Colonel_Reb
Hall of Famer
Racial Snapshot of the Premier League
By Karl Baxter
(1/6/09) Number crunching is time-consuming work, so usually I base my opinions of the changing demographics of England's soccer Premier League on my overall impression. This varies from week to week, depending on team selections, which matches I happen to watch, and my own subjective moods.
In order to achieve greater objectivity, I have decided on a more systematic approach, by taking a detailed demographic snapshot of the Premier League. Hopefully, this can be used for future reference and comparisons to establish positive or negative trends.
My method has been to examine the team selections and substitutions of the Premier League teams for their last league games of 2008, played between the 28th and 30th of December.
In these matches, most teams made three substitutions, which meant they fielded 14 players, while some teams made only one or two substitutions. This gives a total number of 273 players who participated in these games, including some who only came on in the final minutes. I have decided to count all these players equally as a representative and easy-to-analyze sample of the Premier League. The 273 players have then been cross-referenced with my own knowledge, readily available reference data, and visuals to allocate their race.
The biggest problem in this respect was sorting out the mulattos from the Blacks. Many of the decisions I made in this case, I admit are debatable and could be revised in the light of additional information. One interesting case is Manchester United's Ryan Giggs. Although he looks White, he has a Black grandfather, so I have classified him as "mixed."
Another problem is White-looking people from countries not normally regarded as White, for example Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, and Algeria. In cases like this, I have based my decision on the looks of the player. For example, the Egyptian striker Amr Zaki appears as White as many Italians, so I have counted him as White, along with Samir Nasri the French Algerian attacking midfielder. Portsmouth's Nadir Belhadj, a French-born Algerian, has not been classified as White because he looks too Arabic. He has been placed in the "mixed/other" group which includes all those who can't be placed in the Black or White groups, including mulattos, more Indian-looking Hispanics, like Arsenal's Mexican Striker Carlos Vela, and Asians, like Manchester United's Korean midfielder Ji-Sung Park.
The results of this survey provide interesting reading. Of the 273 Premier League players counted, 171 (62.6%) were White, 82 (30%) were Black, and 20 (7.3%) were "mixed/other."
Breaking down the White players, we also discover that indigenous White English players make up only 26.4% of the League, with a total of 72 players. The most English teams were Middlesbrough and Everton, which both fielded 50% English teams. The least English team was Arsenal with zero English players, followed by Manchester City, Chelsea, Sunderland, and Liverpool, which each fielded only two Englishmen.
The Whitest team in the Premier League also happens to be the team leading the table at the turn of the year. Twelve of the fourteen players who participated in Liverpool's 5-1 thrashing of Newcastle were White, with only Babel being Black and Ngog mixed. This was 86% of the players used. The next Whitest teams were Middlesbrough (83%), Manchester United (79%), West Brom (79%), and Fulham (78%).
By contrast the Blackest team was Arsenal. Among the 13 players who played in their final match, seven (54%) were black (Sagna, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, and Adebayor), one a mulatto (Silvestre), and one a Hispanic (Vela). Close behind were Chelsea, Manchester City and Wigan, which all fielded 50% Black teams.
Comparing the 42 players fielded by top three teams (Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United) with the 40 players who represented the bottom three (Stoke, Blackburn, and West Brom) shows that the top teams were 69% White and 19% Black, while the bottom teams were 72% White and 30% Black.
(1/6/09) Number crunching is time-consuming work, so usually I base my opinions of the changing demographics of England's soccer Premier League on my overall impression. This varies from week to week, depending on team selections, which matches I happen to watch, and my own subjective moods.
In order to achieve greater objectivity, I have decided on a more systematic approach, by taking a detailed demographic snapshot of the Premier League. Hopefully, this can be used for future reference and comparisons to establish positive or negative trends.
My method has been to examine the team selections and substitutions of the Premier League teams for their last league games of 2008, played between the 28th and 30th of December.
In these matches, most teams made three substitutions, which meant they fielded 14 players, while some teams made only one or two substitutions. This gives a total number of 273 players who participated in these games, including some who only came on in the final minutes. I have decided to count all these players equally as a representative and easy-to-analyze sample of the Premier League. The 273 players have then been cross-referenced with my own knowledge, readily available reference data, and visuals to allocate their race.
The biggest problem in this respect was sorting out the mulattos from the Blacks. Many of the decisions I made in this case, I admit are debatable and could be revised in the light of additional information. One interesting case is Manchester United's Ryan Giggs. Although he looks White, he has a Black grandfather, so I have classified him as "mixed."
Another problem is White-looking people from countries not normally regarded as White, for example Egypt, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, and Algeria. In cases like this, I have based my decision on the looks of the player. For example, the Egyptian striker Amr Zaki appears as White as many Italians, so I have counted him as White, along with Samir Nasri the French Algerian attacking midfielder. Portsmouth's Nadir Belhadj, a French-born Algerian, has not been classified as White because he looks too Arabic. He has been placed in the "mixed/other" group which includes all those who can't be placed in the Black or White groups, including mulattos, more Indian-looking Hispanics, like Arsenal's Mexican Striker Carlos Vela, and Asians, like Manchester United's Korean midfielder Ji-Sung Park.
The results of this survey provide interesting reading. Of the 273 Premier League players counted, 171 (62.6%) were White, 82 (30%) were Black, and 20 (7.3%) were "mixed/other."
Breaking down the White players, we also discover that indigenous White English players make up only 26.4% of the League, with a total of 72 players. The most English teams were Middlesbrough and Everton, which both fielded 50% English teams. The least English team was Arsenal with zero English players, followed by Manchester City, Chelsea, Sunderland, and Liverpool, which each fielded only two Englishmen.
The Whitest team in the Premier League also happens to be the team leading the table at the turn of the year. Twelve of the fourteen players who participated in Liverpool's 5-1 thrashing of Newcastle were White, with only Babel being Black and Ngog mixed. This was 86% of the players used. The next Whitest teams were Middlesbrough (83%), Manchester United (79%), West Brom (79%), and Fulham (78%).
By contrast the Blackest team was Arsenal. Among the 13 players who played in their final match, seven (54%) were black (Sagna, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue, Denilson, Diaby, and Adebayor), one a mulatto (Silvestre), and one a Hispanic (Vela). Close behind were Chelsea, Manchester City and Wigan, which all fielded 50% Black teams.
Comparing the 42 players fielded by top three teams (Liverpool, Chelsea, and Manchester United) with the 40 players who represented the bottom three (Stoke, Blackburn, and West Brom) shows that the top teams were 69% White and 19% Black, while the bottom teams were 72% White and 30% Black.
