Reply With QuoteNone of that, just find it very very strange that there isn't one player of colour in that team photo. It's not a common sight these days.Originally Posted by JamesWales
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That's not the question
The question is where is your evidence that stories about diversity are deliberately promoted over other stories ?
I have asked 4 times now
None of that, just find it very very strange that there isn't one player of colour in that team photo. It's not a common sight these days.
Is it? what is it then?
Well I think those from the Butetown history centre would know more about it than you and I
The estimates are that Cardiffs black community is 16000 and 8000 of that is Caribbean descent
The video I posted the other day is really interesting , you may know some of the faces , I will try and dig it out again
Fair enough, i'm not going to argue over it. In the latest census it says that those Cardiff's population consists of 3.8% Black population in an overall population of 362,000 people. That would include those who are African. Whoever is closest, i don't consider it a large number.
The evidence is there for all to see Sludge.
Even tonight, pop onto the BBC website and there's a story about The Rock and some random Waxwork and the story is about his skin colour.
Stories like this are very often amplified. Is this really a top story for the UKs main news website?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-67193578
Judging by its position on the BBC main news page currently, they hardly regard it as a “top story”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
There’s two ways of looking at this for me. First, using City as an example, I can remember noting that there often wasn’t a black player in the City team at the start of the 21/22 when Mick McCarthy was manager (Curtis Nelson was in the squad, but he didn’t always feature). Was there anything sinister in this? I don’t think so, within a year our squad had the biggest black representation I can ever remember. If now looks purely coincidental and anyone making an issue about our “all white” team at the time would have been barking up the wrong tree.
On the other hand, we’re talking about a squad photo of twenty odd players here and, when you think that you’d probably have to g o back to the early seventies to see a picture of an Arsenalmens squad without a black player in it, the photo of the current women’s squad does raise questions- as Arsenal have acknowledged themselves.
Arsenal's squad has three white English guys and four black English guys.
It does suggest that there's something wrong somewhere along the line; whether it's subconscious bias in recruitment, or opportunities to play and train are not the same for everyone, or something else.
It doesn't mean that people at the top are cruel racists and this was done deliberately, but there must be a kink in the system somewhere.
I would think that is correct, football has previously been enjoyed by the type of ladies shown in the photo, it seems mostly white with blonde hair in a ponytail. I think that has probably already changed due to the women's World Cup, and little girls from all backgrounds will replace those ladies and over the next ten years, the photo would look completely different while still recruiting the best players for each position.
More importantly, should they get paid as much as professional men's football?
For what, as a salary from the club? Is there anyone who thinks that?
Looking at the club website, the squad consists of just 5 English players, 1 Scottish and the remainder from countries such as Austria, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Ireland and Australia. All fairly well established womens footballing nations. Maybe as the game develops further afield, there'll be more African nations producing more talented players.
It was only really after Italia 90 and the success of Cameroon, that clubs started tapping into other African nations as a source for quality (and cheaper) players.
Except Alex Scott and Rachel Yankey, to name two who sprang into my mind straight away, were playing for Arsenal every week a decade ago.
Something to consider is that Girls organized football is pretty new. It could be that in the initial stages of the game in the UK that the girls who started out getting involved in the game were, are predominantly white lower middle class bracket with parents who have a little bit more money, time, social mobility etc. The men's game was predominantly white until the late eighties, so look how long men's football took to evolve.
When something new kicks in like female football at an organized level, then it's always almost going to be kids from more affluent backgrounds who carry on in the game as they generally have a better support network.
Well Cardiff clearly doesn't have a Caribbean population like some boroughs in London or Birmingham but what do you consider significant or large etc ?
If it didn't have a sizeable Caribbean community why would it have afro Caribbean barbers and hairdressers and restaurants ?
The difference between Cardiffs Caribbean community is that it doesn't have a noticeable core like St Paul's or Handsworth
That's because the demolition of the Butetown area led to the community being spread all over Cardiff to Ely , Splott , Llanrumney etc
Yeah this is what I was trying to get at when I said about opportunities above, but you've explained it much better.
If England wants to be the best they can, they need to have as big a pool as possible, which means reaching all the potential talent. The photo suggests either they're not doing that, or all the talent happens to be white. That's what I conclude when I saw the photo, not that arsenal must be racist and hate black women. There's clearly something stopping them from being there.
According to statistics that are readily available to read online, there's around 5000 people in Cardiff of Afro Caribbean heritage, and that includes 2nd 3rd generation. I have worked the areas you have highlighted every day for 6 years, sometimes visiting up to 12 properties per day. The three you mention are predominantly white. Splott, Adamsdown, Clifton st area is/has quite a strong African community developing. There are more people from African heritage than there is Caribbean in Cardiff.
bollocks.
the BBC are reporting a story that may be considered newsworthy. They've not offered an opinion, nor do they ever.
No I have no idea what the UK stat is for non white, but I'd hazard a guess its not an order of magnitude different from what we see in the league.In 2021 it was estimated that the proportion of black, Asian and minority players in the Women's Super League was between 10 and 15%.
fixed your post
^^^ this
As Jon1959 said at the outset, there may be a perfectly plausible reason why, but in this day and age, you're more likely to find rocking horse shit.
Lardy comes in with the common sense, saying it like it is.
I doubt there is any thing Machiavellian going on, we just need to do more to get to the grass roots, so everyone has a chance
I wouldn't say it's going too far. The photo perhaps suggests one way the top level of women's game can continue to develop and improve in the future. Through broader representation, like the trajectory seen in the men's game over time. Overall there is around 45% BAME representation in the EPL compared to around 10% in the WSL at present. Increasing diversity is an opportunity for women's football.
It's a story though isn't it? We're all talking about it. Why wouldn't the BBC put something that will become a talking point on their website? It wasn't exactly the top story and it wasn't being sensationalized. It's the editorial staff's job to fill their website with content.
I just had a look at the Cardiff City Women team page - and there are 21 mug shots, all white. A major difference from the diversity of the mens' team pages - first team, u21s and u18s. And club clips of the Foundation at work often show mixed communities involved.
It may be (as Tuerto suggested) a reflection of the relative under-development of the women's game, or the way the club is identifying talent (in the summer they seemed to be looking at the best players from other clubs in the league - which may be a self-reinforcing strategy for maintaining the squad profile), or maybe some other reasonable explanation. Cardiff and South Wales is not as diverse as London (few places are) but as with Arsenal it does throw up some legitimate questions about opportunities.
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