Join us in wishing Calvin Symonds, the first black player for Rochdale in the Football League, a happy 89th birthday. Born on 29th March 1932 in Bermuda, Calvin secured his place in Rochdale history on 15th September 1955 in an away game at Barrow.
But Calvin is far better known on Bermuda as a cricketer and must be one of the few men alive who can claim to have taken the wickets of leading England batsmen Denis Compton and Tom Graveney in a competitive game (he also took the wickets of Fred Trueman, Jim Laker and Tony Lock in the same game, three players better known for their bowling than their batting).
It was our very great pleasure to see Calvin live on a Bermuda TV show a few days ago, he is in great shape and looking very dapper! He even got in a plug for Football’s Black Pioneers – good man, Calvin!
Verulamium, a name to conjure with. It was the site of a Roman town in what is present day St Albans. I think I may have been taken there as a child, or perhaps I’m confusing it with Colchester. Anyway, Bill Hern and I definitely appeared on the Verulam Radio sports blog where we had a very enjoyable chat with Tony Rice. Some hosts are just great at putting you at your ease and Tony did that from the start.
We spoke to Tony only a couple of days after the sad news that Tony Collins (the first black player at Watford, among others) had died so, understandably, we spent some time discussing Tony’s amazing career. But as usual we strayed far and wide and in particular we ruminated on the importance of education, something that Tony feels as passionately about as we do.
We were truly saddened to hear of the passing of Tony Collins at the age of 94. Tony truly was a pioneer. He was the first black player at three clubs who are current members of the Football League (Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Watford) and at two further clubs who were in the League when he played for them (York City and Torquay United).
He also made history as the first black manager of a Football League club (Rochdale), before going on the play prominent roles at Bristol City, Leeds United, Manchester United and England).
7th February is Independence Day in Grenada. A British colony until 1974, Grenada became a fully independent country on 7th February that year. Grenada is known as ‘the spice island’ and the image on the left hand part of the flag represents a nutmeg, a major source of export revenue.
Brendon became Arsenal’s first black player when he made his debut on 11th March 1972 in an away game against Newcastle United. He went on to play for Cambridge United before famously becoming one of the so called ‘Three Degrees’ at West Bromwich Albion along with Cyrille Regis and Laurie Cunningham. He made a total of 409 1st team appearances for those three clubs.
I think we can safely say that Bill Hern and I are proud of ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’. Initially we thought that perhaps people would turn to the chapter that dealt with ‘their’ team and then dip into a few other chapters as and when the mood took them. But a lot of people have been ‘hooked’ by the intriguing variety of stories on offer. One recent tweet had this to say ‘It’s a brilliant book, read it in one sitting, could not put it down, so many fascinating stories.’ That is not untypical of the feedback we’ve had.
One concern we had was that, in spite of four years of diligent research, people might find errors or challenge our conclusions. So far (fingers crossed, touching wood, etc) that hasn’t happened. No previously unheard of first black players have emerged to take the crown from any of the players we have identified.
The book may not not have made us rich (‘may not’? Definitely has not, JK Rowling we ain’t!) but it has been well received critically. Here is a recent review that appeared in the latest issue of ‘Backpass’ magazine, there have been other more fulsome ones but, so far, there have been no negative ones.
‘Backpass’ magazine, winter 2021 issue
Had you asked us four years ago what ‘success’ would look like we might have said something like ‘getting a book published’. But, looking back four years, I think we would have been very happy with overwhelmingly positive reviews from newspapers as diverse as the Daily Mail and the Morning Star and 4.8 stars out of 5 on Amazon, I think we would have ‘snapped your arm off’ as they say!
Only a few clubs feature on the drop down menu at the top of that page at the moment but the intention is to add more over the coming weeks, so do keep an eye on it if you are interested in old programmes.
