Kira Rai: Trailblazer Derby County winger inspires a new generation of footballers

• ITV News Central Reporter Mark Kielesz-Levine spoke to Kira about her work

Kira Rai can be considered a trailblazer when it comes to women's football.

She's one of only a handful South Asian women playing football in the top three tiers in the country. Although this is a tiny number it is still progress since the early noughties.

Back then, in 2002, the film Bend It Like Beckham got people talking, with Leicester born actress Parminder Nagra playing a girl who was banned from playing football by her Mum because of cultural traditions. 

Although Kira says time has moved on and those issues are no longer relevant, there still aren't enough girls and women like her breaking through. The reason for this, she says, is visibility and also opportunity. 

Growing up in Burton, she admits she was incredibly fortunate to come from a football and Derby County mad family, where her passion for the game was always encouraged.

But she was always the only South Asian player in a match or amongst her teammates and it was only when she became older, that she realised it was an issue.

If the problem is no longer about culture, she says, then those in the game need to look behind the scene and ask if young Asian girls are getting equal opportunity to play and progress.

All of this makes her rise through Derby's ranks even more important. Having joined the club from a young age, she's the first South Asian woman to play for the first team.

Although proud to be, she also admits it doesn't feel like it should have been that way, saying, "I feel privileged to be that person, but also I feel like I shouldn't be that first person, there should be many more of us".

Recently she attended an event at Arsenal Football Club, where there were 200 young South Asian girls. It points to a new generation coming through the ranks, but the current numbers in the professional game still remain an issue.

Out of 700 women who were present in the recent World Cup, it's thought that only one came from a South Asian background. 

At a time where questions have been asked about the diversity of the Lionesses, it seems important to consider why there is an absence of women like Kira from the upper echelons of the game. If the answer is 'ability'- that indicates a grassroots issue.

Although more young South Asian girls are certainly playing football, it hasn't gone unnoticed in the younger generation that all is not well. 

Kira has got into coaching, hoping to pass on her knowledge to girls similar to her. Not only does this give them something that Kira never had, but it also allows them to be coached by someone that they can identify with.

I spoke to 11 year old Rhea who Kira was coaching and she was extremely self aware, saying that she stood out in her team and in matches- even going as far as to say she felt picked out because of the colour of her skin. 

After speaking to her Mum, Manjinder, it became clear that this is something Rhea has felt for some time. As an 8 year old, she asked her Mum why there were no girls who looked like her playing football.

This struck a chord with Manjinder, who has tirelessly taken her all over the West Midlands to play football and even over an hour away from home, so she can be coached by Kira

Manjinder told me that when Rhea is with Kira, she transforms- Kira is her role model because they have common ground and it has really made Rhea believe that anything is possible.

Away from coaching, the Derby winger admits that it probably does bother her that there's a current lack of representation- sometimes even making her question why she's playing. Overall though, her love of the game has silenced any doubts she may have and that's a feeling she wants to pass on. 

Encouraging the new, younger generation is clearly a passion of Kira's. As well as playing and coaching football, she aims to be a Personal Trainer. Once again, she's found that it's not usual for South Asian girls to go to the gym and she's keen to help change that. 

The numbers may be low on the pitch, but Kira is hopeful that change is coming.

Visibility could be the key to more young girls like her playing the game, if so, then the winger is certainly playing her part. 

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