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Zesh Rehman

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Zesh Rehman
Personal information
Full name Zeshan Rehman
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Central defender
Team information
Current team
 Bradford City
(on loan from Queens Park Rangers)
Number 33
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 1 November 2007

Zeshan "Zesh" Rehman (Urdu: ذيشان رحمان) (born 14 October 1983) is an English Pakistani football defender who plays for Bradford City on loan from Queens Park Rangers. He was the first British Asian to start a Premier League match and is the first to have played in all four divisions of professional football in England. He also plays for the Pakistan national football team and was the first Pakistani international footballer to play professional football in England.[1]

Club career

Starting out at Fulham

Born and brought up in the Aston area of Birmingham close to Villa Park, when he was just twelve years old he moved with his family to London where he joined the Fulham Academy with Fulham where he progressed through the junior, youth and reserve teams at Craven Cottage.[2] He made his debut for Fulham in 2004 in the Premier League at Anfield against Liverpool, and by doing so he was able to garner some media attention from British Asian groups by being the first British-Asian player to go on and play regularly in the top division of English football.[2] Although a centre-back by trade, Rehman was used as a holding midfielder as well as right-back in his career at Fulham.

In the 2003-04 season, when he was 19 years old, he was sent on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion, initially for one month[3] which was extended to three months and he ended up staying until January 2004.[4] He impressed with his dedication towards the game as well as good strong character at such a young age.[who?] He made eleven league appearances, scoring two goals. In January 2006 he signed for Championship club Norwich City on loan for the rest of the season as defensive cover for the injury-hit Canaries.[5] He made five starts for them.

Having made 30 appearances in all competitions for Fulham, 26 from the starting line up and four as a substitute, Rehman had to consider his options if he was to get regular football. Although he had two years remaining on his contract his hunger for regular first team football was too strong and he decided to spend the next two seasons getting as much experience as possible.[citation needed]

Queens Park Rangers

On 8 August 2006, just prior to the start of the 2006-07 season, Rehman signed for Championship club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) from Fulham on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.[6] After completing his move, Rehman said, "All I want to do is play; the money doesn't interest me anymore. I could have sat at Fulham and just been happy to pick up my wages but that's not what I am all about."[7]

QPR had only just avoided relegation the previous season, had a small budget and had an inexperienced manager in charge. In his first season at QPR Rehman made 27 appearances (25 from the start and two as a substitute). He struggled, but gained valuable experience of how tough life can be at other clubs.

Towards the end of the season Rehman was sent on loan to former club Brighton & Hove Albion for a month where he gained more first team football experience. He made his return to the club on 24 March, 2007 in a 0-0 draw against Huddersfield Town. He ended his loan stint by playing the full 90 minutes and earning a yellow card in the process for the final game of the Football League One season in a 1-1 draw at Cheltenham Town on 5 May 2007, claiming an assist for the opening goal. He featured in eight full games during his loan stint. The final game was his 35th appearance of the season (33 from the start and two as a substitute).

Returning to QPR at the start of the new season, chances were limited. However, hard work, good attitude plus injuries and suspension problems in the squad allowed him to get his opportunity in the first team during the packed Christmas period of the season. This helped him gain the confidence of the fans and the manager with some solid and consistent displays for QPR who picked up four wins and two draws out of eight games when he got back into the team. He helped lift the team off the foot of the table and into a more respectable league position. The 3-1 victory over Leicester City on New Years Day 2008 was Rehman's 50th game in all competitions since leaving Fulham in 2006.

Rehman finished the 2007-08 season in the starting line for QPR against the Championship's new champions, West Bromwich Albion. During this season he reached another milestone - playing over 100 professional games both in league and cup competitions.

Blackpool

Rehman joined Blackpool in a six-month loan deal on 31 July 2008 along with Daniel Nardiello who joined the club on a permanent basis, with Blackpool defender Kaspars Gorkss moving to QPR.[8][9] Rehman made his debut for Blackpool as a second half substitute in a shock 2-0 defeat at League Two club Macclesfield Town in the first round of the Football League Cup 2008-09 on 12 August 2008. He was though used as an emergency-striker due to injuries to three of the clubs strikers. He made his league debut the following Saturday, in a 1-1 draw at Norwich City, coming on early in the second half to replace defender Danny Coid.

Three months into his loan spell at Blackpool in early October, Rehman said of his move to play for the Seasiders, "I'm quite glad to get away from all the hustle and bustle of London. I really like it up here in Blackpool; it's a good club with an ambitious young manager. Hopefully, over the next few months I can convince Simon Grayson I'm worthy of a long-term contract."[7] On 31 December he returned to QPR.

