Roots.
HAMZA CHOUDHURY: PLAANTIK EXCLUSIVE
This article first appeared on the Plaantik book:
An Anthology on Bangladesh's Football Culture in 2022.
I am not Bangladeshi enough, they say. They say I do not have a strong enough connection with Bangladesh. When I read these comments, I find them quite offensive. They don’t know my story; just because I don't live in Bangladesh or do not visit as often as I used to doesn't mean I have abandoned my identity as a Bangladeshi.
Every part of my life – my background, childhood, and culture – has a connection to Bangladesh. I grew up in a full Bangladeshi household, eating Bangladeshi food, speaking Bengali, and celebrating the country’s traditions. When I think of the traditional Bangladeshi festivals, especially Eid, in our household, I think of food - a lot of food, along with family and friends coming to visit our house and us going to theirs. Although hectic, it was a lot of fun. Those were the days you looked forward to so much as a kid. We also celebrated a couple of Eids in Bangladesh, so I understand how it is over there. Putting on a new panjabi (a Bangladeshi traditional clothing) and going to the prayer with my dad, cousins, and uncle, and then coming back to have that first bite of shemai (a dessert form of vermicelli) and continuing to eat the whole day – those are such good memories and hopefully memories I can recreate with my kids.
Food was a big part of our household. When I was a kid, I used to eat a lot of fish, but as I've gotten older, I've gone off it a little bit. Shutki maach (dried fish), though, is not something that I'm fond of. Of course, there was curry – chicken, beef, and lamb. I like spices a lot. When I was younger, I used to have a lot of achaar (pickles) that came in packets, as well as mango bars. And aamra (hog plum) with chilli powder was probably my favourite.
I visited Bangladesh almost every year up until I was 15 or 16 before I went full-time with football. I have a big family there. I lived there for nine months when I was probably a year old, but I used to go back every year for three to four weeks. And when I was about 12, I remember spending almost eight months in the country. As a kid, it was so important, and I picked up the Bengali language really well during that period. My dad only speaks Bengali at home, so I don’t have a choice either! It is still our go-to language when we get together as a family.
It was a completely different life in Bangladesh. I recall pumping water from a well and the electricity going out most of the time. It genuinely humbles you as a kid, and it shows you different parts of the world because when you grow up in England, you can live in a bit of a bubble. To go there opens your eyes to see what kinds of struggles people actually go through. We spent most of our time in a remote village in the Snanghat union of Bahubal upazila (sub-district) in Habiganj. We used to have a lot of freedom. We could walk around, and everyone knew everyone else there. I always stood out because of my afro – people used to stare a lot. They wanted to touch it and asked me why my hair was so curly. However, it never felt rude, rather, it was always positive.
There are so many fond memories, from going on long walks to spending time with the kids around the village to going out at the dead of the night with lasers and torches. And, of course, there were countless hours of playing cricket. That was probably our main activity in the village. We used to play in the courtyard right outside our home. I'd say I was more of a batter. I was okay at bowling – I couldn’t spin the ball at all; I bowled your regular medium pace. Even in Loughborough in England, where I grew up, there was a massive Bangladeshi community, and we used to play a lot of cricket in the streets as well as in school.
I went to watch one of the cricket games at Trent Bridge during the World Cup in England back in 2019. When I was young, I watched a lot of Chris Gayle. And later on, I followed Shakib Al Hasan closely. My uncle once stayed with us for a while, and he used to watch the Indian Premier League (IPL) regularly; we would sit down together and watch Shakib when he was playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders.
I had a lot of energy as a kid. I was gifted physically, and I was quite fast; so I used to enjoy running. My mother took me to a football open day at Loughborough University, maybe when I was like five or six. She took me to really just try to burn some energy off. They moved me up a year because of my size to play with the older kids. And from there, I joined a Sunday League club, where I played for a year and eventually got scouted by Leicester City. There were a few other clubs in the scene, but as a family, we chose Leicester. It was so competitive – every young guy wanted to play football, especially for their local team. My favourite player was Zinedine Zidane while growing up, but I didn't quite have his skills. I was more of an athletic player. I watched a lot of Arsenal and I loved Patrick Vieira. I modelled my game around him and the other dominant physical players in the league. I was fortunate enough to stay in the system and eventually got my scholarship at Leicester when I was 15, which was massive for my family and me. I was the first in our family to go into sports full-time. I got my first professional contract when I was 17. I just kicked on from there and never really looked back.
My parents have been integral to my career and development, from things like coming to watch all the games right from the start to taking part in critical decisions. It must not have been easy to take me to training everyday at 5.30 pm, when they’d just finished work and had to go through Leicester city-center traffic. It’s amazing, the number of hours they must have spent driving me around, taking me to football matches, waiting around, and bringing me back home. I know I’m very lucky. On the off-chances, when my parents could not take me, my uncle would. I’ve got a few cousins around my age who’ve always been really supportive too.
Ours was a very religious household. My little sister and I used to go to learn reading the Quran after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. As a child, you feel like it's taking up your time because all I wanted to was go out and play. But I'm glad that my parents put me through it because today it’s an essential part of who I am. I recite duas (prayers) that I learned as a kid before I come out of the changing room.
From the beginning, my mom's always taught me to speak up for what I believe is right, regardless of the consequence. This is why I showed support for Palestine by holding up their flag after Leicester City won the FA Cup in 2021. I wanted to raise awareness about what was happening there and educate people about it. Some of my teammates didn't even know their flag. To sit in silence didn’t feel right to me. As one of the few British Asians in football, I want to contribute off the pitch as well. I teamed up with EA Sports to produce a children’s football comic book to inspire the next generation. I wanted to tell them about my journey, how hard it was, but also how possible it is, and how it’s a route for them to start believing in themselves and push through. I want people to have a greater appreciation for British Bangladeshis and British Asians in sports in general.
It would be difficult for me to ever stray from my Bangladeshi roots because it's just a part of me and part of who I am, and I very much love it. I know a lot is made about my international future in Bangladesh. I represented England at the junior level, and realistically, I want to give it a few more years, maybe up until I am 28, to see whether or not I have got it in me to earn a call-up to the England national team. If it doesn’t work out by then, I am very much open to the idea of playing for the Bangladesh national team, as I have said numerous times in the past. I would be more than proud and honoured to don the red and green.
