.
you could say the same for any country including African and Carribean people, yet there are an abundance of African and Carribean British players. In India, they win gold at Olympics in Hockey, Cricket is number one sport and Soccer is 2nd, yet we see British Indian/Pakistani cricketers and not footballers.
Cricket is one of Jamaica's most popular sports, as it is in India, yet we see plenty of Jamaican ballers in addition to cricket.
 

King7Eric

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you could say the same for any country including African and Carribean people, yet there are an abundance of African and Carribean British players. In India, they win gold at Olympics in Hockey, Cricket is number one sport and Soccer is 2nd, yet we see British Indian/Pakistani cricketers and not footballers.
Cricket is one of Jamaica's most popular sports, as it is in India, yet we see plenty of Jamaican ballers in addition to cricket.
Compared to the popularity of cricket in India and our vast population, we do extremely poorly in cricket as well. Its only been this decade where India has really emerged as a powerhouse, where you expect India to win most games. Go back 10-15 years and winning even a single series in Australia or South Africa was looked as an achievement. The advent of IPL has changed things but go back 10 years and your only real avenue for making it big while playing cricket was playing for the national team, which the odds didn't really favor. Many parents would discourage their kids from pursuing cricket even if he was good at it. So you can imagine the situation for other sports like football. When these folks leave India to go to other countries, they struggle to leave that mentality behind.
 

Kopral Jono

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The Indonesian origin players seem to do well in Holland. I think it is the sub continent players who seem to miss out. I know a couple of players from Maldives was offered a chance to play in England and in the former Eastern Europe countries but turned it down. Even a couple of years back QPR was interested but he turned it down or something happened with the Visa rules in England.
Indonesians in Holland are close to full integration with Dutch society, unlike most British Asian groups. I really don't know but I guess that makes somewhat of a difference.
 
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DRM

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When I was in school (back in 2005) - the asian lads were simply not as good as the white or black british lads, who all seemed a level or two above. Now, we didnt have that man asian kids, probably 1 out of ever 50 were Asian so I know this isnt a representative sample, but that's just my observation.
 

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It's because they have small penis
 

Stacks

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Compared to the popularity of cricket in India and our vast population, we do extremely poorly in cricket as well. Its only been this decade where India has really emerged as a powerhouse, where you expect India to win most games. Go back 10-15 years and winning even a single series in Australia or South Africa was looked as an achievement. The advent of IPL has changed things but go back 10 years and your only real avenue for making it big while playing cricket was playing for the national team, which the odds didn't really favor. Many parents would discourage their kids from pursuing cricket even if he was good at it. So you can imagine the situation for other sports like football. When these folks leave India to go to other countries, they struggle to leave that mentality behind.
I wasn't referring to the Indian Cricket team, I meant British Indian Cricketers and South Asian cricketers in general e.g. Bopara, Hussain (former England captain), Monty, Solanki, Afzaal, Samit Patel, Moeen Ali etc
 

Smores

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It may have changed, but when I was at school (finished in 09) most of the asian lads weren't as interested in football as the white and black guys.

We got to pick what we did in PE and most of them did cricket.
I went to a pretty mixed school and this.
 

King7Eric

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I wasn't referring to the Indian Cricket team, I meant British Indian Cricketers and South Asian cricketers in general e.g. Bopara, Hussain (former England captain), Monty, Solanki, Afzaal, Samit Patel, Moeen Ali etc
Ah okay. Well in that case you also have to consider the popularity of cricket amongst the white British population. I read somewhere it's the 4th most popular sport in England, behind even hockey. So if the general populace( the white being the majority) are more into other sports like football, it makes it easier for the Asians to make it in cricket, even if only a conservative number of them pursue it, since British Asians will most likely only focus on cricket as a sport of choice.
 

Le Red

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Apply Occam's razor to this and the explanation is very simple really. There are billions of Asians and only a handful of them made it to the Premier League. The British Asians are a very, very, very small group compared to all the Asians in the world so there you have it, no curse was cast on that group on particular.
Why Asians in general are not as successful in football is a different debate.
 

marktan

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he is half black though.
Must be the black half then

When I was in school (back in 2005) - the asian lads were simply not as good as the white or black british lads, who all seemed a level or two above. Now, we didnt have that man asian kids, probably 1 out of ever 50 were Asian so I know this isnt a representative sample, but that's just my observation.
I went to a school with a lot of Asians (primarily Bangladeshis with some Indians), and there was a lot of talent there. One Asian kid played in defence but I distinctly remember the time he dribbled the whole of the opposition from defence, almost for fun.

I think there's a whole amalgamation of factors though. Bangladeshis on average tend to be slight in build and height, like a lot of East Asia, which is a disadvantage right away especially at a young age. The Indians in the UK predominantly have wealthier ancestral roots, so are larger in size, but the wealthier Indians in my experience tend to focus on cricket more.

I'd also be curious as to how many Asian kids actually make it into academies at a young age, the talent is there at a young age, but living in London it's probably quite hard to get into good academies at e.g. West Ham etc which is where the bulk of the development for turning professional ala Hamza Choudary would take place.
 

Chipper

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His dad is an ethnic Bengali from the Caribbean.
I posted that earlier too because that's what I inferred from his Wikipedia article.

Choudhury's father is Grenadian and his mother is of Bangladeshi descent. Regarding his ethnicity Hamza has stated: "Both my parents are Bangladeshi and I have been brought up in an Asian family, but I have Caribbean blood in me as my dad is from Grenada. We have a massive family".
If both his parents are Bangladeshi and his dad is from Grenada then you'd think his dad was a Grenadian of Bangladeshi descent.

Not so sure now. He has a step father so he might have been referring him when talks about his parents and his biological father separately when he talks about his dad.
https://lifebogger.com/hamza-choudhury-childhood-story-plus-untold-biography-facts/

Either way he considers his upbringing Asian which is pertinent to this thread as people have been talking about culture etc.
 
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RedTiger

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I posted that earlier too because that's what I inferred from his Wikipedia article.



If both his parents are Bangladeshi and his dad is from Grenada then you'd think his dad was a Grenadian of Bangladeshi descent.

Not so sure now. He has a step father so he might have been referring him when talks about his parents and his biological father separately when he talks about his dad.
https://lifebogger.com/hamza-choudhury-childhood-story-plus-untold-biography-facts/

Either way he considers his upbringing Asian which is pertinent to this thread as people have been talking about culture etc.
Yeah your link confirms it.
 

Di Maria's angel

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Not British but Bayern signed a young Indian from New Zealand - Sarpreet Singh who played against Arsenal recently.