Altyfans.co.uk - Altrincham Football Club Fans Forum

I see there was something in this week's NLP about a couple of Hereford players, Afghanistan international (although UK based since age one) Maziar Kouhyar, who played in the Trophy final for them, and British Indian Dinesh Gillela, signed recently from Hayes. And Yeading. United. Absurdly, they represent 20% of British South Asians that are professional footballers. Just 10 out of 4,000 pro footballers in the UK - representing  o.25% of footballers, compared to 7% of the total population . I remember a tv news item some years ago about the issues, how there was a perception among some club owners that "Asians" didn't make good footballers, and they interviewed one young lad who had broken all sorts of records in an amateur league, and yet had failed to get a trial at any professional club.

I assumed things would have changed by now, but apparently not. Hereford manager Josh Gowling, who wrote the article talked of unconscious biases, and one wonders if there is still a problem. There may be genuine reasons of course why South Asians are less likely to make it in the professional game, but at the same time, one might reasonably ask if enough is being done to make a path for them into the game. A couple of British Pakistani lads where I used to work - one was quite a decent football player, the other a cricketer and a real athlete (they were from Ashton). meanwhile, a boy from Altrincham's Kerala Catholic community (i.e. Indian) said he wanted to be a formula one driver.

There must be plenty of South Asians who would make good footballers, including many locally. The club have been talking about improving scouting for players - is it an issue they have considered, going out looking for players from this untapped community, scanning amateur leagues or even 5-aside leagues, trying to create an environment that would attract them? Surely it is a matter worth considering, besides which if there are really "unconscious biases", it would be the right thing to do. Wolves have quite a big group of "Asian" supporters, and Hereford are clearly benefitting from their South Asian players - are there things for us to learn?


In other Hereford related news, the FACupFactFile Team Award special 150th anniversary award for the non-league club that have had the biggest impact on the competition went to Hereford United, pipping Altrincham and Yeovil Town. Apparently 17 consecutive 1st round appearances is rated more highly than four consecutive third round appearances. I still say Alty had the best ever result though, the only team ever to win away at a first division club (since the third division started) coming from behind, even if Hopkins did help a bit!

And former Hereford player Mustapha Bundu recently starred at the Africa Cup of Nations for Sierra Leone in their 0-0 draw with champions Algeria. Who says Hereford players can't come good!

As for that other former Hereford player Kennedy Digie, I have reviewed some previous match highlights, and clearly there are a lot of  bad mistakes that need to be cut out (although I stand by my comment thatafter the second Torquay goal he did ok - prove me wrong!). I wonder now if the fact of not having a settled team in recent times has been a contributory factor to mistakes from him and other players as well. If you have a settled team who all know each other's games, it must make it much easier to know where to pass, and what to do in given situations. I assume that Parky just sees the big strong lad and assumes that with time and coaching he can learn to cut out the worst of the mistakes. We will see. Maybe...

Ok I'll look at his record. He came into a team that had just lost three matches in a row. He played a part in three of the first five matches he made the squad - three draws including against Chesterfield and Boreham Wood. We then lost three out of four matches where Digie didn't come on, and after that, After that he played in the next 5 matches (full games in four, third sub v Barnet where he played "5" minutes). We should have drawn today but got well beat by strong Wrexham and County sides (and remember Coounty also scored 5 against Bolton). So if he is being judged on  results, really he is being condemned for 3 matches we were always likely to lose (particularly as the team had inadequate preparation time for two of them) plus a few minutes against Barnet.

The thing about Digie is he is very good at winning the ball and mixing it with the big lads. If you don't get the ball back, you're under long periods of pressure. Obviously some things he's not so good at, but I still say he can do a job for the team (though it was mainly after the second goal I was watching him). I'll look forward to the highlights and see if I can spot all those mistakes.

Saw him play 3 times now and within the first 20 minutes it was pretty obvious hes not a footballer. For someone so tall his heading is atrocious. You're just waiting for a mistake from him. Bare in mind he couldn't get in Herefords team. Bizarre persistence by parky.

To me, it seemed he was very strong at winning the ball (on the ground at least) in defence and the middle of the pitch (perhaps why he spent periods further up the pitch). Good stamina too I think. I used to play a similar sort of game. The  sort of unglamorous role that is easily overlooked but much valued by managers. Considering people have been complaining about us being outmuscled by teams, I can see why Phil persists with him. Not as good in the air as Heskey of course, but maybe a similar sort of thing. Spectators used to say how rubbish he was, but managers liked him, players liked to play along side him.

Very possibly, I was certainly watching from a different position. I'll maybe watch the highlights back later, but I can't think of anything very wrong he did, it's certainly not his fault we lost (and as I say we might easily not have lost on another day).

(P.S. I'd like to know what sort of people we get in the sponsors' lounge giving ironic motm awards. A City fan maybe, who had previously voted for Gary Neville as their motm... ).

In an open letter from the Health Advisory and Recovery Team (some may say not actual evidence - I think they are reasonable evidence) that gives a good summary of the issues.

https://www.hartgroup.org/open-letter-to-the-mhra-regarding-child-death-data/

Unfortunately, all we know is that there has been a significant increase in mortality in young males (aged 15-19). The letter goes through some of the points that need answering and that must be answered to allay concerns about current government health measures. One day, we will have this information and be able to decide if lives have been lost unnecessarily, although of course there are some things that are already fairly well established with regards to younger males. Without the information requested in the letter, it is questionable whether younger males can give properly informed consent.

This page summarises who HART are for those interested:

https://www.hartgroup.org/bios/

I should also say that while some things remain unknow about this worrying rise in mortality among this demographic, it seems all too certain that if current plans to force tens of thousands of "unvaccinated" health workers out of their jobs are followed through, people will die as a result. People who will mostly have natural immunity by now anyway, and are apparently no more likely to test positive for "covid". For me, this is a huge concern in an already short staffed health service.

I emphasise that the calculations will be different for high risk groups (including younger people in at risk groups) and that these emergency use "vaccines" may offer some benefit to them, though it is still worth researching the issue, talking to medical professionals etc. as medication is rarely risk free.

See here.

https://dailyexpose.uk/2022/01/15/2021-footballer-deaths-increased-by-300-percent/

Not actual evidence of course. Still, a worrying non-trend if the figures are correct - they represent a total for 2021 over two and a half times higher than the next highest figure in the previous 12  years and nearly four times the average figure of the previous 12 years. Note the figures include professional (or semi-professional!) footballers over 16.

Obviously calculations will be very different for high risk groups, but I repeat that young healthy males would be well advised to research possible risks.

https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/how-bad-is-my-batch

Not actual evidence or anything,  only the considered view of an inventor of mRNA technology. Still, good advice from him nonetheless - "read the literature"!