There is also a ‘films’ page which includes links to a small number of relevant interviews with or about football’s black pioneers and there is even a calypso that we commissioned:
Many football fans across the country will have been dismayed at the fate that befell Bury FC in 2019. For some of us the words ‘there but for the grace of God’ will have sprung to mind – my own club, Crystal Palace, has survived two spells in administration. But a new club, Bury AFC has been formed and perhaps, one day, they will rise up through the football pyramid and take a place in the Football League. If (when!) they do and someone decides to produce a revised version of ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ who will have the honour of being Bury AFC’s first black player?
Well, future researcher, here is your answer – Liam MacDevitt (although we think Arthur Feudjio also deserves an honourable mention as he also appeared in Bury AFC’s first match).
Rich Beedie has written about Liam (reproduced below) on the Bury AFC blog and you can read his full article here:
It was gratifying to see Rich say that it was reading ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ that ‘inspired’ him to write his piece and it is equally gratifying to see the indomitable spirit of football fans who have refused to see the name of their town wiped off the football map.
Rich takes up Liam’s story:
Liam MacDevitt
“Born in Reading, a professional career seemed possible for Liam as he made his way through the ranks at Yeovil, but it wasn’t to be at Huish Park and saw a succession of loans as he sought a new club, including Limerick City where he first crossed paths with Tony Whitehead. Another included Stoke City where Liverpool fan Liam trained with his childhood hero, Michael Owen, but admitted the standard there was probably a little too high for him. Shortly after, Liam suffered the injury that changed everything and temporarily saw him fall out of love with football. A ruptured quad kept him out for 18 months and he returned to athletics on recovering, a sport he’d competed in nationally when at school, as ‘a stop gap’ to satisfy his competitive edge. He returned to Ireland, where his mother’s family came from, and won silver at 400m in their under-23 championships before being approached to see if he would compete for Ireland in the Rio Olympics in their 4 x 400m team. He declined, football was still his dream and via the PFA an opportunity came up to forge a new career whilst returning to playing.
Liam embarked on a degree in English Literature and Journalism, which included a scholarship that allowed access to facilities to fully recover from his injury whilst playing in the Conference South. A full-time career in journalism was a possibility at the end of his studies but the lure of full-time football was stronger, even if it was on the other side of the world. An opportunity arose at New Zealand’s Southern United where he met up with Whitehead again and the pair have been inseparable since!
New Zealand did not quite work out but the offer of a job with the BBC brought Liam – and Tony – to Manchester, and to Stalybridge Celtic. This led to a dream life professionally for Liam – talking football by day, playing at evening and weekends – and in turn to Bury.
I asked why Bury given his career, until now, had been played at a much higher level than the NWCFL. It was too good an opportunity to miss, he said, and fitted with what he wanted to do next in the game. From the first minute of training, it felt right. He and the rest of the squad know the significance of the club after everything we’ve been through and sees AFC as one of the best things to come out of the worst year ever and can’t wait for the day we can pack out the ground given the support shown so far.
Ultimately the question of racism came up with both [Ed: Rich also interviewed Steve Johnson, Bury FC’s first black player, for the same article] and despite playing in different eras suffered similar problems. For Steve it was a whole stand or a ground insulting him, with Liam’s abuse more isolated but surprisingly still quite frequent with him admitting he’s suffered upwards of 20 racist incidents against him in his relatively short time in the game, both from fans and opposition players. Both used the abuse to fire themselves up, to work harder, to score and silence the abusers but Liam feels change coming. He feels the world has woken up to racism via the Black Lives Matter campaign with people more willing to talk about it now, including his own maternal grand-parents. He’s had conversations with them this year that he has never been able to have before. He feels if he suffered abuse now, he would have the courage to walk-off with the support of his team-mates. Both feel there’s still a lack of opportunity for black people, in life in general and the game but agree they don’t want tokenism, just that the job goes to the person that deserves it regardless of colour or gender.