Bradford City

On 26 January 2009, Rehman signed a loan deal with League Two club Bradford City until the end of the 2008–09 season.[10] Rehman had turned down a chance to move to Luton Town and team up with Mick Harford, who was previously assistant manager at QPR, and said he was only prepared to drop down to League Two if he joined Bradford City,[11] whose new amabassador Omar Khan helped to engineer the move. Rehman said of the move, "I was only prepared to drop down the leagues to play for this club. I spoke to the manager and chairmen and I know they want to get Bradford back up to where they belong. I’ve been involved in relegation battles in the past and it’s nice to be joining a club pushing for promotion – that’s a good pressure to have."[12] He made his debut the following day in a 1–0 defeat to Bury at Gigg Lane, and in doing so became the first British Asian to play in all four divisions of professional football in England, something which he described in his online blog as "a momentous occasion" and expressed his hope that it inspires the next generation of [British] Asian footballers.[13] He played at left back, coming in for Luke O'Brien, who had been taken ill on the day of the match.[14] He made his home debut on 31 January, playing at right back, in a 2-0 home win over Grimsby Town at Valley Parade.[15]

Club career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2003–04||Fulham||Premier League||1||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||2||0 |- |2003–04||Brighton & Hove Albion||Second Division||11||2||colspan="2"|-||2[16]||0||13||2 |- |2004–05||rowspan="2"|Fulham||rowspan="2"|Premier League||17||0||2||0||4||0||23||0 |- |2005–06||3||0||colspan="2"|-||2||1||5||1 |- |2005–06||Norwich City||Championship||5||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||5||0 |- |2006–07||Brighton & Hove Albion||League One||8||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||8||0 |- |2006–07||rowspan="2"|Queens Park Rangers||rowspan="3"|Championship||25||0||1||0||1||0||27||0 |- |2007–08||21||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||22||0 |- |2008–09||Blackpool||3||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||4||0 |- |2008–09||Bradford City||League Two||17||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||17||0 Template:Football player statistics 3111||2||3||0||12||1||126||3 Template:Football player statistics 5111||2||3||0||12||1||126||3 |} Source: http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=36002

International career

Rehman always wanted to represent England[citation needed], and played for them at Under-17 and Under-20 levels. However, becoming the first British Asian to don an England senior football shirt seemed too far away, due to lack of first team opportunities at Fulham. Because of his Pakistani parentage and possessing dual Pakistani and British nationality, he also qualified to represent Pakistan. At first he was reluctant to become a Pakistani international, but eventually opted for the Asian country, although a lot of British Asian groups were against this and wanted him to fight for an England place more to set a standard for British Asian youth.[citation needed]

It was, however, an unrealistic aspiration. With that in mind, and with the blessings of his father, Rehman made his international debut for Pakistan in a 1-0 win over Sri Lanka in the 2005 South Asian Football Federation Championship on 7 December 2005 at the Peoples Football Stadium in Karachi .[17] Rehman described his international debut as one of the best memories he has in football, adding, "The reception I received from the first moment till the last was unforgettable. I felt loved, appreciated, respected and wanted and most of all the interest in football really grew immensely."[18] Pakistan ultimately reached the semi-finals before losing out to Bangladesh 1-0.

In that short space of time Rehman helped to raise the profile of the game in Pakistan, encouraging youngsters to play the game and also help to raise the profile of Pakistan in the United Kingdom and on a global stage.[citation needed]

Rehman was named in the Pakistan squad for the World Cup 2010 qualifiers against Iraq in October 2007, and played the match in Lahore but couldn't help contain the current Asian champions Iraq from winning 7-0. In the second leg on 28 October, he put in a commanding display, leading Pakistan to a credible 0-0 draw.[17]

Due to club commitments and injury he had to miss out on the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers for Pakistan, a situation that proved costly for the national team as defensive blunders cost them the chance of qualifying despite a promising start to the campaign.[citation needed] He also had to withdraw from the squad for the SAFF Championship 2008 when he came down with food poisoning.[19]

Rehman caused some controversy in 2007 when in an interview with the British weekly newspaper the Eastern Eye he said that players of Asian descent should consider sticking to their roots rather than dreaming of playing for England. Rehman pointed to Michael Chopra then with Cardiff City who had been overlooked to play for England despite being the top scorer in the Championship, yet David Nugent who was then at fellow Championship club Preston North End was picked. Rehman claimed "Why wasn’t (Chopra) picked ahead of Dave Nugent? He’s the top goal scorer in the Championship but he can’t get in (the England set-up). So he needs to maybe look at his decision and go play for India instead of hanging on to the dream of playing for England, because it’s not going to happen, end of discussion."[20] Rehman though criticised Eastern Eye for how they reported his views, saying, "I’m pleased with my decision (to play for Pakistan) but I had a problem, especially with Eastern Eye. You said I turned my back on England. I didn’t like the way that came across. If [as an Asian] you are not getting opportunities (to play for England) when you are playing in the Premier League, then Asian players are always going to be overlooked. When it comes to it, they need to stick to their roots."[21]

