In April 1992, when a mostly white jury acquitted four police officers accused of the recorded beating of a black motorist, thousands of people in Los Angeles, mostly young black and Latino men, joined in what was often described as a race riot. During the summer of 2001, ethnic riots broke out in the streets of towns in northern England (Oldham, Leeds, Burnley, Bradford), involving young Asian British men and young White British men. More recently, in November 2005, riots broke out in the Paris suburbs, sparked by the accidental deaths of two Muslim teenagers, and subsequently spread to 300 French cities. Most of the rioters were French-born children of immigrants from Arab and African countries, with a significant percentage being Muslim. These racial and ethnic riots have all recently brought the issue of racial and ethnic identity to the forefront of political debate in the United States and Europe. In this article, we strive to address many issues, including gender issues, relationship issues, family issues, the concept of beauty, women in sport and migration issues. The way the characters behaved and how other characters behaved towards them reflects the theme and issues involved. Certain symbolism was also used to show how these issues existed in the characters' lives. The issue of gender is represented through Indian beliefs as well as Western beliefs. The traditional idea that girls should not participate in sports existed in both the Indian and English families. This can be seen in both Jesminder's family and Catherine's family, where their mother strongly discouraged them from playing football, as football is only for boys. Both mothers cannot tolerate the idea that... middle of paper ......, Vol 26, No. 2 May 20022. Messner, M., Duncan, M., & Cooky, C. 'Slience , Sports Bras and Wrestling Porn; Women in Television Sports News and Featured Broadcasts' Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Vol 27, No. 1 February 20033. Wearing, B. (1996) Gender; the pain and pleasure of difference, Longman, Melbourne Chapter 8 Leisure4. Grosz, E. (1994) Volatile Bodies: Towards a Corporeal Feminism, Allen & Unwin, Sydney5. Kell, P. (2000) Good Sports: Australian sport and the myth of fair go, Pluto Press, Annandale Chapter 7 Golden Girls, Lesbians and Sexing Up; Women and sport6. Jarvie, G. & Maguire, J. (1994) Sport and Leisure in Social Thought, Routledge, London Chapter 7 Feminist thought and the limits of sisterhood7. Young Murdock, I. (1990) Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Philosophy and Social Theory, Indiana University Press, Bloomongton