Who is the British Sikh Footballer Amar Purewal?

Amar Purewal is a special footballer. The British Sikh captain of Hebburn Town is one of a few British Asians who forged a lasting career in the beautiful game.

The striker was catapulted into public attention when he and his twin brother Arjun became the first British Asian and Sikh brothers to face each other in a Wembley Cup Final in 2021.

He was the top scorer at the 2016 CONIFA World Cup for Panjab and has scored across non-league wherever he has been, including finishing golden boot winner for Hebburn.

There aren’t many stories of British Asian footballers. Out of approximately 3,700 professional male footballers in the UK, just 22 are of South Asian heritage.

Sikh footballers are even fewer and far between.

Yan Dhanda, Malvind Benning, Brandon Khela and the Singh-Gill family of referees, one of whom refereed a Premier League game are some torchbearers.

Amar Purewal has played a big part in the historic tapestry of Asian/Sikh footballers but his journey started in the North East of England.

We explore his career from humble beginnings to paving the way for the next generation.

Early Life and being scouted

Born in Sunderland, Amar Purewal grew up as a Sikh with parents who came from Punjab, India.

An ardent Coventry City fan, he fondly remembers his father attending the 1987 FA Cup Final in which Coventry won a rare honour in beating Tottenham to win the trophy.

A long-running stereotype surrounding the lack of Asians in football has been the apparent lack of parental support, with a Crystal Palace scout being criticised by Kick it Out after claiming Asian families push their children into education and cricket and Asian boys don’t follow football.

In contrast, Amar recalled: “It was my mum she said just do what you want to do.

“She understood I had talent and when the opportunity came along, she was always on about progressing. She droves us into it, she pushed me to be better.”

Amar was scouted by Newcastle United as he left primary school, and his memories are fond:

“I’ll never forget the day, I stood ready to get told if I was being signed or not.

“Two English boys stood before me getting told, I’ll never forget their faces. They looked gutted and there’s me celebrating in the car park.”

The next step was the dizzying heights of being in a Premier League academy with Newcastle United.

Newcastle Academy

Being in a Premier League academy is a massive achievement, but for a British Asian player, it is even more remarkable.

In the 2023/24 season, 37% of all academies including the lower leagues had no Asian players and only 0.45% of the total pool of professional footballers were from an Asian background in 2022.

It was there he gained anecdotes for life, playing alongside and against household names:

“We were playing in the Nike Cup final, and Daniel Sturridge was playing, and we kicked off for the second half.

“The lads knocked it to him, and he turned as if he was going to play it out wide and he shot from the halfway line, and it just went over the top of our keeper’s head.

“I was sat there thinking wow how good is this player? I’ll never forget that.”

“I went to Switzerland with Newcastle… playing against these brilliant players you see on TV. Fabian Delph, Daniel Sturridge, Michael Johnson.

“To just get a new kit… playing in amazing training grounds. Honestly so many (good memories).”

Unfortunately, Amar was released after five years.

The mental toll on young players released from academies is well documented and Amar’s experience was no different:

“I got signed in year 7 and I got released in year 11. I was going to go full time and now I got nothing. It was when I went to sports college.

“You’re in the gym with players like Michael Owen and watching training with [Alan] Shearer, [Shola] Ameobi and think wow I want to be them and then you’re not there anymore. It’s hard to take.”

Despite being released by Newcastle, Amar did not give up on his footballing dream.

Career Highlights and Non-League Football

Amar Purewal’s Premier League rejection became non-league football’s gain as he explained:

“Everyone who had been released went to trial games and four teams picked me up from there.

“I went to Boston United, got through and played for Boston for two games but I was only 16 playing against 18-year-olds and I felt miles off it.

“The next team was a local team, but I was well above the level I was playing. I think I scored 30-odd goals a season.”

Where most would give up, Amar was determined to carry on:

“Through the week I was going to a sports college and from there I signed for my first non-league team, Bishop Auckland, (I got paid) £50 a week playing for the men’s team.”

Amar Purewal transversed throughout the non-league game in the North East, with goals being scored wherever he went, including finishing top scorer for Durham City in the 2010/11 season.

His first career highlight came with Darlington:

“It was the last game of the season, and we needed to win to get promoted.

“We went 1-0 down and I was on a 13-game goal drought and in front of two thousand people and you’re not scoring, people are giving you a bit of stick.

“I scored the second goal and the third goal in the last kick of the game, and I’ll never forget the atmosphere that day, unbelievable.”

However, appearing at Wembley in 2021 in the FA Vase Final catapulted the Purewal twins into national attention.