Personal life

Rehman has said that, his "sole purpose in trying to be a success as a professional footballer is to inspire other Asian players to follow my lead and achieve their goals."[7] He is an ambassador for the Asian Football Network (AFN), a grassroots community-led initiative designed to provide support and facilitate the development of grassroots Asian football in the UK.[22] He has also worked with the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) to try and increase the number of British Asians taking up a career in professional football. In January 2007 he took part in the London 'One Game' initiative held at The FA headquarters in Soho Square, London.[23] He took part again on 23 June 2008.

He has also been involved with the Show Racism The Red Card campaign and has attended meetings with the PFA.[24]

In April 2008, Rehman appeared on the United States based Afghan satellite television network Noor TV and Bangladesh-based Islamic TV discussing being a Muslim footballer and how it is possible to pursue a career in football while sticking to Islamic roots. On 20 April 2008 Rehman was a guest on the BBC Asian Network radio station show Breakdown revealing his favourite Desi music tunes.[6] In May 2008 Rehman was awarded the Community Commitment Award at QPR. On 12 July 2008 he took part in the Islam Expo event at the Olympia exhibition centre in West Kensington, London, a four day event whose primary purpose was to build bridges between Britain's Muslim communities and the rest of society. Rehman took part in a panel giving feedback from his own experiences about the positive use of sport.

In April 2008 Rehman took part in a radio documentary on BBC Radio 1Xtra about British Asians in football which followed his "journey from playground to Premier League".[25] He currently writes a blog for Setanta Sports website. [26]

References

  1. ^ Clemmit, Mark (5 March 2009). "Podcast - Episode 25". The Football League. Retrieved 2009-04-02.
  2. ^ a b "A dedication to inspire - Will to succeed sees Zesh become a role model". Up The Pool. 2008-09 season (Blackpool vs Crystal Palace). Blackpool: Blackpool F.C.: 34–37. 25 October 2008. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ "Brighton seal Rehman deal". bbc.co.uk. 29 September 2003. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  4. ^ "Duo stay with Brighton". bbc.co.uk. 16 Deceember 2003. Retrieved 2008-10-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Canaries swoop for Premier League pair". Professional Footballers' Association. 31 January 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  6. ^ a b "QPR swoop to sign Fulham's Rehman". bbc.co.uk. 8 August 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-25. Cite error: The named reference "bbc5256446" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b c Smith, Dave (2 October 2008). "Zesh is a perfect role model - Captain of Pakistan, Rehman hopes to manage his country one day". Professional Footballers' Association. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  8. ^ "Blackpool seal deals for QPR pair". bbc.co.uk. 1 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  9. ^ Ahsan, Ali (31 July 2008). "Zesh Rehman moves to Blackpool FC". footballpakistan.com. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  10. ^ "Bradford sign QPR defender Rehman". bbc.co.uk. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
  11. ^ "Big Mick missed Pakistan captain". Dunstable Gazette. 28 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  12. ^ Parker, Simon (27 January 2009). "Rehman hoping to prove a big draw". Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  13. ^ "League Milestone!". Zesh Rehman. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  14. ^ Parker, Simon (28 January 2009). "Lacklustre City punished by play-off rivals". Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  15. ^ Parker, Simon (2 February 2009). "Jones' luck turns as he breaks City jinx". Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  16. ^ The two cup appearances for Brighton in 2003-04 were in the Football League Trophy
  17. ^ a b Safi, Alam Zeb (6 July 2008). "Foreign coaches can lift football's graph: Zesh Rehman". footballpakistan.com. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  18. ^ Naveed, Malik Riaz Hai (17 October 2007). "Exclusive Interview with Zesh Rehman". footballpakistan.com. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  19. ^ Smith, Dave (24 June 2008). "After a disappointing summer, Zesh has high hopes for next season". Professional Footballers' Association. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  20. ^ "Asian origin footballers asked to stick to their roots". indianmuslims.info. 12 April 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  21. ^ "Pak it in". Eastern Eye. 6 April 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  22. ^ "Zesh Rehman". Football Unites, Racism Divides. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  23. ^ "Football stars urge grassroots involvement in London 'One Game' evening". Professional Footballers' Association. 1 January 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  24. ^ Pound, Simone. "Players United Against Racism". Professional Footballers' Association. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  25. ^ "Asian footballers". BBC Radio 1Xtra. 20 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
  26. ^ "Zesh Rehman". Setanta Sports. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
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