Steve [Steve Johnson] never ventured into coaching at the end of his playing career, it didn’t appeal to him at the time but felt the opportunities weren’t really there for him anyway. For Liam that stage of his career is someway off but sees his current television role as a chance to make a difference, to give young black people something to aspire to, given there were so few black role models on television in his youth. From a football perspective, through his PFA role, he has seen initiatives launched recently that will hopefully see a higher ratio of black players become coaches and managers, giving those that want it the chance they deserve and inspire future generations because as Liam puts it ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’.”
We wish Bury AFC and Liam the best and will follow their progress with interest.
Calvin Symonds was the first black player at Rochdale, he created that piece of history when he made his debut on 15th September 1955 in a game at Barrow. He is delighted to feature in the Rochdale chapter of ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’. We are so pleased to have recorded his place in football history.
Rochdale were the 30th club currently in the Football League to field a black player and in 1961 they created another piece of history when they became the first club in the English Football League to employ a black manager (Tony Collins). Calvin is 18th in our chronological list of first black players (some players were the first at more than one club), well ahead of players like Viv Anderson, Laurie Cunningham and Chris Kamara.
Calvin has fond memories of his time with Rochdale (“the people were nice over there”) and remembers coming up against the likes of Busby Babes, Bobby Charlton and Tommy Taylor, while playing for the reserves.
Calvin is now 88 and living in Bermuda where he was born. As you can see, he has kept in great shape!
Although we have not had many opportunities to meet in person this year, thank you for being with us in spirit and special thanks to those who attended one of our events on Eventbrite. For those of you who have a copy of ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ we welcome feedback and do please let us know if you have any thoughts about future presentations.
We hope you are all taking time to look after your health and well-being.
You know how some people like to watch cricket on the TV with the sound turned down and listen to the radio commentary? If you watch this edition of Russ’s Rambles then I’d recommend turning the pictures down and listening to the sound – neither Bill or I would claim to be photogenic!
Our chat with Russ Budden did indeed ‘ramble’ but I hope you’ll agree we covered some interesting ground.
It was a pleasure to chat to Adrian Goldberg about ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’. He was enthusiastic about the book which he described as ‘a simple but brilliant concept’ and ‘a really great book’. There are a couple of slips of the tongue on my part, I should clarify that Arthur Wharton was the first professional black player, Willie Clarke was the first black player to score in the English Football League and Charlie Williams was the only black man in his village not in the whole of Yorkshire!
In a career that spanned six seasons he never had a black team mate or saw a black player on any opposing team
Peter Foley joined Chesterfield just before the start of the 1969/70 season. He had previously been Scunthorpe’s first black player and on 9th August 1969 he achieved the same status at Chesterfield. Before Scunthorpe he had played in 80 games for Workington (in the League in those days) between 13th February 1965 (his debut) and his last game for them on 13th May 1967 – in a nice piece of symmetry both games were against Reading.
Peter in his Scunthorpe days (we haven’t yet located a photo of Peter in Chesterfield’s strip)
Peter’s Chesterfield debut took place at Swansea’s Vetch Field and ended in a goalless draw before 7,939 people. He played on the right wing. As we shall see, the Nottingham Football Post’s pre-season prediction that “the coloured winger signed from Scunthorpe has shown signs that might well be usefully channelled on the right wing” was to prove over optimistic.
It had been almost 12 months since Peter’s last League game and he had joined Chesterfield on a three-month trial basis. He seemed to have proved his fitness by starting four games in the space of 11 days in August 1969. This included his first home game for Chesterfield, a 1-0 defeat against Port Vale. Sadly, it also included his last ever game as a full-time professional, another 1-0 defeat, this time at home to Bradford City in a First Round League Cup replay. In that final game he suffered a serious injury and was replaced by Ernie Moss who would go on to become a Chesterfield legend.
Having only just avoided having to apply for re-election in 1968/69, Chesterfield went on to win the Division Four title in 1969/70 but Peter wasn’t around to share that glory. At only 25 years of age his League career was over. It was a career that spanned six seasons during which he made a total of 104 appearances and scored 21 goals, a respectable return for someone who played most of his games on the wing,
Peter has commented that at no time did he play in a team with a black team mate, nor did he ever see another black player in any opposition team.
