why don't more people from Ethnic Minorities support Reading?

[Das_Ding]

I took a Chinese-heritage friend, who looks nothing like Dai Yongge, to a match last season and we heard several fans loudly muttering 'is that Dai Yongge?'. It was grim and hostile.

[stealthpapes]

My Dad went by himself once and later that night, we saw photos of him on the social medias with the caption 'is that Mark Hughes at the game tonight?'.

[stealthpapes]

It's not unique to Reading. My closest team are Bradford City. Their attendances are not diverse, when the city very much is. I think perception is a problem; crown used to tolerate racism as recently as the 90s, and there will still be fans who think that "banter" is acceptable.

Also for the South Asian community representation is an issue; it's a demographic under represented on the pitch.

While its not that well accurately measured/tracked, outside of the big clubs that attract an international audience, Bradford FC is widely recognised as having one of the highest proportion of non-white fans. Although the joke around the place is that stewards don't count as they're being paid.

[Forbury Lion]

Three reasons

1. Less likely to have got the itch from their dads
2. Put off by the perception or reality of the racism that still goes on in football stands around the country
3. Reading's football and financial situation do not exactly make a compelling case for a Berkshire-based neutral who could find an excuse to support, say, Chelsea, and we also don't have the retro ramshackle charm of other L1 or L2 teams

Maybe lack of players of the same ethnicity they can relate to?
Other sports may be a factor, but probably playing those sports on a Saturday rather than attending since Berkshire isn't really a hot spot for sports like Ruby or Cricket, but there are a number of Cricket grounds dotted around the place.

We don’t have any podgy, bald, middle aged players but lack those doesn’t stop that demographic turning up in large numbers.

Yeah but podgy, bald, middle aged men tend to not to self identify as such and probably think the likes of Lewis Wing are their peers and they would be out there too possibly doing a better job if the scouting network was better.

[Green]

My Dad went by himself once and later that night, we saw photos of him on the social medias with the caption 'is that Mark Hughes at the game tonight?'.

[Sutekh]

I took a Chinese-heritage friend, who looks nothing like Dai Yongge, to a match last season and we heard several fans loudly muttering 'is that Dai Yongge?'. It was grim and hostile.

Hope you didn’t pass up the opportunity and told them it was Dai Yongge ….

[Jackson Corner]

Asians do not like football. I never played football for or against Asian players in the Sunday leagues. But cricket was a different story with loads of Asian players. Sometimes entire clubs. We have a lot of eastern europeans in west Reading maybe we could target them?

I don't think that's necessarily the case. I used to work in Wembley and Harrow and the Asians that I worked with - male and female - loved their football. Football in the winter and cricket in the summer.

Why do none attend games? Why have none made it to the professional ranks? India and Pakistan have huge populations but both are ranked outside the top 150 in in the world.

[leon]

Whenever you see pictures of the crowds at Reading games it's just white men, as far as the eye can see. Why are there not more Black or Asian people attending Reading matches? and should the club be doing more to encourage them to attend?






According to the reading.gov page

Reading has a very diverse population, with 46.5% now belonging to a Black and Minority Ethnic community

As we can see the crowd is disproportionately white compared the diverse population of Reading. Why?

Hold on one second. What about Welsh Italian's like me???

[72 bus]

Plenty of Asians in the upper west yesterday, well there was until we went 3 goals down.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

I've noticed more Asian families starting to appear in the east stand. Not many, but still a noticeable number

[leon]

Plenty of Asians in the upper west yesterday, well there was until we went 3 goals down.

Can’t say I noticed either points.

[Jackson Corner]

I saw 3 Asian lads before the game in ding shirts. That’s 3 more than Millwall.

[Brogue]

Yeah not quite how I anticipated the thread to go - with people on the look out for individuals. Closing thread