Does Villa Attract Asian Fans?

[AVFCforever1991]

Edit: just read he put Arabic asian.

[TRS-T]

Why Bradford City fan in a hijab holds key to the game’s future

Watching television coverage of Bradford City beating Aston Villa on Tuesday night, I was struck by the most arresting sight.

As the visitors’ Barry Bannan went to take a corner, he was assailed by an overexcited Bradford fan, attempting verbally to put him off his stride.

Perhaps a choice observation was being made about his height, maybe about his hair’s copper hue, whatever it was probably as well that the pitchside microphones did not pick it up.

Not that there was anything unusual in such behaviour: most fans reckon that the price of entry to a football game these days includes the right loudly to voice disparaging comment about opposition players.

What was striking, though, was the identity of the fan yelling at Bannan: she was an Asian woman wearing a hijab. What is more, she was with a couple of female Asian friends, in a section of the Valley Parade crowd dotted with Asian faces.

If it is possible that someone yelling at a footballer represents evidence of social progress, then this was the most encouraging image of the season.

After all the miserable racist vituperation that has swilled around football recently, here was a Muslim woman, comfortable in the middle of an ethnically mixed crowd, engaging with the game’s traditional possibilities. And in doing so, clearly having the time of her life. How pleasant was that to see?

The good news is that shouty Bradford woman is not alone. For years it was to the game’s shame that Asian people felt excluded from immersing themselves in its glories.

Such was the sense of isolation, British Asian men largely preferred to follow cricket, while young Asian females would never have felt comfortable at a match.

Thanks to some imaginative initiatives, parts of the game are increasingly reaching out to the Asian audience. Which, if nothing else, makes commercial sense: this is a substantial inner-city market residing in the shadow of league grounds. To ignore it is to miss out on the customers living on the doorstep.

And the Asians are coming. At Manchester United home games, television audiences have for several years now seen a family of Sikhs doughnutting the dugout, passing each other sweets as Sir Alex Ferguson stalks the technical area.

At Wolverhampton Wanderers, the growth in interest among the city’s Asians has been growing rapidly since 2007, when a group of six fans formed Punjabi Wolves.

“We just thought: the game belongs to us as much as anybody,” Raj Bains, the organisation’s founder, explains. “I started going to matches in 1979. In the early days it was a bit scary, even with the home fans. But there are no issues now.”

Within five years, the organisation has grown to the point it now has more than 800 members. At home matches, they sit in different parts of Molineux. But at away matches the Punjabi Wolves are a noticeable, unified presence, travelling together, sitting together, banging their Indian drums as they approach grounds.

“The drums give us our identity,” says Bains. “But we consider ourselves very much part of the Wolves family.”

Bains has been approached by officials from West Bromwich, Aston Villa and Birmingham City all seeking his advice on starting similar groups.

But he is too busy building Punjabi Wolves to franchise the idea yet. Established as a charity, from the off the group has collected money for good causes.

Last summer, Bains led a party out to India to help in the construction of a housing project they had helped to finance.

“Eight Asian and two English lads went,” he says. “Which was a reflection of our membership. We’re open to anyone: Asian, black, white. The only entry requirement is you love Wolves.” All ages, too. One of Punjabi Wolves’ regular drummers is 13. Which in itself is noteworthy.

Indeed what was perhaps more telling about the Valley Parade ranter was not so much her ethnicity as her age. She was clearly under 20. With her satchel slung round her neck, she looked like she was a student.

And the young really are an endangered species in the game’s upper reaches. In the Premier League the crowds are ageing faster than Paul Lambert as he watched his defenders flail and fail on Tuesday.

Scan the stands during any top flight match and the hairlines are receding, the faces lined, the average age way over 45. The clubs are doing little to address that ageing demographic.

At the Emirates on Sunday, Arsenal are charging visiting Manchester City fans £62 a head, perhaps on the assumption that they all come from Abu Dhabi. There will not be many students in that crowd. Unless their dad has paid.

Down the divisions it is not like that. At Milton Keynes, for instance, the Dons are watched by a crowd markedly younger than that at any Premier League venue. The main stand is packed with families, while gaggles of youths gather in the Stadium MK’s Cow Shed stand, chanting encouragement to their team.

Which is perhaps no surprise: half-season tickets, taking in the rest of the Dons’ League One home campaign, are available to under-18s for £20. That is not per game, that is for all 10 remaining matches, the kind of price affordable for even those whose paper round wages have stubbornly refused to rise in line with inflation.

