But while she’d reached the pinnacle of youth football, the sport had never intersected with her Chinese identity. “I grew up in a very, very white town, and I was always the only Asian on the pitch,” she continues. “One time there was a girl who was Filipino on the opposite team, and I remember that being a real thing for me, like: ‘Oh, there’s another Asian here.’”
It’s an experience shared by Jun, who grew up in South Wales, before moving to London over a decade ago, and many other players on the pitch today. Despite East and Southeast Asia being home to one of the sport’s largest fanbases in the world – hundreds of millions of fans follow the Premier League in Southeast Asia – football is rarely associated with ESEA+ communities in the west, with its diaspora often stereotyped towards more academic pursuits. “I’ve played competitive football all my life, and I was the only Asian kid ever to be playing on a team,” he says. “Rise has been refreshing – it’s less competitive, and it’s more welcoming and inviting. It’s more of a community [than competitive football.”
Away from the pitch, Jun is a creative director, and he also works with Darren on their agency 1314FAMILYSTYLE. It was born out of the networks that Rise United had fostered and built – playing today are photographers, writers, producers and more – as well as its intersections with London’s wider ESEA+ creative scene. Alternative music record label and event series Eastern Margins’s own creative director, Lorenzo, also works at 1314FAMILYSTYLE.
“We look at ourselves as a creative midfielder,” says Darren. “We’re trying to look around to pass and support people around us so they can score goals. We work with Herac Sport, Eastern Margins, Bugeisha Club and more.”
He’s wearing an intricately designed black and white shirt, filled with a grid of the Hong Kong orchid tree taken from its flag, which was created for the annual Nations Cup, where its players gather in teams representing countries of their heritage. “This was designed by 888.msg – he’s also the art director for Margins United and Eastern Margins,” he explains. “It was inspired by the devil team in Shaolin Soccer, [director] Steven Chow changed the cinematic culture of Hong Kong – I’m inspired by him a lot.”
