{"id":11705,"date":"2007-04-05T13:22:17","date_gmt":"2007-04-05T13:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2007\/04\/05\/british-asian-women-in-football-3\/"},"modified":"2016-01-11T20:31:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T20:31:18","slug":"british-asian-women-in-football-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2007\/04\/05\/british-asian-women-in-football-3\/","title":{"rendered":"British Asian Women in Football"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Interview: Aisha Ahmad<\/h3>\n
Last month we brought you the first part of our special feature on British Asian women in football. We spoke to photographer Jaskirt Dhaliwal who revealed what led her to the football lens and why she believed generational attitudes within her community were changing towards the inclusion of British Asian women in football. <\/strong><\/div>\n

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In Part 2 of our feature we talk to two British Asian players, Aisha Ahmad and Ayesha Abdeen who both represented Britain in Iran\u2019s 2005 Women\u2019s Islamic Games for the British Muslim Women\u2019s Futsal team. <\/strong><\/div>\n

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\"\"PART 2<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n

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Aisha Ahmad, football player for the British Muslim Women\u2019s Football team.<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n

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\u201cJust being at the international games in <\/em>Iran<\/em> brought my identity to the surface, being a \u2018British Muslim\u2019, which is who I am.\u201d<\/em><\/div>\n

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When Birmingham-based Aisha Ahmad responded to an advert looking for aspiring female Muslim footballers she never imagined she\u2019s be representing her country in Iran at the Women\u2019s Islamic Games. For Aisha representing her country is about her identity as a British Muslim, it\u2019s about doing something she enjoys whilst proudly proclaiming she\u2019s as British as David Beckham. Here she reveals what led her to the game and how the profile of women\u2019s football should be enhanced. <\/div>\n

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How did you get involved in the team?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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I initially heard about the team from an article in The Muslim News calling for participants to compete in the women\u2019s Islamic Games in 2005.\u00a0This fuelled my interests and I began researching the team.\u00a0I responded to the advert and after trails I was selected as a member of the squad. I\u2019m currently reading towards a PhD at the University of Birmingham and my research concentrates on the British women\u2019s football team and other Muslim women that competed in the games in Iran.<\/div>\n

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What reaction do you get when you mention you\u2019re a member of the team?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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What reaction do I get?\u00a0Well, typically it consists of dropped jaws and being speechless \u2013 which I find quite funny \u2013 it\u2019s not that unusual!\u00a0After a few minutes though, I usually get praised and congratulated on my perseverance on doing something that I enjoy.\u00a0Only on one occasion did I get a negative response \u2013 \u2018women playing football isn\u2019t Islamic\u2019!!!<\/div>\n

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Do you have a sense of pride as a British Muslim to be playing for your national team?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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I certainly do.\u00a0I am proud to be able to play for my country and being a member of the squad.\u00a0It\u2019s great that Muslim women can represent their country doing the things that they love.\u00a0It\u2019s everything that an athlete aspires to be.\u00a0Just being at the international games in Iran brought my identity to the surface, being a \u2018British Muslim\u2019, which is who I am.<\/div>\n

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Women\u2019s football is still miles behind in comparison to men\u2019s football in the <\/strong>UK<\/strong>.\u00a0In what ways can the profile of the women\u2019s game be enhanced?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s a shame but it\u2019s true.\u00a0I think the way forward for women\u2019s football is through greater participation, which would lead to more funding.\u00a0I mean women\u2019s football is going down because of the lack of sponsorship.\u00a0If more women played football then this would increase the amount of funding we get.\u00a0I think football should be introduced to girls in both primary and secondary school where clubs are set up.\u00a0This would give girls the opportunity to enjoy the game from a young age and excel at a higher level after school.\u00a0<\/div>\n

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What are your future plans as part of the British women\u2019s football team?<\/strong><\/div>\n

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I would still love to play as part of the team in the next Women\u2019s Islamic Games, which is in 2009.\u00a0Up till then I will be training hard with the squad and looking for more Muslim women to compete in football.\u00a0So for all you Muslim women out there who enjoy football \u2013 there are opportunities to play!<\/div>\n

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Related Articles:<\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n

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Interview: Ayesha Abdeen<\/div>\n

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Interview: Jaskirt Dhaliwal<\/a><\/div>\n

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In Part 3 of British Asian Women in Football\u2026<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n

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We speak to Rimla Akhtar, the woman behind the Muslim Women\u2019s Sports Foundation<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n

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Coming soon on www.theasiantoday.com<\/a><\/span><\/u> \u00a0and available in the May issue of The Asian Today<\/em><\/div>\n

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Interview: Aisha Ahmad Last month we brought you the first part of our special feature on British Asian women in football. We spoke to photographer Jaskirt Dhaliwal who revealed what led her to the football lens and why she believed generational attitudes within her community were changing towards the inclusion of British Asian women in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[92],"class_list":["post-11705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contributors","tag-british-asian-women-in-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}