It is the same at Bradford. Even as the club sank through the divisions, a conscientious effort to maintain crowd levels has seen prices held down.

Assuming she flashed her student card, the Asian woman ranter would have paid only £14 on Tuesday night to watch a riveting cup semi final. After what she experienced there is every chance she will be coming back.

It may be the product of necessity – in Bradford’s case maybe even of desperation – but what such a policy has done is mark out a new and different course for football.

While the Premier League plays out to an ever more affluent, ever ageing, white audience that will eventually, inevitably, die off, clubs like Bradford have found the path to renewal.

In fact, it could be said that what I was looking at when I saw that young Bantams fan in the hijab was this: football’s future.

Article in The Telegraph today

Here is the picture of the Bradford City fan

[Keyblade]

The article is basically saying "omg there was a Muslim girl at the game.".

[GarethRDR]

And surely that's not all that surprising in Bradford?

[Keyblade]

I wouldn't know to be honest.

[coda]

I expect all those in the photo to be banned retrospectively for standing.

[omariqy]

They come over to our country take our seats, eat our pies, shout at our scottish midgets!

[islingtonclaret]

What a total load of BOLLOCKS. The author strikes me as some jumped up, highly opinionated upper middle class mug. Villa Park has plenty of sheikh and muslim fans at games. What rock has this idiot been living under?

[Raver50032]

I'm not sure I care if it's a problem more endemic among Asian fans or not, I see it as a problem for the clubs around the leagues generally - they're not bringing in 'virgin' young fans well enough, be they from 'the white community' or the 'Asian community', or any other 'community'. My experience of growing up in Birmingham was that the Villa fans came from Villa families, the Small Heath fans came from Small Heath families, and the Manchester United fans came from families that didn't care about football, that had no footballing connection and their children, coming into something as important socially at that age, chose to support success, no matter their race. Exceptionally few supported clubs that their mates did in my experience.

Now, I think that that problem covers all the 'communities'. I don't think you specifically need to reach out to the Asian community. I think you need to reach out to Birmingham. At primary school, we had a Villa rep come to the school for a football session, I actually think it was one of the academy chaps, and as well as winning hearts and minds for being a 'football guy' who was going to tell us whats what (to this day I still have an excellent Cruyff turn thanks to that bloke when I was 7...it's the only footballing skill I have admittedly), he was Villa propaganda in effect, and a few kids in my class were swayed towards Villa a little by that.

You need to get kids when they're young. Thats the important thing. the club being successful on the pitch will help immeasurably, but if you can capture their hearts when they are children it doesn't matter if dad came from Punjab and loved cricket or if dad came from Putney and thought footballers were 'pooves', you can have a heart for life that will pass things on to their children.

The club does a lot of community work, all of them do, but they can always do more. Get Villa working schools, make it a truly regular thing, make... contracts with a few schools I guess, make it a regular event that a Villa representative will work with kids and encourage them to love Villa. Work harder to get family events out there, more offers for families in matches, more events around the stadium, encourage people to take Villa into a special place in their heart.

Off topic in response, sorry - but Baggies have something going on at my daughter's school - all the way out here in Rugby. Baggies FFS... And her school is from 5 to 8 range. She does football lessons on a Saturday morning, with her Villa top on... You go girl.

I know that Andy Marshall (our forgotten stand-in) has been doing some football coaching for the ladies of Rugby Town though...

As for ANY ethnic culture - would be great to see more people of all cultures down Villa Park. If nothing else to hear alternative swear words in different languages... (joking obviously).

From our game on Tuesday night, I did notice with an ironic chortle the young asian lady barracking Bannan each time he took a corner on the near side... From something so horrific as that performance and result, that was something that made me smile. And yes, all of them in that picture should be retrospectively banned for standing (lol) ;-)

Edited January 10, 2013 by Raver50032

[AndyBM]

as long as bums are on seats, it doesnt matter what nationality you are, football is an international language anyway :-)

although that aside, hooliganism in the 70s certainly didnt help imo, just to be stereotypical, most like cricket anyway, they always seem to beat us at it, lol

locally as well, i think with small heath being our city counterparts, i think thats played in our favour to attract more asian fans, as we all know how racist they are

[pacbuddies]

If this is the future of football then football is more **** than I thought it was.

[KjParton]

That Muslim lass was near my end in the villa support

I gladly flicked her the V's and told her to **** off

[TRS-T]

In July 2001 Bradford was a city on the edge.