He said:

“Support there was unbelievable. It wasn’t the same without the crowd but the whole experience was amazing.”

Hebburn has also provided its fair share of opportunities associated with professionals in the game.

Amar said: “We played at Stadium of Light last season for Hebburn Town, I scored a header in the last five minutes in front of three thousand fans.”

Although, playing in non-league football has its harsh realities.

Inequality is rife within the game, with eye-watering figures for the players we see on TV each week meaning little for those lower down the pyramid.

Amar called for more funding at all levels:

“The number of games that have been called off recently… it’s been game on and game off. There must be more funding for the pitches.

“Physios are so important, we need more funding for them, if someone has a heart attack what are we going to do?

“Even if we look at the price of football boots, two to three hundred pounds gets you an elite pair. All the professional players get them for free. It doesn’t make any sense.

“More money needs to trickle down from the Prem. Even for the EFL, as a Coventry fan, I’m thinking how is the money difference so big?”

But now and then, a big event comes up and in 2016, Amar played in Russia for Panjab.

Playing for Panjab FA at the 2016 CONIFA World Cup

The CONIFA World Cup is an international tournament organised by CONIFA; an organisation that “supports representatives of international football teams from nations, de-facto nations, regions, minority peoples and sports isolated territories”.

The Panjab Football Team is a representative football team formed in 2014 in the UK to represent the Punjabi diaspora.

Amar’s association with Panjab was unexpected:

“I got a message on Twitter from the Panjab FA. We (Amar and Arjun) went for a trial near Birmingham and the chairman of the Panjab FA told me there was a tournament in Russia coming up for a World Cup and we were selecting a squad.

“We got selected and all met up at Heathrow, and flew to Russia. We got in our hotel, and I just thought, ‘What is this, we’re going to get battered here!’

“We won the first game 1-0 in the group stage, then the second game 5-0 and I scored a hat trick, and we won the third.

“We got through to the Quarter Finals, I scored a hat trick and knocked out Western Armenia, live on TV there.”

It was a manic experience for the teams, playing relentlessly:

“That was on Friday and the next day was the semifinal, it was day after day. We played in 40-degree heat and scraped a 1-0 and that was it, we were in the final on Sunday.”

The final was held against the home nation, Abkhazia, a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus.

“We got the host nation which was wicked because it was a 7,000-seater stadium but there were 9,000 people there, with people just standing everywhere.

“I’ll never forget, during the national anthem my wife watched us on TV at home from a stream.”

The game was nothing less than a blockbuster:

“I scored and we went 1-0 up but in the 89th minute they scored to equalise.”

There was no extra time, and the game went straight to penalties:

“We were 3-1 up with two penalties to go and I thought we can’t lose from here surely?

“But we missed twice, and it went to 3-3, and they won in sudden death.

“I’ll never forget as soon as they won, it went on the Tannoy ‘national holiday tomorrow’ and everyone piled onto the pitch.”

The joy for Abkhazia contrasted with the feeling for Panjab FA:

“I sat in the changing room and thought, as good as that was, how did we manage to lose that? 3-1 up on pens and we missed, I couldn’t get my head around it.

“But it was one of my best experiences in football, it was wicked.”

His Identity

There are only 915 Sikhs in Sunderland.

Compared to other areas of the UK this is small but Amar is proud of his identity:

“Up here it’s unique because there’s not many of us. I’m blessed.

“We go down to West Brom sometimes and it’s crazy how they do things (Sikh celebrations) down there compared to up here.”

When it comes to Punjabi food, Amar ate it when he was younger a lot more but not so much now:

“I don’t have paratha; I love them, don’t get me wrong but they’re so bad for you.

“I’ll have Indian meat and daal but not masses of it.”

Being a role model for British Asian players

Due to the lack of British Asian players in the game, every Asian footballer serves as an inspiration, and Amar and Arjun Purewal are no different.

After playing at Wembley in 2021, many Asians in the country found out about the brothers for the first time:

“Up north we are well known because we’re seen quite a lot but especially down the country, we (Amar and Arjun) got a lot of messages after Wembley, saying you’re an inspiration.

“Hopefully, we have inspired others to get in the game and to work hard and see some more players in the future.”

Amar Purewal’s journey, from Sunderland’s grassroots to Premier League academies, Wembley heroics, and even Russia, is a testament to resilience and determination.

Alongside his brother Arjun, the Purewal twins have inspired a new wave of talent, with players like Kira Rai and Brandon Khela continuing their legacy.

As awareness grows through documentaries like Sky Sports’ Football’s Hidden Talent, Amar Purewal’s story serves as a beacon of hope, paving the way for future generations to follow in his footsteps.