Following ten years of playing football away from his hometown Bradford in West Yorkshire, British Asian footballer Indy Aujla returns with Boston United FC to face Bradford Park Avenue in the English Conference North this Saturday.
Indy is one of still very few professional Britsh Asian footballers, but his return home has caused excitement amongst the Asian community.
After being awarded the Young Player of the Year at Bradford City, Aujla wasn’t given a permanent contract which was a shock to Aujla and the community as he had showed the most promise out of that generation.
It was a tough to deal with at the time however it subsequently made him experience other styles of football adding more strings to the bow in his pursuit firstly signing for non-league Garforth Town before going on to captaining Belgian side RRFC Montegnee. Playing in Belgium allowed Aujla to experience a more technical way of playing football.
With the ambition of playing in the English Football League, Aujla returned to England and following a succession of good performances for Frickley Athletic, he was invited to train with Neil Warnock’s Leeds United and monitored thereafter. Leeds United first team coach Neil Redfearn said of Aujla, “Indy has two good feet, a good touch and has fitted straight in with the lads.”
Part of his success was due to his commitment in staying full-time himself in his hometown Bradford training everybody in the gym or training ground. Aujla finished the season gaining promotion with Whitehawk FC, but with several clubs interested in the 26 year old including League One outfit Brentford where he spent most of this summer. Aujla opted to sign for Boston United to pursue more playing time and has so far contributed to the sleeping giants rise to second place in the Skrill North League.
After overcoming many obstacles and enduring the hardships of becoming a professional football player himself, one bit of advice that Aujla would give to the next generation of football players would be “to never give up on your dreams and ambitions. Believe in yourself and you can do anything.”
Having shown a lot of potential in his early years at Bradford City and the ability to adapt to a different style of football including League, Non-League and European covering 3-4 positions including central midfield and right-back. This Bradford-born footballer still believes he has a promising next ten years ahead. “I haven’t reached my peak yet and my desire to play at the highest level is there more than ever.”