Back to my roots - Zesh Rehman

Dan Pope, Club Website editor

In April 2004, a 20-year old called Zesh Rehman made his Fulham first team debut as a late substitute in their Premier League game at Anfield. Nothing remarkable there it seems but Rehman was making history, becoming the first British Asian player ever to appear in the top flight of English football.

With hundreds of thousands of young Asians turning out to play and watch football around the country every week, it is a somewhat staggering fact that only seven British Asian players ply their trade in the professional game today.

Club Website will be looking in more detail at to the under-representation of Asians in football right here in The Club House in April.  In the meantime, we bring you the inside track on life as an aspiring young British Asian player.

Now a Queens Park Rangers player - currently on loan at Bradford City - we caught up with Zesh last summer at Kick It Out's London 'One Game' event and took him back to his roots to find out about his experience of grassroots football.

Dan Pope: "Just wondering who you played for as a kid?"

Zesh Rehman: "I played in Birmingham for my local Sunday team – Kingshurst. It was really good as we had a couple of Asian kids, me and my brother, and the rest were white and black. For me it was really good as they didn’t look at your race or your background as a factor. The coaches saw me just from the footballing side of things."

"From there I just started playing as much as I could. Luckily when I moved to London I got a trial at Fulham, where I was playing for my district team.”

DP: “Did you move to London for football or was it for other reasons?”

ZR: “I moved to London for family reasons but as soon as I started playing for my local school and district side, there was a Fulham scout at one of my games. He invited me for a trial and two weeks later I signed.”

DP: “Before you signed for Fulham, what was your abiding memory of playing grassroots football?”

ZR: “Well for me it was massive - like a cup final every weekend! Every game that I played, there’d be a big build going into the game. We travelled all the way across the other side of Birmingham and my family would come with me and lend their full support. Win, lose or draw, there would be full analysis on the way back and an ear bashing from my old man! It was the highlight of my weekend and it still is.”

DP: “That’s great. You mentioned that you had big support from your family. How important was that for you as you were growing up?

ZR: “Very important. We played for a Sunday League team that involved a lot of travelling to get to the game. The club couldn’t always provide you with the facilities, so you’d need to buy your own kit to play in. My parents didn’t see that as a problem and were more than happy to help. They realised it was something that I really wanted to do so that backed me the whole way.”

DP: “What is your best memory from grassroots football?”

ZR: “There’s a few to be fair. We won the Saturday League, the Sunday League, cups and 5-a-side competitions. The best memories were collecting the trophies at the end and having a party with the other kids and parents.”

DP: “Did you play with anyone at that age who has since made it as a pro?”

ZR: “I used to play in the same Sunday team as Freddy Eastwood. We played for a year for West Ewell Wanderers in Surrey. We got on well and I still know Freddy really well and his parents. Obviously, Freddy is a Gypsy but again that wasn’t seen as a factor.”

DP: “If someone wants to play football and they are good enough then it shouldn’t matter where they are from or what their background is. Isn’t that how it should be?”

ZR: “Yeah, in an ideal world that’s how it should be, but you need to be realistic and realise that some form of racism does exist. But with all these organisations working together to a common goal, I think it’s gone a long way to eradicating it.”

DP: “You played in a team with lots of white, black and Asian kids when you were young. Was that common in the leagues that you played in?”

ZR: “Yeah it was very common. Where I lived there were kids from all sort of backgrounds and no-one really saw it as an issue.”

DP: “So what do you think happens between football at that level and the professional game which explains the under representation of British Asians in the professional game? Where do you think it is breaking down?”

ZR: “Firstly, there aren’t as many role models for kids to look up to, for whatever reason. Secondly, we need a change in mindset ‘cos there are a lot of stereotypes which exist that faced me when I was growing up – such as Asian kids are not strong enough, have the wrong diet or like cricket more than football.

"I don’t know where they come from and the more people hear it, the more they just jump on the bandwagon and assume it’s right, creating a bigger stereotype and another obstacle.”

DP: “What was the best piece of advice you received when you played football as a kid?”

ZR: “The best piece of advice was from my dad - if you’ve got a dream, whatever you want to do just go for it, no matter what gets in your way. Obviously there will be difficult times but if you keep the dream in mind then the obstacles in the way will just become part of the scenery on the way to success.”

DP: “And if you could offer one piece of advice to our younger readers – white, black or Asian - aspiring to be a professional footballer, what would that be?”

ZR: “I’d tell them to never ever give up. Always follow your dream and be prepared for the highs and lows. Whatever you do there will be blips along the way but if you’ve got the right support, the right mentality and determination, pure determination can take you a long way.”

DP: “If you were in charge of the FA for a day and you could do one thing to improve football from the grassroots up, what would that be?”

ZR: “To be fair, lots is being done by campaigns like Kick It Out, Show Racism the Red Card and the Asian Football Network. We need to continue to good work, but we could raise the profile of British Asian players just a little bit more, so it reaches out to all communities across the country, so that we can help to increase numbers [of young British Asians in the game]."

DP: “If you were say a youngster today trying to make it in the game, do you think your chances of becoming a pro would be better than they were previously?”

ZR: “Definitely better. Now it’s the third generation of Asian people in this country – the genes have changed, the mentality has changed, kids are growing up in mixed-school societies so they are not viewing themselves as different.

“Opportunities have increased, so there is more chance for young players to have a career in the game than the previous generation. But it doesn’t matter what race or religion you are, whether you are Asian or not, there is a lot of good stuff happening in communities - community centres, Sunday leagues, Saturday leagues - and we should encourage everyone to get involved.”

Zesh Rehman profile

Date of birth: 14 October 1983

Place of birth: Birmingham

Height: 6' 2" / 1.89m

Position: Defender

Grassroots clubs: Kingshurst FC, West Ewell Wanderers FC

Professional clubs: Fulham - 21 appearances (0 goals); Brighton & Hover Albion (loan) - 11 (2); Norwich City (loan) - 5 (0); Queens Park Rangers - 46 (0); Brighton & Hove Albion (second loan) - 8 (0); Blackpool (loan) - 3 (0); Bradford City (loan) - 2 (0); Career total - 96 (2)*

International caps: Pakistan - 6 (0)

* League appearances and goals only.

Asians in football

Kick It Out, the games equality and inclusion campaign, will be debating the wider issue of Asians in football with a forum in London on 17 March.

The event will highlight topics around the subject with a line-up of guests, panelists and speakers from the Asian footballing world.

Club Website will bring you news from the event and comment from guests as we look further into the issue in April's edition of The Club House.

What's more, Kick It Out will soon be launching an online grassroots section, with news and information on funding, merchandise and how teams and individuals everywhere can get involved in the campaign. For more information visit www.kickitout.org

Images courtesy of Kick It Out.