The PFA have confirmed its five-year strategy plan to increase Asian representation within the game.
There are 92 professional clubs across four divisions of English football. However, just eight Asian players made first-team appearances last season.
South Asians represent just under 8% of the UK population but only 15 players are on professional contracts in England. Meanwhile, there are nine scholars. It means 0.3% are elite footballers.
Five British Asians have played top-flight football since the Premier League was formed three decades ago. They are Jimmy Carter, Neil Taylor, Hamza Choudhury, Zesh Rehman and Michael Chopra.
Taylor and Rehman, alongside Danny Batth, Malvind Benning, Otis Khan, Anwar Uddin and Easah Suliman, will embark on their new roles as mentors in the Asian Inclusion Mentoring Scheme (AIMS) set up by the PFA.
Role models are needed to inspire younger generations
Despite 195 appearances for Wolves, Bath is yet to make an appearance in the Premier League.
Now at Stoke City, Batth, 30, wants to become the mentor he never had. He hopes to help the next generation of aspiring players at elite level in the English pyramid.
“We just feel that, as a collective, current players of Asian background can help younger players have a better chance of making a career in the game,” he told Sky Sports News.
“One thing we want to do with this programme is to give those lads in academies and development squads the best opportunity of being successful. We feel we have a little bit we can give back.
“We can help families as well. I know my parents, while I was coming through the academy, found it difficult. They didn’t know too much about football. Perhaps they didn’t have those experienced heads they could speak to for guidance. So if we can help the players and help the families that would be brilliant.
“Having a role model or someone from the same background as you, who has done it, gives you more belief you can do it yourself. For me it was very much Rio Ferdinand and John Terry; England centre-halves at the time.
“There wasn’t particularly an Asian player in the league that I would have said ‘oh I want to achieve what he has done; he has done it so I can do it’.
“Now you have a few players who have done well in their own respective rights. The more the better for young players coming up. It gives them more hope they can achieve their goals.”
“It’s what’s needed from the bottom up.”
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Scheme plans to help Asian females
The scheme is also aiming to encourage Asian coaches and female players in the Women’s Super League, something which Taylor, whose mother was born in Kolkata, India, believes is pivotal for the scheme.
Taylor is currently using his experience to nurture up-and-coming talent Arjan Raikhy. The Punjabi teen sensation made his debut for Villa this season in their spirited FA Cup performance against Liverpool.
“It’s what’s needed from the bottom up. The mentoring is the bare minimum we can do for the upcoming players, as we have had a career in the game,” the Aston Villa ace said.
“Less than one per cent make it right to the top and it’s important we instil the right mentality to the players from a young age. I have been talking to the scholars, academy players and their parents on this programme about the player pathways and some of the potential pitfalls they may face along the way.
“If we are to make a mark and send the right messages to those who want to take up football as a career, this is a step in the right direction and it hasn’t been done before.”
While there is a five-year plan to improve the alarming statistics on show, PFA Education Advisor, Riz Rehman believes it could take up to 15 years for the Premier League, EFL and academies to accomplish the mission they have set out to achieve.
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James Marshment
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