Football’s Black Pioneers – Timeline

This timeline gives a selection of important milestones in the story of Football's Black Pioneers (in the blue boxes) and, for context, some non-football events (in the grey boxes).

On 30th October 1886 Arthur Wharton made his debut for Preston North End in an FA Cup game away at Queens Park, Preston reached the semi-final that season with Arthur playing in goal. Arthur was born in Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1865, he was the son of middle class, mixed heritage parents. He is widely recognised as the first black professional footballer. 

On 23rd February Arthur Wharton played for Sheffield United in an away game at Sunderland, becoming Sheffield United's first black player.

On 25th December 1901, while playing for Aston Villa, Willie Clarke became the first black player to score a goal in the Football League. In addition to Villa, Willie was the first black player at Bristol Rovers and Bradford City.

On 1st September 1909 Walter Tull, the grandson of an enslaved man on Barbados, became the first black player for Tottenham Hotspur.

On 21st October 1911, Walter Tull played his first game for Northampton Town, then in the Southern League.

After the 1914/15 season the Football League was suspended while World War One raged. At least two of our football pioneers, Willie Clarke and Walter Tull,  served in the British Army. Willie Clarke survived but 2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull died in France on 25th March 1918 whilst leading his troops in action. 

On 24th October 1925, Jack Leslie scored twice for Plymouth Argyle in a 7-2 win over Bournemouth. Meanwhile in Belfast, England played out a drab 0-0 draw against Northern Ireland. The connection? Jack had originally been selected for the international squad but was dropped, either because the selectors, belatedly, realised he was black or because they had been leant on. Jack commented "I suppose it was like finding out I was foreign." 

Eddie Parris became the first black full international for Wales on 5th December 1931 when he represented the country of his birth in a match against Northern Ireland in Belfast. Eddie was the first black player at Bournemouth, Luton Town and Cheltenham Town, as well as being Northampton Town's first black player in the Football League.

At least five of our footballing pioneers served during World War Two: Tommy Best (of Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers); Albert Payne (Tranmere Rovers); Roy Brown (Stoke City); Tony Collins (Watford, Norwich and Crystal Palace); and Peter Baines (Crewe Alexandra). 

Steve Stacey was born in Bristol on 27th August 1944. His father was a black American GI serving in the area. The American authorities refused to allow their servicemen to marry their white sweethearts no matter how much they might have wanted to. The men were sent back to America with their units when the war ended. Steve was one of around 2,000 children born to white mothers in similar circumstances (they became known as 'brown babies'). Where the mother was already married to a white partner she had some difficult explaining to do and faced an uncertain future, those who weren't married suffered the double stigma of being unmarried (bad enough at that time) and having a child of mixed heritage (regarded by many of their peers as an unspeakable sin).

Steve went on to become the first black player at Ipswich Town (in 1968), Charlton Athletic (1970) and Exeter City (1971). 

As an adult Steve was able to travel to America and meet up with his father. 

Three men who had served their country during World War Two made their Football League debuts in 1946: Albert Payne, who had been wounded during the D Day landings in 1944, made his debut for Tranmere Rovers on 31st August; Roy Brown first appeared for Stoke City on 28th September; and Cecil Baines took his Crewe Alexandra bow on 16th November.

On 21st June 1948 the Empire Windrush steamed into Tilbury, near London, and on 22nd June, the 1027 passengers named on the passenger list, disembarked. Although there had been ships bringing passengers from the Caribbean before (many of them) and although Britain already had well established black communities, this date is generally accepted as marking the start of large scale migration to the UK from the Caribbean.

In September 1960, Tony Collins became the first black manager of an English Football League club when he took over the reins at Rochdale. His first game in charge was a 2-1 win at Carlisle; 5,262 fans were in Brunton Park that Tuesday evening although it is unlikely many realised they were witnessing history being made.

On 1st July 1962 the Commonwealth Immigrants Act became law. The Act was passed following widespread opposition to immigration in Britain from a variety of right wing political groups, including swathes of the Conservative party. The Act tightened the regulations, permitting only those with government-issued employment vouchers, limited in number, to settle. in the UK. The leader of the opposition in Parliament at the time, Hugh Gaitskell of the Labour Party, called the act "cruel and brutal anti-colour legislation." The Act effectively brought an end to freedom of movement but didn't go far enough for many and has been followed by a whole series of Acts designed to further restrict access to the UK. Ultimately the Act, and those that have followed it. provided the framework for the so called 'hostile environment' that led to the 'Windrush scandal'. 

On 21st August 1965 Workington played away at Millwall in the opening fixture of the season. Peter Foley, Workington's promising young forward, didn't play in that game. The reason? He was so concerned at playing in front of Millwall's notoriously racist fans that, for the only time in his career, he had feigned injury to get out of the game. It was a turning point in his life as he knew he had let himself and his team mates down. From then on he would confront racism whenever it raised its ugly head. In 2003 Peter was awarded an MBE for his services to the fight against racism.  

On 14th May 1966 Mike Trebilcock became the first black player to score in an FA Cup final.

On 1st April 1972, West Ham United became the first team to have three black players on the pitch at the same time when Clyde Best, Ade Coker and Clive Charles played in a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Upton Park. Coker scored one of West Ham's goals.

On 29th November 1978, Viv Anderson of Nottingham Forest became England's first black full international when he played against Czechoslovakia at Wembley.

There were 12 clubs who were founder members of the Football League when it started. Of those clubs, Blackburn Rovers were the last to field a black player. After Rovers first League game on 15th September 1888, it was 99 years almost to the day before Howard Gayle took the pitch in an away game at Hull City. Howard had also been the first black player at Liverpool (1980) and Newcastle United (1982).

On 3rd November 2001 Rochdale beat Torquay 2-0 in a Division 3 fixture, it was a win that lifted Rochdale to 2nd in the table. It was also the game in which the quite remarkable career of Tony Ford came to an end. Tony's first game was for Grimsby Town on 4th October 1975 and he eventually played a total of 1081 games in all competitions, more than any other outfield player (only goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, played more).

On 26th January 2017, Lindy Delapenha died in Kingston, Jamaica. He was such a celebrity on the island that Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, was moved to comment "he was a track athlete, a cricketer, a golfer and simply loved life ... many people of my generation remember Lindy Delapenha's riveting sport presentation and commentary on television. He was one of the greats." Lindy was also the first black player at: Portsmouth (in 1948); Middlesbrough (1950); Mansfield Town (1958); and Burton Albion (1962).

A full list of Football's Black Pioneers:

https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/FOOTBALLS-BLACK-PIONEERS-ANNEX-1.pdf