You never quite know what you are going to get when you send off for a programme. This one caught our eye because it was a game in which Blackburn Rovers’ first black player, Howard Gayle, appeared against Liverpool, where he had also made history seven years earlier as their first black player.
This page was an unexpected bonus:
Eleven days before playing Liverpool, Howard had played in a home game against Huddersfield Town and scored his first goal for Rovers, the final score was 2-2.
Founder members of the Football League in 1888/89, it was 99 years before Rovers fielded a black player. Blackburn in the 1980s was a place where the National Front had gained a following and, in his auto-biography, Howard shared his reservations about signing for Rovers. Howard was never one to let abuse go unanswered and, reputedly, on one occasion jumped into the crowd at Ewood Park to ‘offer out’ someone who abused him while he was warming up. But, as one fan commented, ‘I liked Howard and his direct have-a-go attitude.’ His 19 League goals in the 1988/89 season, a career best by some distance, certainly helped.
But our attention was also caught by the name of Liverpool’s No.10 for this Littlewoods Cup, 2nd round clash.
John Barnes had signed for Liverpool from Watford in the summer of 1987 and became, we believe, Liverpool’s second black player. The tie against Blackburn was only his 7th appearance in a Liverpool shirt but he would go on to make a further 400 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool during a career that spanned ten seasons.
Not a great quality photo but it is clear enough to show that John Barnes was Liverpool’s only black player in their 1987/88 squad. By way of contrast here is the 2019/20 Liverpool team photo:
Proof, if proof were needed of how much football, and society at large, have changed in the intervening 32 years. Shockingly, in 2021, black players are still on the receiving end of racist abuse but at least they do not have to deal with it alone.