 

A few weeks earlier, its football club had been relegated from the Premier League, the start of a rapid descent down the divisions and to the brink of extinction.

 

But the demise of the debt-ridden team was by no means the city's only problem.

 

Racial tensions in this deprived corner of West Yorkshire were intensifying.

 

Stoked by confrontations between the Anti-Nazi League and various far-right groups, things finally boiled over into three days of rioting between the large Asian population and sections of the white working-class majority.

 

Hundreds were injured, millions of pounds worth of damage was caused, and 200 jail sentences were handed down. Bradford, it appeared, was one of the most divided communities in Britain.

 

But 12 years on, tensions between segregated neighbourhoods have eased, and a footballing fairytale is helping to heal old wounds.

 

The tough, terraced streets which surround Valley Parade in the largely Muslim district of Manningham were one of the areas worst affected by the riots.

 

Now, many of the youngsters who play for Manningham All-Stars,   a predominantly Asian grassroots football club, are regulars at Bradford City matches. Several are lucky enough to be going to the final at Wembley.

 

"It's brought the city together," says Khalil Hussein, a social inclusion worker who runs the club.

 

"It doesn't matter if you're black, white, Asian, whatever. You either support Bradford City or you don't, and most of us do. More still needs to be done, but football has the power to unite, and that's what's happened here.

 

"At weekends you'll see 100 kids playing football here, from every community. It's one of the most diverse sets of lads anywhere in Yorkshire."

 

There's a limit to what Bradford's heroics on the pitch can achieve of course. Parts of the post-industrial city centre are desperately in need of development. A large area has been cleared for a long-awaited new shopping complex, but it has yet to arrive, and unemployment is a major problem in an area hit harder than most by the tough economic times.

 

But there is a genuine sense that the football club's underdog spirit has helped unite those who live here.

 

"The whole city's been lifted by it," says Bradford City's co-chairman Mark Lawn.

 

"Whites, Asians, everyone. And everyone is clamouring for a ticket. It's a miracle. It proves that the underdog can win."

 

Terry Yorath played for and managed Bradford and still lives a few miles away in Leeds.

 

"When I was there you'd hardly get any Asians watching a game," he says.

 

"But I remember one Sunday morning when I was manager. I went into the ground to do some office work. I heard a noise, looked out of my office window, and there were 100 Asians kids having a game on the pitch. They'd jumped over a wall to get in. It's a myth they don't like the game.

 

"Bradford is a unique place. Local politicians have been promising the city a bright new future, new buildings, and yet nothing had happened. It's taken the football team to do that. The city deserved this."

 

Three years ago British Pakistani Zesh Rehman  captained Bradford and gave a generation of local Muslim youngsters the sporting role model they needed.

 

But today, Bradford residents of every race are united in support of the unlikely underdogs that galvanised a city and charmed the sport at large.

 

The only colour on their minds? Claret and amber.

 

Capital One Cup final: Bradford unite for Wembley date

[Mantis]

What a stupid article. Hardly anything about football in there.

[TRS-T]

Why Asian fans shun clubs like Oldham and Burnley

 

It is a freezing cold Sunday morning but that has not deterred the boys from Red Star Bengal from attending a football coaching session in Oldham.

The club was set up by members of the town's large Bangladeshi community in 1988 with the youngsters aged from seven to 14 and their dads passionate for "the beautiful game".

 

But that passion does not extend to their local club, Oldham Athletic.

 

Like other North West clubs outside the Premier League only about 1% of the home support comes from the town's Asian community, which makes up 20% of the local population.

 

It is a similar story in places like Burnley or Preston.

 

Interest in the game appears to be strong, dispelling myths that Asians neither like football nor play the game.

 

At Red Star Bengal's, Riazuddin, 12 said: "It's fun and you play with your friends. I'm better at football than cricket."

 

His friend, 14-year-old Nazman, added: "I've been coming for a couple of years now. I like playing with the older boys, it makes me feel good and I enjoy the football."

 

Shelim Islam, who brings his son with him to the session every week, said: "I'm very passionate about football, whether I'm playing or watching.

 

"It makes you very tense, there's just a buzz around it."

 

But according to Idrees Ali, a coach with the Red Star Bengal, there are several reasons why Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis do not go to matches at local clubs like Oldham.

 

"When you go back to the old days, there was a lot of issues around racism and I think some people still think an element of it still exists," he said.

 

"It is also expensive and a lot of our people work in restaurants and many are taxi drivers, so they have work commitments too."

 

A straw poll at Oldham's recent League One game against Hartlepool suggested there were no Asian fans in the 3,000 gate.

 

Club secretary Neil Joy believes this has less to do with racism than the presence of Premier League football in Manchester.

 

He said: "There are reasons why Asians don't come and one of them is that they are not used to going to football, although, a lot do support the Premier League clubs.

 

"Our fan base needs to reflect the community in which we operate, that is our ultimate objective."

 

Burnley's chief executive Lee Hoos believes in these cash-strapped times smaller clubs could have their revenue boosted by this untapped fan base.

 

"It is an important consideration, we need to engage with the community and we have started activities but we are in the early stages," he said.

 

"One of the suggestions that came to me was to take our staff to the mosque for diversity training.

 

"It's not about trying to get the community to come here, it's about us going out into the community."

 

Abdul Hamid, a member of Red Star Bengal, believes Oldham are doing a lot of good work with the community, but he has thrown out a challenge to the bosses who run the game.

 

"One day, when we have an Asian player at Latics, a lot of Asian people will flock to the club to support him."

 

[CI]

Quite frankly, I will always look back on this season with angst, trepidation and probably a quivering lower lip, but seeing those Asian women Pelter Barry Banana was frankly hilarious.

[The_Rev]

I'm not really going to add anything that hasn't already been said but Asian's tend not to feel a connection to an area.  My missus is born to Indian parents, they moved over here in the mid sixties and settled in London for about fifteen years before moving up to Warwickshire. She has four brothers who were all born in St Barts hospital, which is about as much Cockney country as you can get. It is literally within the sound of bow bells and ten minutes away from West Ham. Who do they support?   Liverpool.   Two blokes I work with are born to Pakistani immigrants, both of them have lived their entire lives in Small Heath (well one has moved out to Olton these days but the point remains) and who do they support?  Liverpool.  

There is just no connection to an area if you have no family history there.  It's being accentuated these days because most people's introduction to football is via TV so it doesn't really matter how far you live from your team's home ground. All this means is that the more successful sides will get more fans which means they will make more money and be more successful and get more fans and so on and so on.  It's a cycle we are already well over a decade into and it shows no sign of changing.   I'm doing my bit though. My kids are mixed race but they look Asian.  They are going to be Aston Villa fans. The poor bastards. 

[CI]

At Reading the other week I stood next to two Asian brothers from

Aston who had travelled to watch us win. We had mad celebrations when gabby scored and the ft whistle.

Epic .

[DJ_Villain]

I live in Thailand and to be fair, the gloryhunter attitude is alive and well over here... People support Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal (thats not counting the amount of people that follow Spanish or Italian sides)... Only difference is these people were born and raised in Thailand... They have an excuse... They weren't born in Europe... They see the football on TV and want to support a team that wins or has a kit that they like... I have seen two... at most, three Thai villa 'fans' since I have been out here last August.

[danceoftheshamen]

This is an interesting subject.  In one my lines of work i help people from all over the UK & much of Europe to learn how to start their own home based business's & earn extra income's (Very handy for paying for that season ticket  ) & recently i recruited one muslim guy within a stones throw of Villa Park..in Aston. Well during one of our chats the subject of AVFC came up & he basically told me that no one in the local asian community bothers with Villa. I found this really sad i have to say but the overall jist of why that is, was difficult to pinpoint. The closest i could get was that he was politely trying not to tell me the real reason probably due to my  origins being White English etc & clearly a massive Villa fan (although he was oblivious to this when we chatted).

 

From the fragments i could gather it appears the Muslim community tend to favour supporting things with muslim connections. To be seen supporting something such as Premier League football would maybe be quite badly frowned upon by their own community? At least this is my reading of it. This would make sense of the aforementioned Wolves fans having to have a connection to raising money for charities for example as this would to a point bypass this issue?

 

Obviously the guy felt quite uncomfortable to go into detail about this presumably as it could be deemed as being maybe not PC? But i think a good start for the club would be to be publicly seen as doing work to help the muslim community in some way maybe? Then it may be less of a taboo to be seen to be associated with the club although even then i think it would take a long time? Who knows but at present the vast majority of the local community appear to go on as though the huge club amidst them doesn't exist..very weird.

Edited March 24, 2013 by danceoftheshamen