British Asians, Exclusion and the Football Industry

This book examines the exclusion of British Asians from the football industry, drawing on a wealth of empirical work with players, coaches, scouts, managers, fans, anti-racist organisations, community officers, and key stakeholders. It adopts a critical race theory (CRT) perspective to offer a platform for excluded communities to discuss their experiences and offer their advice, guidance and criticisms. Notions of whiteness, intersectionalities and gender are explored and filter throughout. This book highlights historical and contemporary reasons for the British Asian exclusion from football, critically examines a number of tried and tested inclusion strategies, and offers recommendations for reform to help achieve equality and inclusion. The research aims to: dehomogenise British Asian football experiencesoffer the counter-narratives of British Asian male and females to challenge master-narrativescomprehend the importance of intersectionalitiesunderstand identity shifts and cultural changeschallenge socio-cultural stereotypes and racial mythshighlight contemporary manifestations of racisms in football at all levelsexamine the role 'parallel football' environments have played in the exclusioncast a critical eye over inclusion initiativespromote recommendations for reform which are born out of empirical researchAs long as marginalized groups, such as British Asians, are excluded from a field of popular culture, in this case football, it is a topic that demands attention, deserves investigation and requires solutions. It is hoped that this book can be of use to students, researchers and policymakers who share an active interest in football, exclusion and equality.