Jimmy Carter: Premier League's first British Asian player says sport is missing top Asian role model

The first British Asian to play in the Premier League says more role models are needed for South Asian players.

James 'Jimmy' Carter was signed by Sir Kenny Dalglish in 1991 and then joined Arsenal, becoming the first British Asian to play in the Premier League.

Born in East London, Jimmy was raised by his father Maurice who was born in Kanpur, India but was brought up in Lucknow.

Jimmy Carter and his dad, Maurice.

Jimmy said: "Being the first British Asian to play in the Premier League at the time...it's only sort of come to light in the last few years.

"People say, 'Oh did you know that you were the first British Asian to play in the Premier League?' It's always nice to have that...it was such a proud, proud thing to achieve."

Upon joining the Merchant Navy, Maurice moved to the UK where he married Jimmy's mother. When they divorced, Maurice raised Jimmy and his brother as a single father.

"It was quite tough at times, but what he did instil in us was a huge work ethic and he encouraged us to play football and sport on a regular basis," said Jimmy.

"He was always drumming home about being first and nobody remembers second place.

"In terms of harshness, I'll give you an example: Five o'clock in the morning during the winter, he'd pull the duvet off me and say go run around the local park twice, it's pitch dark frost everywhere, snowing."

"I'd think 'Come on Dad, why?' He'd say, your district team mates are tucked up in bed now and if you go out now, you'll get one over them.

"He was always like that, you have to do more, you have to keep doing more."

"From my perspective, I just wanted to make him proud."

Jimmy's footballing career started at 14 when he played for London club Crystal Palace, and then moved over to Queens Park Rangers at 19.

He was then bought by Millwall who gave him his Football League debut in a draw against Oldham in 1987.

It was four years into his career at Millwall that Sir Kenny Dalglish signed the East London footballer for £800,000.

Dalglish resigned shortly after, with Ronnie Moran taking temporary charge of the team for two months before Graham Souness took over.

Jimmy said: "I always wanted to pull on a shirt for Liverpool and I don't know if I manifested it, but for me to get the call from Sir Kenny Dalglish and for him to say Jimmy we want to sign you, hop on the train, I'm gonna meet you at Lime Street and you'll be a Liverpool player tomorrow, it feels like yesterday.

"Getting off at Lime Street, meeting Kenny there in his Mercedes...I'm thinking to myself gosh - this is unbelievable!

"Back in the day, we used to come to Anfield get changed in the changing room, get on a rickety old bus and go down to Melwood.

"So my first day walking into Anfield, I'm sitting next to Bruce Grobbelaar, Jan Mølby, Ian Rush, John Barnes, Ronnie Whelan - all these top players and I used to watch them on Match of the Day so all of a sudden I'm rocking up and it's incredible.

"A small part of you knows you've done something right to be there and Kenny said just be yourself. We've bought you to be on that wing and whip the crosses in, just do what you love doing."

Jimmy Carter became the first Asian player in Premier League after signing for Arsenal later in 1991.

Current statistics show that South Asian representation in football is still really low especially as they are the largest minority ethnic community in the country.

Recent data from the The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) says:

  • A 12.6 per cent increase in players at all levels of elite football identifying themselves ofSouth Asian heritage, with 134 players in 2022/23 compared to 119 players in 2021/22.

  • 53 per cent of the South Asian professional players are signed to Premier League and Championship clubs.

  • 63 per cent of Academies have at least one player of South Asian heritage, compared to 53% in 2021/22.

  • 1.45 per cent of scholars are of South Asian heritage, with total South Asian scholar numbers increasing by almost 9 per cent from the 2021/22 season.

  • South Asian players make up 0.91 per cent of players in the Foundation and Youth Development Phases compared to 0.82 per cent in 2021/22.

  • There have been six league debuts for players of South Asian heritage between 2022 and 2023, compared to two league debuts between 2018 and 2021, showing a positive increase.

  • At professional level only 17 of the nearly 4,000 players are British South Asians - less than half of 1 per cent.

"I think probably what needs to happen is more of a top role model to really hit the big time, and that will give the younger generation the five and six year olds, if they saw a Ronaldo type player who was of Asian descent, if they saw a player of that stature, that gives them something to aim for and I think that will be really important but it's good to see more British Asians are being encouraged," he added.

"It's going to take time, it doesn't happen over night, but there are a few Asian players playing at the moment in pro football and that's good to see."

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