While Chesterfield were celebrating their title success, Peter was plying his trade at Bacup Borough in the Lancashire Combination League. He had signed for the non-league club in November 1969. Incidentally, he was also Bacup’s first black player.
Peter also played for non-league clubs such as Netherfield, Morecambe and Rossendale after leaving League football. In addition, he had a spell managing Workington after they had dropped out of the Football League. Football management is a precarious career and with a family to support it was probably just as well that he found a new career working with the Windscale Nuclear Power Station, known as Sellafield since 1981.
But his greatest and most lasting impact was through the work he performed to fight racism. Peter was particularly active as a Trades Union representative and held senior positions with the General Municipal Boilermakers’ Union (GMB) including chairing the GMB Northern Region Race Committee, being president of the Union’s National Race Committee, being a member of the GMB and TUC’s National Race Committees and playing a crucial role in developing the Union’s equality and diversity policies.
In 1998, he received an award from the Professional Footballers’ Association for being a Pioneer of Black British Football.
In the New Year’s Honour’s list 2003 he was awarded the MBE for his anti-racism work both through the Union and the Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football campaign.
He also worked for Show Racism the Red Card and was admitted to their Hall of Fame on 9th October 2013.
On the occasion of Peter’s inclusion in the Hall of Fame, Tommy Brennan, the GMB Regional Secretary, said: “Peter has been a fantastic ambassador for GMB over his many years of service gaining the respect of all concerned in the battle against racism generally and in football particularly.”
Although Peter retired from full-time employment, his valuable anti-racism work continues and he is chair of AWAZ Community Interest Company an organisation which helps Black and Minority Ethnic groups in Cumbria where he lives.
In case you wondered, AWAZ is not an acronym but a word that means ‘voice’ in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages.
Peter was indeed a pioneer. It is said he was one of only five black players in the English Football League when he made his debut for Workington in 1965. Fast forward 50 years and quite possibly every individual Football League club has at least five black players on its books. He was the first black player for Workington, Scunthorpe, Chesterfield and Bacup and has continued to use what he experienced to improve the lives of other minority groups fully earning the accolades he may not have achieved as a footballer but he has earned as a strong and caring defender of the community.
You can read more about Peter, including the remarkable story of his long lost brother, in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ where he features in the Scunthorpe chapter.
As far as we know, only one of the players to feature in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ has appeared on the panel show ‘Would I lie to you?’ Chris Kamara tried to persuade the opposing team that, not only was he born on Christmas Day, but that his parents had named him ‘Christmas’. To be honest, he did make it sound plausibe (a bit, if you’d had a few drinks) but the other team didn’t buy it – they pronounced it a lie.
It was partly true, Chris’s birthday is 25th December but he was not given the name Christmas. So we take the opportunity today to wish Chris Kamara a happy birthday.
As well as being the first black player at Swindon Town (and, by the reckoning of some, Brentford), Chris was also one the few black players to make a successful transition into management and, of course, is now a well-known TV pundit.
But Chris is truly a man of many talents as I hope you will agree after listening to this track:
Happy birthday, Chris, from the team at Football’s Black Pioneers and happy Christmas to anyone reading this during the festive season.
The alarming thing about the December 2020 issue of ‘Backpass’ magazine was the number of names I recognised on the obituaries pages, it was a relief and a pleasure to turn to the full page spread on ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’:
For those unfamiliar with it, ‘Backpass’ is a 64 page, glossy magazine that will appeal to supporters of a certain age (that age is possibly best described as ‘getting on a bit’). It isn’t entirely a nostalgia-fest though as three pages are devoted to the Jeff Astle Foundation and the very topical subject of possible links between repeatedly heading a football and the increased risk of dementia.
Backpass was out on 3rd December and I picked my copy up from a branch of WH Smiths.
Three of the first black players featured in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ were born on Barbados and at least another seven had Bajan heritage. Use our interactive map to find out their names:
