Yan Dhanda: Former Liverpool youngster proudly sided with the South Asian British in Football | Football news

Yan Dhanda says he is proud of the South Asian Brit’s explosion of interest in Football after he took a stand following comments by former FA chairman Greg Clarke in 2020.

Clarke resigns as FA president after making a series of remarks before a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, including the statement “if you worked in the IT department at FA, there would be more Asians than Afro-Caribbeans. They have different career interests.” Clarke, who apologized and accepted his remarks as “unacceptable”, also resigned to UEFA and FIFA.

South Asia-led advocacy groups affiliated with the Fan for Diversity campaign express their disappointment at comments that reinforce lazy stereotypes and in an emotional interview with Sky Sports News, Dhanda – whose father Jas hails from the northern Indian state of Punjab – said Clarke’s comments show how the match goes backwards rather than forwards in the fight for equality for ethnically diverse communities. across football.

Since that interview with Ross County signs summer contract with Dhanda, Sports sky created a the first British South Asians on the Football index page, Educated and brought untold stories to the mainstream media, changing the landscape for the community by defining a new generation of role models in gaming.

Former Liverpool and West Brom youth player Dhanda says Sky Sports News: “I’m super proud [of my personal contribution]. That’s my main goal, getting people to stand up and speak up about it.

“Give the donation amount [South] Asian players are gaining popularity and for me to see more players step through the youth levels, it makes me very happy.

“And for people like me [and senior professionals like] Mal Benning and Danny Batth to continue to show that anything is possible no matter where you come from.

“The work that Sky Sports is doing is also really good, and really positive, and hopefully it can continue in the future. Hopefully, we will see more young Asian players coming through and show they can make a living playing football.”

Anglo-South Asians are the largest single minority group in the country but the community has been underrepresented in professional games for decades, with Kick It Out president Sanjay Bhandari describing it. Sky Sports News back in December 2020 as “the biggest statistical anomaly in English football”.

Not enough work is being completed

Last year, PFA’s Riz Rehman took aim at the lack of activity in the game by saying: “I think there’s been too much talk and I’ve said it publicly, there’s been a lot of talk. want action, we want work.”

Kick It Out president Tony Burnett has said that a South Asian accent is essential in the game, adding: “We need to work harder, we need to work faster.”

Speaking during last year’s South Asian Heritage Month, England manager Gareth Southgate admits to the unconscious bias that South Asian players have historically been influenced by, emphasizes the importance of network expansion when it comes to talent identification.

“In a lot of communities today, football is being played in all sorts of different areas,” said Southgate.

“I think [in terms of] Following the South Asian community, we have to be creative in finding places where some of these children can play and encouraging them to participate in broader tournaments where they can be judged more easily. against other players, and then take that step into the academy system. “

On the eve of the Women’s Euro, the Director of the Women’s Football FA Baroness Sue Campbell said Sky Sports News She thinks meaningful change to diverse communities at the end of the women’s game could take years, acknowledging the current Talent Recognition and Recruitment system excludes a lot. People.

The FA has since confirmed the issuance of the first 60 licenses to the Girls’ Emerging Talent Center, which will see an increase in the number of young female players participating in FA programs across the country. from 1,722 to over 4,200 by the end of the 2023-24 season.

“Our main goal is to provide greater accessibility to many players while also diversifying the talent pool,” added FA technical head Kay Cossington.

The latest PFA figures show that just 9.7% of the players in the Women’s Super League come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. England team just won Women’s Euros There were three ethnically diverse players, though none of them started a match during the tournament.

Sports sky recognize and start taking steps to address the lack of diversity in girls’ gaming in 2020 as part of a £30m commitment to tackle systemic racism and make a difference in communities across the UK.

Sports sky worked with dozens of current and former players from different nationalities, and tried to give them a platform to share their stories to try and capture the imagination to pass on. Inspiring the next generation of female players.

Role models have been identified and highlighted, with talent registered directly to the FA and clubs as part of the Sports Sky’ unprecedented commitment to South Asian Britons in Football, which has also seen us expand our digital offering by creating a separate blog site.

A number of potential and elite female players and their families have also been provided with mentoring support and access to off-field development opportunities.

Earlier this year, Sky Sports also partnered with the country’s largest sports race equality charity, Sporting Equals, has seen us support nationwide engagement, including development ‘Seeing is believing’ The event for the Gymkhana sports club in west London has been around for a century.

South Asian British in football

For more stories, features and videos, visit our breakout South Asian Football page on skysports.com and South Asians in the Game blog and follow Sky Sports News and our Sky Sports digital platform.