We were lucky with this programme as it features the names of the first black player for each club. Les Lawrence had made his debut for Burnley only three weeks earlier on 24th November 1984. Steve Mardenborough was a relative old hand as his first game for Swansea City had been on 25th August. Les, who had become the first black player at Shrewsbury in 1975, was one of many first black players with Jamaican heritage but Steve, born in Birmingham, was the only one of the first black players in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ whose roots can be traced to the tiny Caribbean island of St Kitts.
Not a great quality image but good enough to see that Steve was the only black player in the Swansea City squad.
The next picture is even poorer quality. It is one of a number of images from the programme showing incidents from Burnley’s previous game, a 3-1 win over Halifax Town. I was curious to know who the black player for Halifax was:
A quick check of the team list shows it to be none other than Bradford City legend, Ces Podd, who spent a couple of seasons with Halifax towards the end of his career. Coincidentally, Ces was from St Kitts, but, unlike Steve, he was born on the island.