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Leyton Orient have announced a groundbreaking one-season partnership with Trehan Football and The Punjabi O’s supporters’ group to try and tackle South Asian under-representation in English football.
The first-of-its-kind partnership will see Leyton Orient work in collaboration with the Trehan Football think tank, and the club’s official Punjabi supporters’ group, to increase knowledge about British South Asians in Football and create more opportunities.
South Asians are Britain’s single-largest ethnic minority (around 10 per cent of the population), but they remain heavily under-represented on the pitch, with less than half a per cent of all footballers in the English professional game hailing from the community.
The collaboration builds on Orient’s long-standing work in the local community and follows on from the recent launch for the Punjabi O’s official Orient supporters’ group at the Gaughan Group Stadium, which was attended by more than 100 people.
Leyton Orient chief executive Mark Devlin said: “Leyton Orient are very proud to represent our diverse community. The recent launch of The Punjabi O’s was a great success, but it is just a start.
“Fan engagement is key for the club and we are keen to find ways in which we can engage and communicate more meaningfully with our South Asian community.
“Not only would we like to see more members of the South Asian community in the stands supporting the team, but in the future, we want to see more players, both male and female, coming through to represent the club on the pitch.”
Trehan Football founder Dev Trehan said: “This groundbreaking partnership speaks volumes about Leyton Orient as a football club, a fanbase and a community.
“Mark Devlin, his team and The Punjabi O’s deserve enormous credit for demonstrating genuine leadership on behalf of the club and the wider football community.
“It’s an exciting time for the game when London’s second-oldest football club and the world’s first South Asians in Football think tank partner around such an important issue.”
Punjabi O’s founder Arvi Sahota said: “As a supporters’ group, we had set ourselves the target of driving positive change – not just for our fans, but also across our local and wider community.
“We are One Orient and we are enormously proud to help facilitate this first-of-its-kind partnership alongside Trehan Football and our beloved club. We hope this can one day lead to more kids who look like us on the pitch in the Beautiful Game.”
