ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the nuanced differences between South Asian diasporas and examines whether oft-cited cultural barriers, such as religion and a lack of parental support, are either real or perceived. It investigates British Asian cultures and, with the aid of oral testimonies, attempts to decipher whether common-sense barriers are valid, exaggerated or invented. The chapter describes that British Asian cultures are not hermetically sealed from other cultures. Since mass migrations to England from the Indian subcontinent, second, third and fourth generation South Asian descendants have been born. It argues that some football insiders believe that cultural differences help explain the British Asian exclusion. Two of the most popular British cultural exports to be deployed to colonial India by the East India Company were that of cricket and football. Attitudes towards football and other socio-cultural and religious practices have changed with progressive generational difference.
