Apna Albion - West Brom wake up to the Punjabi potential

They got as far as building a rudimentary website before the project fell by the wayside as work commitments understandably took over.

For some time, the Asian community from Smethwick and areas surrounding The Hawthorns has been desperately clamouring to be heard.

They've looked on enviously at the successful Punjabi supporters' group at rivals Wolves, and wondered why Albion were not tapping into the huge potential fan-base sitting on the doorstep of its stadium.

Now, though, they have a voice. 'Apna Albion' is a new group being launched by the club this weekend at the Vaisahki festival in Handsworth, a huge Sikh and Hindu celebration which more than 100,000 people will attend.

"I think they felt a little sidelined," admitted Gurdial Singh, the passionate 55-year-old mother who has recruited volunteers to launch the group. "It's not that they weren't welcome or didn't feel comfortable, they obviously do because they're season ticket holders but they needed an identity.

"They wanted to show they're part of the community, and they want to give something back. We're letting them do that under the Apna Albion banner."

Singh is the engagement officer for black and ethnic minority groups at club charity the Albion Foundation. She was offered that role after her passionate criticisms during Albion Assembly meetings, when supporters have a chance to speak to the club's decision-makers.

The short-term aim of Apna Albion is to engage with a community previously ignored, but the long-term aim is to breed a new generation of supporters who will help fill The Hawthorns.

Attendances have been dwindling in recent years and the club – which also effectively reduced season ticket prices by five per cent this season by introducing an early-bird offering – has woken up to the fact that something needs to be done.

On Sunday, the club is taking it's Beat the Baggies academy initiative to the festival, when it will encourage kids to take part in a skills challenge for a chance to earn a trial with the academy.

It's hoped that, in time, The Hawthorns crowd will start to represent the diversity of the local community.

"At the end of the day, it is to see more non-white faces within the stadium," said Singh. "And feel they belong within the stadium.

"They need to feel comfortable enough to bring their kids and grandkids and see it as a family day out, which I don't think my community sees it as.

"I've been a season ticket holder for over 20 years now and I brought my two girls and my boy. It was the one thing that my son and my daughters all loved.

"It was a way of coming together, the build-up, talking about it. It was something we did together."

But as she explains, there are plenty of reasons why a day out at the football will appeal to such a community-based culture.

"There's not many things that bring whole families together nowadays. The alternative is on a Saturday you've got the son playing on his PlayStation, one daughter out shopping, the other on social media. There's no coming together. This is a great way of coming together."

One of Apna Albion's first members is Steve Ghuman, a season ticket holder born and bred in Smethwick who takes his 12-year-old son home and away.

"We've been crying out for this sort of initiative for years," he said. "I was brought up in the shadows of the ground, went to school across the road.

"We've got season tickets here and been here for a while. As a community we've always tried to do things ourselves, and now the club is willing to be involved, we're really excited about it.

"To be honest, when the opportunity arose, we couldn't say yes fast enough."

Steve reckons there's every chance Apna Albion will create a new generation of fans from the Asian community, a generation that doesn't have to worry about violent racism in the stands, a generation that feels safe going to games.

"Hopefully Sunday will give us that forum," he said. "And people will say it's not just a building at the end of Halford's Lane, it's actually something they can be a part of.

"There's quite a lot of stigma going back to the 1970s and 80s, in terms of what football was about. "We just need to dispel all those myths because it's a million miles from that now."

Apna Albion literally means 'Our Albion', and Gurdial was quick to point out that this was not a club exclusively for Sikhs or Punjabis or Indians. She's encouraged all Asians to get involved.

"The Sikh temples have four doors, one on each side, so everyone is welcome," she said. "That is the same with Apna Albion, just because it has the Sikh and Indian connections, everybody and anybody is welcome."

She's been particularly encouraged by the number of potential female fans expressing an interest.

"We gave some tickets away in High Street, Smethwick, and I was really pleased that a lot of the girls and women took up the offer," she said. "Girls with their Sikh head coverings at the football match, and they were loving it, they were there with their mums and sisters.

"It's been an awakening, people are realising it's alright, we can go and take part in this place that's been at the centre of our community all our lives, which we haven't looked beyond the gates of before."