I see there was something in this week's NLP about a couple of Hereford players, Afghanistan international (although UK based since age one) Maziar Kouhyar, who played in the Trophy final for them, and British Indian Dinesh Gillela, signed recently from Hayes. And Yeading. United. Absurdly, they represent 20% of British South Asians that are professional footballers. Just 10 out of 4,000 pro footballers in the UK - representing o.25% of footballers, compared to 7% of the total population . I remember a tv news item some years ago about the issues, how there was a perception among some club owners that "Asians" didn't make good footballers, and they interviewed one young lad who had broken all sorts of records in an amateur league, and yet had failed to get a trial at any professional club.
I assumed things would have changed by now, but apparently not. Hereford manager Josh Gowling, who wrote the article talked of unconscious biases, and one wonders if there is still a problem. There may be genuine reasons of course why South Asians are less likely to make it in the professional game, but at the same time, one might reasonably ask if enough is being done to make a path for them into the game. A couple of British Pakistani lads where I used to work - one was quite a decent football player, the other a cricketer and a real athlete (they were from Ashton). meanwhile, a boy from Altrincham's Kerala Catholic community (i.e. Indian) said he wanted to be a formula one driver.
There must be plenty of South Asians who would make good footballers, including many locally. The club have been talking about improving scouting for players - is it an issue they have considered, going out looking for players from this untapped community, scanning amateur leagues or even 5-aside leagues, trying to create an environment that would attract them? Surely it is a matter worth considering, besides which if there are really "unconscious biases", it would be the right thing to do. Wolves have quite a big group of "Asian" supporters, and Hereford are clearly benefitting from their South Asian players - are there things for us to learn?
In other Hereford related news, the FACupFactFile Team Award special 150th anniversary award for the non-league club that have had the biggest impact on the competition went to Hereford United, pipping Altrincham and Yeovil Town. Apparently 17 consecutive 1st round appearances is rated more highly than four consecutive third round appearances. I still say Alty had the best ever result though, the only team ever to win away at a first division club (since the third division started) coming from behind, even if Hopkins did help a bit!
And former Hereford player Mustapha Bundu recently starred at the Africa Cup of Nations for Sierra Leone in their 0-0 draw with champions Algeria. Who says Hereford players can't come good!
As for that other former Hereford player Kennedy Digie, I have reviewed some previous match highlights, and clearly there are a lot of bad mistakes that need to be cut out (although I stand by my comment thatafter the second Torquay goal he did ok - prove me wrong!). I wonder now if the fact of not having a settled team in recent times has been a contributory factor to mistakes from him and other players as well. If you have a settled team who all know each other's games, it must make it much easier to know where to pass, and what to do in given situations. I assume that Parky just sees the big strong lad and assumes that with time and coaching he can learn to cut out the worst of the mistakes. We will see. Maybe...