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Wanderers Ways. Neil Thompson 1961-2021

Equality in sport


Rudy

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8 minutes ago, royal white said:

Probably thousands want to, I wanted to but wasn’t good enough. There are a lot good enough to play cricket but no one complains about that. 
 

 

I know. But statistically at least some must be good enough, yet I don't think there are any. And there almost never seem to be either.

It suggests something's amiss.

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1 minute ago, Ani said:

Ok. So you are saying having a target is ok as long as it is the right target ? We discussed this previously and I agreed you made some fair points. So to be clear I am not in favour of walking into every Board room in the country tomorrow and demanding every 6 th seat goes to someone passed purely on their race. 
I am not sure I agree with your time scales but think we are saying the same thing that we need to work to eradicate the various barriers that are stopping equal representation so everyone gets a fair opportunity. Not sure we would agree on how and how quickly we get there but the principle is clear. 

No I don’t think targets are ok, as that will set you up for positive discrimination, I am personally against all discrimination. I honestly believe that excluding people from employment opportunities based on race is a very minor issue which you would only really find in small tin pot organisations 

If BAME representation is currently 5% of sporting boards and 7% of FTSE 100 companies then we don’t have an issue for me, that’s representative of our community in the 1990’s when board members would have been starting out 

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18 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

I know. But statistically at least some must be good enough, yet I don't think there are any. And there almost never seem to be either.

It suggests something's amiss.

Based more on the fact that you have over 1bn Indian’s in India and I’ve never known one make it as a pro footballer at a decent level

Assume it’s physical, too small etc 

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26 minutes ago, birch-chorley said:

Based more on the fact that you have over 1bn Indian’s in India and I’ve never known one make it as a pro footballer at a decent level

Assume it’s physical, too small etc 

They do have a professional football league in India. But I'm referring to Asian people in England. There's a huge interest in football among that demographic, yet practically no representation among professional footballers.

It just seems strange to me, even taking into account culture and the influence of other sports, cricket and hockey being the main examples, that the number of professional footballers of South Asian heritage is in a practical sense zero all the time.

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7 minutes ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

They do have a professional football league in India. But I'm referring to Asian people in England. There's a huge interest in football among that demographic, yet practically no representation among professional footballers.

It just seems strange to me, even taking into account culture and the influence of other sports, cricket and hockey being the main examples, that the number of professional footballers of South Asian heritage is in a practical sense zero all the time.

Imagine the publicity, financial gain if a club signed an Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi player, it would be massive. There’s no way clubs would pass on that opportunity. It’s obvious that at this time there’s been none good enough.

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does Choudhury at Leicester not count? 

granted he was born in Loughbrough, but his Wiki says:

Choudhury is of Bangladeshi-Grenadian ancestry. He was raised in a traditional Bengali Muslim family, and visited Bangladesh as a child.His mother and step-father are Bengali from the Dewan Bari in Snanghat Union, Bahubal, Habiganj District in Bangladesh.

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1 minute ago, royal white said:

Imagine the publicity, financial gain if a club signed an Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi player, it would be massive. There’s no way clubs would pass on that opportunity. It’s obvious that at this time there’s been none good enough.

How many are in Academies, non-league football, etc ?

I suspect if there is a problem with racism, prejudice and the like, it would start much lower and progress up.

 

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4 hours ago, Lt. Aldo Raine said:

Looking for absolute parity or even statistically proportionate representation is the wrong approach, but when threre are stastical anomalies with no obviouse explanation it's worthy of investigation.

One of the obvious ones for me is why is there such a lack of professional footballers from a South Asian ethnic background in this country?

Culture. 

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3 hours ago, royal white said:

Imagine the publicity, financial gain if a club signed an Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi player, it would be massive. There’s no way clubs would pass on that opportunity. It’s obvious that at this time there’s been none good enough.

That's also a fair point in terms of managers as well. But maybe an issue there is it's perception by black lads who've had a good career across a number of divisions and are well respected in the general football world, even if most of their playing was the lower three divisions. And maybe that perception is not that they'd be shunned but almost the opposite - they'd be lauded in a way that puts extra pressure on? If say Bolton, Hull and Sunderland all appointed black lads as managers within a few weeks of each other, there'd be all sorts of well meaning articles about how they could be role models for a new generation of manager. But that must put extra pressure on to what is a difficult and lonely job at a club you have no connection to (geographically, even, e.g. if your family is at the other end of the country) at the best of times? Do people think they just don't need that extra pressure?

In terms of kneeling, well it's surely important not to dilute the message by familiarity breeding contempt? if it's every game then the "it's no big deal" argument works both ways, surely? Nobody will notice and there won't be a bigger audience tuning in to most matches at our level to see it anyhow. Like a minutes silence - I've been at many an atmospheric one over the years at Bolton games home and away, and they work precisely because they draw the attention due to novelty. So they make people think e.g. at the Remembrance Day ones.

On a biggest stage then it can make a regular point - if the Russian teams and their opponents do it for every game in a World Cup final tournament then it might make some of the boneheads back home in the rougher parts of Moscow think. But preaching to the very largely converted at every League 2 game just dilutes the message. Done every so often, in response to specific events or just to keep people thinking every so often, then as with minutes silence it gains a power and effectiveness?

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1 hour ago, Ani said:

The same will happen over here if players continue to take the knee. I see the premier league have withdrawn the BLM print on the club shirts. Also the international cricket teams seem to have got bored of taking the knee as they’ve stopped doing it. 

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2 minutes ago, Not in Crawley said:

I would guess you don't read a lot of Louder, Kerrang or Metal Hammer. Anyway, Entrails Ripped From A Virgin's Cunt is a classic.

If you've ever watch Ace Ventura they also perform Hammer Smashed Face in it.

I Cum Blood or Fucked with a Knife also deserve a listen. They are not fit to lick Death's shoes though. They are brilliant.

I've just watched an interview. How disappointing! It's like listening to a geography teacher explain how oxbow lakes are formed! 😧

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