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When our upper class forefathers decided they'd like to build an Empire, the sport they introduced was public school cricket, not that soccerball played by those working class Northern folk. When the time came for people to migrate to our green and pleasant land, all they knew was cricket. All their role models and sporting heroes were cricketers, not footballers. There's very few successful footballers of South Asian decent, so today's Asian kids also have no footballing role models. Maybe that's why their underrepresented in the stands?
As a docks city, Cardiff has a history of diversity. But now it doesn't seem any more or less diverse than any UK city.
I run along the barrage from time to time and can count on one hand the amount of black/asian runners i've seen.
Same goes for swimming and mountain biking.
I know many Somalis who will have a kick about or watch football on tv but have no interest in going down the road to watch the city.
And it's got nothing to do with racism or not feeling welcome i believe it's more of a family generation thing.
As a fan who was there in the early 80s, we always had a very strong following from the ‘docks boys’ who were from a very different ethnic background than most and as far as I’m aware, they were always very welcome, indeed they were often at the forefront of protecting scarfers when we had less than 500-600 away fans at many a ground. Always had the utmost respect for those lads and have only heard racist language from City fans maybe 3-4 times in 35 yrs of following them……
I think the club does very little to attract people who aren't introduced to Cardiff by their family or friends. or at least what it does do doesn't have much impact.
if you're not inducted into the football by someone bringing you along then there just isn't much visibility of it across most of the city.
I know plenty of people who are into football and have lived here since university, but have never even contemplated going to a city game.
the club should absolutely reach out to the non white communities in Cardiff to encourage more to start to follow the club, and I don t think they should stop there.
in terms of the question of how diverse the city is- I guess that if you open it up to Cardiff's "catchment" which is larger again than the population of Cardiff alone, then the non-white percentage would likely drop a fair bit.
Hopefully this sort of initiative will bring more Asian players into the game and connect more with communities that are missing from the stadiums.
The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) welcomed academy, scholars, and professional players to St Georges Park for a ‘Player Development Day’ as part of their Asian Inclusion Mentoring Scheme (AIMS).
AIMS was created to enhance the experience of British Asian footballers on the elite pathway by creating a structured network of support that allows them to thrive.
Danny Batth (Sunderland), Neil Taylor (Middlesborough), Otis Khan (Leyton Orient) and Malvind Benning (Port Vale) are among the senior footballers mentoring scholars and emerging pros, with those players, in turn, sharing their academy experiences with their younger peers.
https://www.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/news...ntoring-scheme
Maybe it is linked to the actual sport ?
I have been a city supporter for 62 years and yes it seems slow to change, however, go to watch cricket at sophia gardens (or anywhere else around the country) and you will see many black and Asian supporters. Mainly because there is a strong link to the game from their ethnicity