Manisha Tailor MBE believes that elite women’s football in England is not diverse enough. Just 9.7 percent of football players competing at the highest level of the game are from varied ethnic backgrounds, according to PFA statistics released earlier this year. There is only 0.3 percent of British South Asian professionals playing in the highest tier of women’s football. Despite being the largest ethnic minority female group in the nation, South Asian women still make up the majority. Tailor, the only woman of South Asian ancestry to ever occupy such a position in the game and the assistant head of youth coaching at QPR, has called for action to be taken to address one of the biggest statistical oddities in English football.
“The female career path in the elite game, in my opinion, is not broad. It doesn’t seem to reflect the demographics of England, in my opinion,” Manisha Tailor MBE said about England. “It’s very difficult to actually fully understand the landscape of how many South Asian females we have in the elite pathway, whether that is the pathway to the Women’s Super League or the pathway to England when I have asked [the Football Association] for data. I understand that certain data is protected. I believe there is more to be done.”
The Football Association was unable to provide any information on the ethnic composition of the elite paths for girls and women. The FA stated that one of its main objectives is to increase access for more players while broadening the skill pool. The stories, which are based on interviews and are intended for school-aged children, highlight some of the obstacles faced by British South Asians in football and provide guidance for young readers. When England selected an all-white squad to play Northern Ireland in 2021, the issue of ethnic diversity at the national level was raised.
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