Tony Collins was the first black player at no less than five Football League clubs, Crystal Palace were the the last of them. He made his debut in a home game against Brighton on 23rd November 1957 having signed from Watford. This was in the days before the much hyped ‘M23 derby’ between Palace and Brighton, indeed motorways themselves still lay in the future – the first section of the M1 didn’t open until 2nd November 1959.
Tony’s arrival at Selhurst Park was heralded by the Croydon Advertiser whose Friday edition had introduced him as ‘a coloured player who was born in London.’ The word ‘coloured’ would be unacceptable today but the facts are that Tony was born in the Notting Hill area on 19th March 1926 to a white mother and a black father of West African origin.
Tony was pitched straight into the first team in his favoured position of outside left:
The following week’s Advertiser had some good things to say about his debut, he: ‘combined well in several useful moves and fizzed in one cracking 25-yarder which forced Eric Gill to make a good save under the bar.’ Palace centre forward, Eric Deakin, was injured early in the second half when the score was 2-2 and spent the rest of the game hobbling – of course, there were no substitutes in those days. Palace eventually lost the game 4-2.
Tony spent two seasons with Palace and was popular with the fans, some of whom thought ‘alright chocolate?’ was an acceptable, friendly, greeting. He left in the summer of 1959 to join Rochdale, the last of his clubs but also the first one where he wasn’t the first black player (a little known player called Calvin Symonds had beaten him to that honour).
In addition to Crystal Palace, Tony made history by being the first black player to represent York, Norwich, Torquay and Watford (he was at Sheffield Wednesday too but didn’t make the 1st team). Although not their first black player, Tony did make history at Rochdale by becoming the first black manager of any Football League club when he took over from Jack Marshall, initially as player-manager, in September 1960.
Tony, truly an unsung hero of the post-War game, died in February 2021 at the age of 94.