Adnan Ahmed (right) competes with fellow British Asian player Zesh Rehman
British Asian player Adnan Ahmed, currently plying his trade in Hungary with Ferencvaros, has used his latest column to discuss his experiences with racism.
From Goal.com
Over the years, I have experienced racism in football - but for me it's how you handle it that matters.
Of course, in an ideal world we all wouldn’t have to deal with such a repugnant issue, but I’m not an idealist and, to be honest, I prefer to deal with things head on. I’m not one to hide or feel sorry for myself. I tend to not let it bother me and laugh it off because if you let it dampen your spirit, the racists have won.
I had to learn my lesson the hard way. I remember an incident a few years back, when I broke in to the first team at Huddersfield. A player - who, as it happens, is now a manager - hurled racist language towards me during the game in an attempt to distract me from playing.
I was playing well and we were winning. I don’t know if he was told to distract me by his manager, but I remember losing my head during the last 10 minutes of the game. I was just so wound up and rather than focus on my game, all I was thinking about was going after this guy.
We had a few altercations, but everyone, apart from me, could see what was coming next; I went flying in with a reckless tackle and went in very, very hard. I was very lucky to get away with just a yellow card and he was lucky to have escaped serious injury.
Harsh lesson
The manager substituted me to stop me from getting sent off - and to make things worse, we then lost the lead and drew 1-1!
That was a harsh lesson I learnt. In hindsight, for 20 minutes I was totally distracted from the job at hand. You can’t do that as a professional because you will get punished, and the guy knows he got one over on me - by hook or by crook, so to speak.
I realised that not only did I let the manager and my team-mates down, but I also let myself down. From that day onwards, I have not let it bother me.
I get invited to many anti-racism events and I enjoy creating awareness and sending out a good message, especially to school children. I think society in general has to really tackle the issue head on, not just sport.
It doesn’t matter about your religion or race, there's just a lack of respect in today’s society. You always get certain people blaming those who they view as "different" and trying to play the race card.
Examples
It’s too easy to point fingers at others or exploit other people’s weaknesses. We should look in the mirror and point the finger at ourselves, and try to rectify ourselves and our family and friends. We should all look to be better humans, better examples and with Islam there is a lot more responsibility and rightly so.
Nowadays, people simply worship the likes of money, and will do almost anything to tread on other people’s toes to get ahead. However, we all know that short-term gains are for the weak hearted.
If you exercise patience, humility and stick at it, you will get somewhere in life. Nowadays, people don’t want to work hard to get ahead, they want everything on a plate. It doesn’t work that way.
Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t become a great manager after a few games; he stuck at it and believed in his goals and set about going about his job the right way.
I have had my fair share of pitfalls, but now, due to the grace of Allah, I am happy in Hungary and really enjoying my football - I’m in great shape and play for Ferencvaros, a prestigious club with a great tradition. But everything didn’t fall into place overnight. At times you have to experience hardship to get ahead.
Next generation
We are only human and we make mistakes, but I am a great believer in human nature and I hope that the next generation of footballers from ethnic backgrounds does not deal with half of the racism people in my age group have had to endure.
I for one would love to see kids from various backgrounds playing football in harmony, side by side. Football can reach places where politicians cannot.
Football should not just be about a circle trying to fit into a squared hole; the only colour that should matter in the beautiful game is the colour of the shirt!
It would be great to finally see an Asian lad play for England in the future - it would be amazing, and more and more British Asians will eventually play for the likes of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
From Adnan Ahmed's weekly column on Goal.com
