Indians 1, Soccer 0

He is only one of several PIOs, to use a popular phrase, who have started to shine in the top football leagues around the world. Leading the charge (see box) are Newcastle’s Michael Chopra — being groomed as a replacement for ageing goalscorer Alan Shearer — and Harpal Singh of Leeds; others include Kiran Bechan of Ajax Amsterdam in Holland and — famously reported — Aman Dosanj, whose life reads better than Bend it like Beckham.

In England, Holland, France, Scandinavia, Germany, as far away as the US, second and third generation expat Indians have been making a name for themselves on the football field.

Teams from India, and teams in Europe made up of PIOs, now play an annual International Indian Football Series in Germany. And, come February, Dubai will see the first Indian Mini World Cup, where a couple of Indian teams will compete against selected sides with players of Indian origin from across the world.

It’s been a long time coming. Till well into the 1990s, the common perception in countries like the United Kingdom was that Asians couldn’t play football and Indians were good only for cricket and hockey — and, at a pinch, tennis.

The first impression was wiped out by players from Japan, Korea and China making their way to clubs across Europe, including England’s Premier League. The second has just begun to change.

You could, of course, say that the trend was set by Baichung Bhutia but he was rarely more than a marginal figure — lacking even novelty value — during his two-season spell at Bury.

It wasn’t Baichung’s fault that he couldn’t cut it in England; he was an outsider, and it’s tough enough for those born and raised in England — or anywhere in Europe — to break the glass ceiling. For one, there were no role models to follow. Aspiring cricketers can look up to Nasser Hussain and Mark Ramprakash (who could look up to Ranji and the Pataudis) and anyway cricket is a hegemony of the subcontinent. Tennis players like Arvind Parmar had the Amritrajs.

Football players had no one. Now, of course, they do. Though he says he doesn’t see himself as a role model for the community, Chopra acknowledges the potential impact of his success on other Asians. ‘‘The fact that I have become the first player with an Indian background to make a breakthrough in England is bound to attract attention and I am flattered by it — especially if it means something to the Asian community and encourages more kids to make it in the professional game.’’

It’s an impetus sorely needed because PIOs have long been out of the talent scouts’ radar. Jas Bains and Sanjiev Johal addressed this issue in their 1998 book on the Asian football experience, Corner Flags and Corner Shops (itself a reference to the old joke, What does an Indian footballer do when he gets a corner? Answer: build a shop on it.)

The authors write: ‘‘While Asian boys play football comparable to other groups, for the most part, it is outside the recognised system. Consequently, Asian boys are overlooked by clubs’ scouting operations. The Asian community is also less aware of the recruitment system than other groups.’’

Part of the problem stemmed from the home front. The problem faced by Jasminder in Bend it… extends to boys as well. If girls in the Indian community had to learn how to make alu gobi, the boys grew up to manage the family business. There was no other way.

Interestingly, the girls broke out of their shell far quicker than the boys; Dosanj, who played for Arsenal Ladies, and Parminder Jhooti (Fulham Ladies) were stars before Chopra and Harpal.

Then there’s the Big R. Racism is alive, if not exactly kicking, across European football. officially and actively condemned, it still rears its ugly head enough to keep non-whites out of the sport.

It is, of course, a complicated issue and one that few current footballers accept exists. Chopra, for example, doesn’t want to discuss the topic. ‘‘My family’s background has never been a big issue in my life, it’s only recently that people have started referring to it. Like many thousands of Geordies (those from the Newcastle area) I grew up loving football and am fanatical about Newcastle United.’’

Dosanj, currently with Lee University, Ohio, says, ‘‘I have never felt disadvantaged in any way because I am of Indian origin. I have personally never experienced racism in British or American football. If we are good, I think teams will take us.’’

Not so, says sports sociologist Boria Majumdar, currently at Oxford University researching the social history of Indian cricket. ‘‘Racism is very much there. Even in sports. Remember, the Bedford riots took place barely a couple of years back.’’

Why, then, do blacks do so well? Well, two reasons really. First; blacks are genetically stronger and fitter — the strongest and fittest, in fact. Their sporting pedigree is second to none and their physique is ideally suited to the hard, fast style of football in Europe.

Second — and those who have watched the series Dream Team currently running on the sports channels will be aware of this — they are sometimes recruited as trophies, the token black, Especially early on — the late 1970s, when the first black started playing in the top flight — and especially in areas where they had a high concentration (the East End of London, the Midlands towns).

Once the breakthrough was made, it was easier for talent to make its mark.

In the past few years, two developments made the crossover easier for those of Indian origin. First, the style of football has changed, especially in England. Physique is not as important as before, ball-playing skills — which Dhorasoo, for example, has in plenty and which require agility and dexterity — are in greater demand.

Second, the image of football has changed from a working-class sport to the biggest money-spinner outside the US. The shrewd shop-owning father will see that there’s more to be gained letting his son — or, indeed, daughter — kick a ball than man the till. And if you’re talking of social climbing, well, there are more knighthoods being given out in England to football than cricket.

But there’s a long way to go yet. ‘‘Lots of Indians are coming up’’, says Majumdar, ‘‘but no one has made the top grade yet. It’s because of the attitude of these players that the glass ceiling remains intact. I think they remain close to India in some senses, but are affected by the money and the glamour. It’s a problem area. But maybe it will take a few more years and after that they will become more successful. This is the first generation. It might take one more for the attitudinal change to happen.’’

The Football Association (FA) has also woken up to the presence and the potential of Asian football. On May 13, the FA-organised Football For All conference at Derby’s Pride park Stadium discussed the promotion of the game at the grassroots level, and to involve ethnic minorities in Britain as part of the drive. Chopra and Harpal were two of the ‘‘ethnic minority’’ players who got special mention at the conference, which, as Dermot Collins of the English Football Association said, ‘‘is an opportunity to learn more about the communities we attempt to serve and give people the confidence to access the FA’s resources and programmes.’’

What these measures — the Indian tournaments in Germany and Dubai, and the steps taken by FA — are bound to do, is promote the game in a big way among Indians living abroad. Add to that the success of some of the players, and there might come a time when more Indian youngsters can take to the game.

Harpal knows what it means: ‘‘It will be great if Indians and Asians in England see me and feel they can also do well. There is a lot of potential, but they have to play the game seriously to do well.’’

Their success will doubtless make the professional level more accessible to the Indian community, for whom the glass ceiling was one never to be tampered with. Now, the first cracks are beginning to appear. Soon, perhaps, there’ll be more corner flags than corner shops.