How Aishah is Pioneering South Asian Representation in Football
We sat down with LLS graduate Aishah Bilal to discuss her time at LLS and what she’s accomplished since. From volunteering at Huddersfield Town FC to coaching in Qatar and working for a Premier League club. Aishah is currently coaching abroad in Qatar with Evolution Sports. When she returns she’ll attend the University Campus for Football Business down in London, where she’s also received an offer from Fulham FC in a role that’s spearheading South Asian representation in football. She champions representation for South Asian Muslim girls in the sports industry as she told us it’s a cause close to her heart.
How It Began
Most kids who love sport are unaware of how many different careers in sports are available to them. Aishah was the same. Despite her love of sport dominating her life, she felt uninformed about the sports industry before she found LLS.
“I knew I wanted to do something in the football business, I just didn’t know what.”
“I went to the first taster session and I fell in love with it.”
“I knew this was for me because I can’t do exams, I can’t sit still, and it was all sports based.”
Aishah’s proven how good of a sports coach she is with the work she’s done with Huddersfield Town FC and now in Qatar. But, imagine she wasn’t able to get these opportunities because her course was exam based instead of grading her on what she does best: coaching.
Assessing years worth of work with a 2 hour exam puts them under immense pressure without ensuring they’ve actually learnt anything. After 2 years of work and hundreds of hours of sports coaching, Aishah was completely capable of finding a career in sports.
Aishah started volunteering for Huddersfield Town FC, which led to her getting a job there doing football coaching. She described it as “something you dream of as a kid,” so when she got a job offer from Premier League club Fulham FC, she was ecstatic.
“As a Muslim South Asian Girl, I’ve been going to conferences where I can help boost more South Asian and Muslim Girls in sport. When I was working [at Huddersfield], there weren’t that many South Asian Muslim girls, so my dream is to make that bigger.
“[Fulham FC] had seen what I’ve been doing around South Asian Muslim girls in sport and I was like, you know what? That’s not an offer I can turn down.”
What’s Next?
After Qatar, Aishah’s going to University in London at University Campus of Football Business. It’s the first British university dedicated to delivering education in football and sports industries. Fulham FC asked her to take part and lead their programme based around South Asian Women in football.
Aishah is at the forefront of a new initiative put forth by the Football Association to improve South Asian representation in football. Thanks to the efforts of organisations such as Women in Football, Aishah attended conferences and events centred around improving representation. She then gained the opportunity to work for Fulham FC, after attending one of these conferences. Aishah can continue her dream of boosting the representation of South Asian Muslim women in football, acting as an inspiring role model while doing the job she loves.
The FA’s “Build, Connect, Support” plan to improve South Asian representation in football comes as a direct result of tireless campaigns and advocacy provided by people like Aishah, which meant she could showcase her abilities and demonstrate her incredible coaching skills.
While attending a conference by Women Who Lead, Aishah got to chatting with a speaker who gave a presentation on employment for women in football.
“Matt [Aishah’s tutor] told her what I was doing and that my aim is to work in a Premier League team in the future. She came up to me and we were talking and she gave me a number and said if you ever need anything, just let me know, give me a shout.”
“I never thought I would have got contacts like that when I first joined LLS.”
The star of this story is Aishah. Her hard work brought her to the point where she’s now coaching in Qatar andhas a job offer from a Premier League club. Regardless of her path in life, Aishah would end up doing great things. She chose LLS because she felt it would give her plenty of opportunities and was right for her. We help them along the way, but it’s the passion and determination from students like Aishah that pushes them to reach beyond what they thought possible.
