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Swansea City’s Neil Taylor is the only British Asian player currently featuring in the Premier League.

Having signed a new four-year deal at the Liberty stadium, the 26-year-old defender can’t quite comprehend the reason for that statistic.

But further down at Championship, League One and League Two levels, the visibility of British Asian players is equally as rare.

The FA can’t understand these statistics either.

In an attempt to address the under-representation of Britons of Indian, Pakistan and Bengali heritage, it has run nationally-held Asians In Football forums.

Taylor could be forgiven for thinking that an emerging pool of Asian talent will follow in the wake of his career at Swansea.

For a league which is beamed live to huge global television audiences, the lack of on-field Asian representation is simply not good enough, concedes the FA.

Before Taylor, we saw Michael Chopra and Zesh Rehman play in the Premier League - and now brothers Adil, Samir and Rahis Nabi are tipped for success at West Bromwich Albion.

(Image: Dave Thompson)

But Taylor remains bewildered as to why more Asian players haven’t broken through.

At a forum at West Ham’s Upton Park ground he asked: “Well what’s the barrier? Growing up, and from what I know, for people of Indian origin, education is the number one priority.

"All parents will drill their kids to be education-based, with your dreams put to one side to what will get you through life and get you a career.

“The obvious question is why aren’t there any already?" asks Taylor, who has an Indian mother and an English father.

“I think it’s one of them things which has got a stigma attached to it and maybe players believe that they won’t get the opportunity, or that people (coaches) aren’t seeing them.

"All these different types of things need to change.”

Read more:

Taylor has been at the heart of the Swans' defence with a tenacious and tough approach in the Premier League where the Welsh club find themselves for a fifth consecutive season.

Taylor is proud of his Indian roots, but he reveals that with his un-Asian sounding name, many people continue to be surprised to learn of his Asian background.

"I went out to India - I wanted to work with a charity along with finding if there were any players out there.

"You know, there must be at least one! Looking at the amount of people out there, there’s got to be players who can play at a high level," said Taylor, who welcomed the FA’s initiative.

“People say to me, athleticism. Does that come into it ? I said, I don’t think so.

"I mean of course you look at the Olympics and you don’t see it littered with athletes from that part of the world. I think when I looked at it, I thought it can’t be.

“People didn’t realise that I was Indian, it’s as simple as that - (from my name ) you wouldn’t know that I was Indian.

"When I went to Kolkata and did a press conference, the next day, I got it. It was nice, people were saying welcome to our country, we’re glad people are coming out here.

“People were then turning up to stadiums to see me after games and saying, ‘We didn’t know you’re Indian!’ It was great!”

(Image: Steve Bardens)

Taylor recalls his own upbringing as the youngest of three - he has an older brother and sister - and of the importance of parental support as his football talent blossomed.

“I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t for my parents! Every footballer you ask that plays on the pitch is unlikely to make it if their parents didn’t play a part in their making it to be a professional footballer. So you need that as well, from an early age.

“My dad was big on education as well. I couldn’t go to football if I didn’t [complete] my education properly. It should be like that for everybody, unfortunately it’s not.

“Everyone should get their education, everyone has got their own story, but I think that if you really believe that you can, and that’s what you want to do, then parents should always back their children to do that while still having education as a back-up if it doesn’t go how you want it to.”

Taylor’s career began at Manchester City, then a move to Wrexham before his 2010 move to Swansea.

Despite transfer rumours linking him with a move away from the Liberty Stadium, Taylor is keen to continue at Swansea, where he says “the sky’s the limit” for the club.

Dressed casually in a white T-shirt and dark jeans, Taylor is relaxed and articulates his responses well, describing being part of Team GB at the 2012 London Olympics as “incredible”.

He is looking forward to Wales' Euro 2016 participation after the principality qualified for their first major tournament since the 1958 FIFA World Cup.

Read more:

Taylor was voted the 2013/14 Asian Football Awards’ best player, but international duty prevented him from travelling to London’s glittering ceremony at Wembley to collect his award.

At the FA's forums, four key areas have been identified which delegates were asked to explore and then feed back.

Community Development Centres and Talent Identification of Asian players – Making sure new and better players have access to the system. Club & Coach Development – Supporting existing Asian clubs and coaches. Women & Girls participation – How to get more Asian females involved in the game. Communications – Promoting opportunities to Asian communities and showcasing best practice.

The total results from all the forums formed the basis of the FA’s action plan in tackling Asian under-representation in football.

One delegate, a level-two coach, succinctly summed up matters.

Clubs need to streamline talent scouting systems and be proactive when genuine Asian talent is identified to them.

Whilst acknowledging his own good fortune, Taylor speaks passionately about leaving a footballing legacy, with the emphasis on emerging Asian talent.

He is committed to devoting his time to pass on his experience from the elite level.

Allied to Taylor’s willingness to help, and with the FA’s support, the prospects for future talent emerging from Britain’s Asian communities has never been better.

Taylor said: “I think it was the stigma attached to it that there aren’t many Asian players. It’s just a mentality change that’s needed, that’s all it is.”