While I’m ranting on today… Blimey. Lot of text down there isn’t there? Anyway, something I caught a bit of on Radio 5 Live this morning. Apparently there “aren’t enough black managers or Asian players in British or European football”. My response to this is simply “Why should there be?”
There could be several reasons why this is the case – racism possibly being one but I really don’t think so. How about the following as possible reasons:
- Virtually all managers are ex-footballers and in their forties or older. Go back to their playing days. How many black players were there then? Factor in the fraction of players who’ve gone into management and you have a very small number of potential candidates
- Take today’s black players. They’ve started to become a notable percentage of the playing staff in the UK at a point where footballers get paid a stupid amount. How many would have a need to stay in employment once they retire from playing?
Those are two ideas off the top of my head. As far as Asian footballers go, maybe it’s just because there aren’t any good ones? Yes, I know that Asians make up a huge number of the people on the planet, but how big is football (as a participation sport, rather than as a Man U t-shirt buying one) across the Asian continent? If a player’s good, then any team with any common sense will show an interest. They’re interested in winning games, not by what colour or race a player is. If Ronaldo was Chinese, he’d likely still be playing at the top level… if he’d had the exposure at the right time.
Players have to be a) very good and b) noticed to get anywhere. If a nation or continent’s league is poor then the players aren’t going to be seen and won’t be picked up. Look at Liverpool, Newcastle, Everton and Man U. All have, in recent years, made ties with various Asian countries. None, to the best my knowledge, have brought in Asian players as a result. Sun Ji Hai (apologies for bad spelling) is the only Asian player in the Premiership I could name.
To look at it from another point of view, Scotland currently has a very poor squad or at least a national team that’s not playing well. How many Scots play in the English Premiership? Or any top European league? Hell, how many play for the top couple of teams in the SPL? You can’t call that racist – it’s the teams with the money buying the best players they can afford – nationality not coming into consideration, even when it’s the home nation of the team itself!
Frankly, other businesses and walks of life should be like football. Hire the right person for the job regardless of what colour, race or nationality they are. No “positive” discrimination either. If you interview 10 candidates for 6 positions, you shouldn’t be looking for 3 white, one Asian and one black to “keep the numbers right”. You should be looking for 6 good, reliable and effective employees.
I draw the line, however, at mackems.
Jeez, I’ve been serious today. I’ll try to resume a normal service shortly.
And if Ronaldo/Beckham was Chinese, they might still be at the cream of their game. Assuming anyone spotted the talent. The trouble is that stereotyping being what it is, you will tend to look for what has worked before just to begin with. A lot easier to write off a short Chinese guy as having no footballing talent on a wet Wednesday afternoon in Rotherham than your average teenager. Sure, if the talent scout was actually doing their job and not feeling tired etc., they might see the latent genius behind the Chinese Beckham…
Of course, I never got picked for a team. At all. Ever. Mind you, I’ve only scored three goals in my life.
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Chris, if you got a place on a team then I suspect there may be a problem… winning games. They’re obviously desperate if they’ll let you play.
Says me 😉
Football is *huge* in SE Asian countries. Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China. Not necessarily as huge as over here, but they have leagues etc., follow Man Utd (sorry) avidly etc.
And if you want to encourage people to take up a sport, you set up a league for friendly competition. Which is why you get a Welsh league, schoolboy league, womans’ league … what’s wrong with an Asian league in that context?
How is a bunch of Asian footballers getting together to set up a football team, and then meeting up with fellow Asian footballers any different to a Yorkshire league, a Welsh league or a “Mackem” league?
it’s people who want to play against people with whom they have a common interest or denomination, as it were.
The trouble with being against positive discrimination and a colour-blind policy is that, at the end of the day, human beings simply aren’t colour-blind.
And it’s never about racism anyway, more about power – and more relevantly, the feeling that minority or majority don’t have a say in their own affairs / power etc.
Mosh, I think you’ve scored more than me generally 😉
If I read the article linked above correctly, then I think it is offensive to have minority only anything, never mind a football league.
I am against posative discrimination of any kind. Take things like the MOBO’s (the black music awards). If there were something called the White Music awards, there would be riots, yet when the shoe is on the other foot it is ok.
If someone is good at something be it sport or a job then sign them or hire them regardless of their skin colour.
Perhaps I went off on a bit of a rant, however if said minority league was set up and I wanted to play:
A) If I was told I couldn’t because my skin wasn’t the correct colour, then the league should be shut down and the people in charge dragged before a court.
B) If I was allowed to play and told by a team that I couldn’t because of colour of my skin then the team should be kicked out of the league and dragged before a court.
C) If I got a place on a team in said league then no problem.
Presumably there already is a quasi-amateur Yorkshire league. And presumably that’s been equally open to whites or Asians. You’d have to ask an Asian Yorkshire footballer if they’d ever tried joining them but my guess would be that they felt somewhat deterred for reason X,Y,Z, or Q.
I’m in Cardiff. Here, everyone hates the English. Or the Welsh. Or anyone with an A-level.
The way I read the article, it was white people who’d set up the Asian league, not Asians. It’s also different from the Welsh, Yorkshire or Whatever leagues as it’s not based on geographical locality – that’s what football has always been based around. Local, regional, national rivalries.
Surely, if we’re interested in bringing people together, we should be aiming for a (for instance) Yorkshire League where anyone of any racial background can join? Rather than having a “whites-only”, an “asian-only” etc.?
Three more than me, Andy 😉
My issue with an Asian League – as in the British definition of Asian as opposed to the correct one – is that it’s effectively segregating people.
Women athletically are different from men (I’m not saying better or worse – Kelly Holmes would give 99% of the male population a pasting over 2000m!), as are schoolkids. Hence leagues for each of them make sense. But to have a league based on skin colour…?