ABSTRACT
In seeking to understand why British Asians have failed to make the transition from amateur to professional football, one of the most important issues to consider is racism. Whilst racism cannot, in isolation, explain the absence of British Asians from professional football, it must be placed at the centre of any analysis, for it influences patterns of inclusion and exclusion, belonging and marginalization, in a variety of ways. Thus the present analysis supports Hylton’s (2005: 84) argument, in his persuasive call for use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in examining social relations in sport and leisure, that ‘race’ and racism must be given prominence, whilst at the same time linked to other forms of subordination and discrimination.
