Social Responsibilities (Part Two) 

Passion:

Chelsea’s Head of Corporate and Social Responsibility, Simon Taylor is passionate about football, but even more so about making a difference. Chelsea gave him that opportunity last year with their Search for An Asian Soccer Star initiative. The support continued as the club provide another opportunity for boys with origins from the Indian sub-continent. Taylor is concerned about dealing with the issue of under-representation of Asians in football. He doesn’t care who they play for – he just wants them to realise the opportunity is there and for football to give them a chance, but why now?

“That’s an interesting question,” said Taylor. “I think originally for me, I’ve read too many reports; heard too many people complaining about the lack of opportunity for Asian footballers. It’s a very personal issue for me – I’ve only been doing the job two years – and it’s the second year that we’ve done this, so why now? It’s because we can, because we feel it creates a massive opportunity to get young kids from the Asian community playing football – not just playing football, but playing a good level of football.”

The scheme has already expanded from the first Search for An Asian Soccer Star to include younger boys, so will it change again next year? “We’d look at it,” says Taylor. “What I’d like to do is use what what Chelsea are doing for other clubs. I think it’s important that other clubs recognise the talent that may lie on their own doorstep, so what we want to do is use this as a blueprint for successful implementation of similar projects for other football clubs and if any other football clubs want to speak to Chelsea about it, how we do it, we're more than happy to do that.”

So have any other clubs done so yet? Not yet, but Taylor is far from discouraged. “Let’s face it,”he says. “This is only the second year that we’ve done it. It’s only ever happened once before, so what we hope to show in the second year is repeating the success of the first year and then hopefully other clubs will follow suit.”

Building a Future:

Chelsea is committed to the project and Taylor to extending it, but how did they get through a traditionally suspicious community? “What we did was visit Asian community groups, schools – both boys and girls – and provide them with free coaching, because as a stand alone project the Asian Soccer Star scheme is very good, but what we want to do is actually leave a longer legacy, so we’ve gone into these communities,” said Taylor. “We’ve also provided them with information of how to get involved with Chelsea or with any other football club and we think it’s important that we continue to do that.”

Role models are important too. “Zesh Rehman is an ambassador for the scheme,” says Taylor. “He was extremely helpful last year.” Rehman was the second British-Asian footballer to play in the Premier League – narrowly beaten by Michael Chopra. Nevertheless, Rehman is an international for Pakistan and is the only British-Asian to have played in all four divisions in England. He fully supports Chelsea’s initiative. He is not alone.

Anwar Uddin was a promising young defender at West Ham’s academy, playing in their FA Youth Cup-winning team of 1999. Despite his potential he never broke through into the senior team. However, he became the first Bangladeshi to play professional football in England and is the only British-Asian to have captained a professional football team in England – Daggenham and Redbridge. He played for the Daggers from 2004 until a loan move to non-league Grays Athletic FC this season.

“Anwar Uddin again gave plenty of support,” said Taylor. Other role models lent their support too. Football legend Sir Trevor Brooking backs it and London Mayor Boris Johnson does as well. Brit Asia award winning Bhangra star Jaz Dhami wholeheartedly endorses the scheme and Bollywood legend Abhishek Bachchan backs the initiative as well. Footballers are not the only sportsmen to support the scheme. World Boxing Association Light-welterweight champion Amir Khan backs it too.

“We are looking at role models to help get Asian kids interested in this and I think it’s important to point out that it’s not just about finding the next Chelsea player,” says Taylor. “It’s about showing Asian kids that football is a lot of fun, can be a potential career, but is also a great way of getting out, getting healthy, getting out with your friends and enjoying yourselves, so we get role models involved and I think it’s important that we continue to do so.”

Register now for the second Search for An Asian Soccer Star at  www.chelseafc.com/asiansoccerstar