Arsenal F.C.; What's with the politics ?

[aylee]

Although Arsenal have actually got a bigger Jewish fan base than Spurs apparently.

This wouldn't surprise me. All the North London Jews I know are gooners; those that are football fans, anyway.

 

[stavros]

Something that's always puzzled me is how few British footballers there are who aren't caucasian or black. I know Justin Edinburgh was Jewish but can anyone name anyone else of any Asian descent to play league football?

 

[Balbi]

Something that's always puzzled me is how few British footballers there are who aren't caucasian or black. I know Justin Edinburgh was Jewish but can anyone name anyone else of any Asian descent to play league football?

Micheal Chopra (Cardiff City)
Vijay Sidhu (Coventry City)
Harpal Singh (ex-Leeds, unsure of his location now)
Zesh Rehman (Fulham)

 

[iROBOT]

Something that's always puzzled me is how few British footballers there are who aren't caucasian or black. I know Justin Edinburgh was Jewish but can anyone name anyone else of any Asian descent to play league football?

There's a lot of Asian football leagues and clubs up and down the country, it's long been a bone of contention that Asian lads dont get the same chances as Blacks or Whites in this country....West Ham being an exception, their policy is spot on and it wouldnt surprise me if the first South Asian player for England comes through them.

On an other note, the World Cup saw the first ever Indian decended footballer playing in the last WC, Vikash Dhorasoo (france).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikash_Dhorasoo

 

[Harold Hill]

I never knew that... Not that Im that fussed about who has the biggest Jewish fan base but to be pedantic: got a source for that?

You can't really although looking at geography its probably true that more North London jews support Arsenal as places like Golders Green/Finchley/Stanmore etc probably have more Arse than Spurs.

More east London jews probably support Spurs as you get more Spurs than Arse over Redbridge way.

This is only a suggestion incase anyone starts getting really pedantic about it.

 

[Harold Hill]

There's a lot of Asian football leagues and clubs up and down the country, it's long been a bone of contention that Asian lads dont get the same chances as Blacks or Whites in this country....West Ham being an exception, their policy is spot on and it wouldnt surprise me if the first South Asian player for England comes through them.

On an other note, the World Cup saw the first ever Indian decended footballer playing in the last WC, Vikash Dhorasoo (france).

A bone of contention? The stakes are so high that if players are good enough, they will make it surely.

If there is racism/homophobia shown by football clubs I can't see any of them letting it stand in the way of a potential multi million pound asset.

 

[iROBOT]

A bone of contention? The stakes are so high that if players are good enough, they will make it surely.

If there is racism/homophobia shown by football clubs I can't see any of them letting it stand in the way of a potential multi million pound asset.

In an ideal world yes…but we are not living in an ideal world are we, and if there wasn’t a problem with representation in the mainstream…why did some South Asians feel the need to start up their own leagues???

I refer you to some further readings on this matter.

Please see links and extracts

As of January 2005, there are four British Asian professional players in the English leagues: Zesh Rehman (Fulham), Michael Chopra (Newcastle), Adnan Ahmed (Huddersfield) and Harpal Singh (Stockport County). Bradbury in his report (see above) found that in the 1999-2000 season about 1.6% of young players aged 14+ in professional clubs’ youth academies and schools of excellence were of Asian origin – about 71 players in all, although 30 of these were concentrated at 6 clubs.
The CRE report ’Racial Equality in Football’ quoted above found that in the 2003-04 season only 0.8% of under-16-year-old players in FA Premier League club Academies were Asian, compared to around 5% of the population. The actual number of Asian players in this category was 10, but that was just from the 12 clubs that answered this question in the survey.

This is the report….
http://www.cre.gov.uk/downloads/football_leaflet.pdf

Hundreds of thousands of young Asians are playing and watching the game around the country every weekend.

But there is a massive under representation of the Asian community in the professional game.

The facts speak for themselves.

There are only 4 Asian players in professional football and a recent Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) survey into professional football in 2004 revealed that in total there were only 10 Asian players at Premier League club academies.
Within the Asian community there continues to be a feeling that Asian players have been marginalised by the game for far too long.
Popular myths such as Asians are only interested in Cricket and Hockey, that Asians aren't strong enough to play the game professionally and that cultural differences will prevent Asian players footballing development are just a few of the common falsehoods that have hampered Asian players' break through.In response, a number of groups have organised themselves to ensure they are providing young talented players from the Asian community with the chance to improve and progress.
Full article here…..http://www.kickitout.org/index.php?id=228

It's being addressed now, so I'm not too worried about this...the Asian League have Full FA support....but it needed it.

 

[Streathamite]

It's true. Read up on the history of Arsenal. Any good bookshop. Arsenal have always had a major Jewish following. And there's one or two on the board who are of Jewish background. It's why all the yiddo chanting was always for the dorks who didn't know their own club's history.

really? well, you live and learn.
not that it matters what Faith you follow.

 

[Streathamite]

But they just moved to the "emirates stadium" surely a conflct of interests ?

this is what gets me and i'm staggered no-one else have picked up on this. Arsenal's stadium is sponsored by the national airline of a state that will NEVER recognise Israel, until the Palestinians get justice.
why the hell aren't the UAE screaming blue murder?

 

[stavros]

I've just remembered Muzzy Izzet, who's dad is I believe Turkish, although whether that's the European or Asian part of Turkey I don't know.

Is there a known lack of Asian (sorry to use this mass generalising term; Arabs are hardly the same ethnicity as Koreans) supporters in comparison with other ethnic backgrounds?