Swansea, United Kingdom: His name may be as British as grey skies and fish and chips, but Swansea City and Wales defender Neil Taylor holds a unique place as the only British-Asian player currently featuring in the English Premier League (EPL).
Taylor, whose mother is from Kolkata in India, is proud of his roots and is shocked more players of Asian descent aren’t in a league that is beamed live to a huge global television audience.
The 25-year-old has been a key player during Swansea’s two successful seasons in the EPL, winning rave reviews for his tenacious approach at left-back and even representing Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games.
In an exclusive chat with Gulf News, Taylor pondered what was stopping more players of Asian origin from making the breakthrough.
“I went out to India last year to do some charity work. Kolkata Goals is an initiative between the police and the local people — I went out there to discover it and find if there were any players with talent out there. You know, there must be at least one!” Wales-born Taylor said.
“Looking at the amount of people out there, there’s got to be players who can play at a high level.”
So, what’s the barrier? “Growing up, and from what I know, for people of Indian origin, education is the number one priority,” he said. “All parents will drill their kids to be education-based, with your dreams put to one side. So I think that’s one barrier. I thought maybe it’s just got to be a mentality change.
“People say to me ‘athleticism, does that come into it?’ and I say ‘I don’t think so’. I mean, of course you look at the Olympics and you don’t see it littered with players or people from that area of the world. But, when I looked at it, I thought it can’t be.
“Cricket, I mean it’s far and away the biggest sport out there, but when I went there last summer I saw people playing rugby! Did anyone know that people in India play rugby?”
If that came as a surprise to Taylor, then the reaction in India to his background was also something he hadn’t anticipated. “People didn’t realise that I was Indian, it’s as simple as that. [From my name] you wouldn’t know that I was Indian,” the 15-times capped Taylor said.
“When I went to Kolkata and did the press conference, the next day the reception I got was really, really good. It was nice, people were saying ‘welcome to our country, we’re glad people are coming out here’. People then were turning up to stadiums to see me after games and saying ‘we didn’t know you’re Indian’. It was great.”
Taylor recalls his own upbringing as the youngest of three children — he has an older brother and sister — and of the importance of parental support as his football potential became evident.
“I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for my parents. Every footballer you ask that plays on the pitch is unlikely to make it if their parents didn’t play a part in their making it to be a professional footballer. So you need the backing of your parents from an early age when you can’t travel to games. My dad was big on education as well. I couldn’t go to football if I didn’t do my education properly and that was standard. It should be like that for everybody, but unfortunately it’s not. Everyone should get their education.
“Everyone has got their own story, but I think that if you really believe that you can [make it in sport], and that’s what you want to do, then parents should always back their children, while still having education as a back-up if it doesn’t go how you want it to.”
Taylor, who competes with fellow Welshman Ben Davies for the left-back spots at club and international level, began his career as a trainee at Manchester City, before a move to Wrexham and then his 2010 transfer to Swansea.
The Swans secured their Premier League place for another season with a last-minute win at Newcastle last month and, despite transfer rumours linking him with a move to St. James’ Park, Taylor is keen to continue at Swansea, where he says “the sky’s the limit” for the club.
Impressed by UAE
Taylor, who won the best player gong at the Asian Football Awards last season, says he is impressed by the talent in the UAE’s Arabian Gulf League. He was part of Swansea’s 2011 pre-season training camp in Austria that also played host to the UAE Olympic team and Taylor said he has followed their progress ever since.
“We played them [the UAE team] and we couldn’t believe how good they were. We were looking at their team, looking through all their names and we looked at the names of the clubs they played for,” he said.
“Ability-wise, they were really good, the athleticism and energy, everything was really good. I was impressed and, again, I thought ‘will a couple of kids from that team make it?’ Tactically they needed work, which is why you need the top coaches, and that’s what you get when you get picked up. Of the players there, looking at their ages compared to the players we have in this country, maybe at this academy or other academies there’s no difference. But it’s down to opportunity.”
Whilst acknowledging his own good fortune, Taylor speaks passionately about leaving a footballing legacy, with the emphasis on emerging Indian talent. If given the support, he remains committed to devoting his time to pass on his experience. With Taylor’s support, we could yet see future talent emerging from the Indian subcontinent.
— Tusdiq Din is a freelance journalist based in the UK
