ABSTRACT
On Saturday 5 April 2003, the scoresheet for the Nationwide Division One match between Burnley and Watford included an unfamiliar name: Chopra. In fact it was listed not once, but four times. Michael Chopra, a nineteen-year-old striker, had achieved the remarkable feat of scoring four goals in a single match as his team romped to a high-scoring victory over their Lancastrian opponents. The reason why Chopra was unknown to the footballing public at large was because he had only made his professional debut a week previously, having been loaned to Watford by Newcastle United to gain match experience. Yet the most unusual thing about this game was the sight of a South Asian surname on an English professional football teamsheet. Chopra’s mother, Sharon, is white, but his father, Minty, is Indian. With only a handful of players of South Asian background having ever played professional football in England, he is thus an extremely rare commodity.
