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A research centre devoted to the study of soccer is investigating one of the great anomalies of the British game - why there are no 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn players in the professional league.

"Either 51¹ú²úÊÓƵns are not interested in football and have other career opportunities, or maybe for cultural reasons the professional game has low status. Or they play other sports, or there is some kind of racism operated by clubs which excludes 51¹ú²úÊÓƵns," said John Williams, senior sociology lecturer at Leicester 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.

51¹ú²úÊÓƵn footballers and spectators in the Midlands are to be quizzed about their experiences of big clubs by the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn Midlands Sports Forum, which has teamed up with the Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research at Leicester 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ for the project.

Mr Williams said they would explore community and institutional attitudes. 51¹ú²úÊÓƵns played football at amateur level but for some reason they were not breaking into the professional sides.

"The feeling among players is that they are not watched by professional clubs," said Mr Williams.

The project will explore whether there was a tendency for all-51¹ú²úÊÓƵn teams or leagues which prevents players from being visited regularly by scouts from the top teams.

"As far as we can make out, there is no one from the typical British 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn community playing in the league and there has not been one in modern times," said Mr Williams.

The Sir Norman Chester Centre opened in 1987 with funds from football organisations and clubs and has studied the role of soccer in the community as well as the changing profile of spectators.