Black footballers - Football's Black Pioneers

Albert Charles Payne makes his debut for Tranmere Rovers

Space limitations meant that there are many great stories we weren’t able to include in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’. One such story concerns Albert Charles Payne who made his debut for Tranmere Rovers on 31st August 1946. Before you ask, no, the picture above is not of Albert!

Albert was born in Liverpool on 11^th November 1923, the son of Albert Ernest Payne and Lily May Payne (nee Tranter). So, what is the connection between Tranmere’s first black player and the distinguished looking gentleman in the picture?

On 1^st November 1853, on the Caribbean island of Barbados, Joseph Stanley Payne (pictured above) was born. As a young man Joseph took to the sea and, as so many seamen did, eventually made Liverpool his home port. It was here that he married a local white girl, Sarah Ann Mansfield, in 1880. On 28th June 1884 Joseph and Sarah had a son, Albert Ernest, who joined the growing ranks of Liverpool’s mixed heritage community.

On 12th February 1920, Albert Ernest married Lilian May Tranter and Tranmere’s first black player was born three years later.

Albert Charles Payne made only ten appearances in the Football League (more than enough to earn him a place in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’), but his cousin, George Payne, made a total of 467 between the sticks for Rovers in a career that started in 1947 and ended in 1961. We don’t have a photo of Albert in his playing days but his cousin George is seen here (back row, third from the left).

You may think that George ‘doesn’t look black’but he and Albert were directly descended from the man pictured at the top of the page, he was their grandfather. This illustrates the point that the black contribution to British history is not always readily apparent, all the more reason to explore this hidden history.

There is a longer article on our sister site that considers this issue: http://historycalroots.com/archives/2849

Encore on BBC Radio Leeds

Neville Chamberlain, first black player at Newport and Port Vale, who can trace his ancestry back to the plantations of Jamaica and the days of slavery

Bill Hern made such an impression on BBC Radio Leeds that he was invited back for a discussion on their Sunday evening show. The presenter made some perceptive points: ‘your book comes in a timely fashion given everything that’s being discussed … Empire has played a huge role in shaping quite literally the world that we live in but also the country that we live in. I for one think it’s a travesty that it isn’t taught, warts and all, in the school curriculum to help young children understand why the world looks the way that it does and why England and the UK looks the way that it does.’ Amen to that. As someone else has commented elsewhere ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ is a book that every school should have!

Bill spoke about his chat with Neville Chamberlain, part of the Chamberlain footballing dynasty that includes England internationals Mark Chamberlain and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Neville told Bill that managers would often ask him to switch wings towards the end of games so that he would be near the players’ tunnel at the final whistle, enabling a quick exit before opposing fans could invade the pitch to spit at him. Just one of the shocking stories in the book.

Football’s Black Pioneers on Radio Leeds

William Gibb Clarke, first black player to score in the English Football League

Bill Hern continued his virtual journey around the radio stations of Yorkshire when he spoke about ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ on Radio Leeds.

Understandably the interview focused on the clubs likely to be of particular interest to the audience: Leeds; Huddersfield and the two Bradford clubs. Although the catchment area may sound relatively small, Bill was able to draw South Africa, Jamaica and Sierra Leone into the discussion. Football in England really does owe an enormous amount to players who were born overseas. Scotland, Wales and Ireland all got a mention too.

You can listen to the interview here:

‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ will be published in less than two weeks, on 31st August.

Welcome back, Barrow AFC!

Today we take the opportunity to welcome Barrow AFC back to the Football League after an absence of 48 years.

Why today in particular?

Dave Busby, Barrow AFC’s first black player

Because on 18th August 1979, Dave Busby, the club’s first black player, made his debut. The game was a 2-0 win at home to Yeovil. This was Barrow’s first game in the newly formed Alliance Premier League, a game described by one fan as ‘a massive standout moment after ten years of decline and general uselessness.’

Dave features twice in the forthcoming book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ as he was also the first black player for Brighton. The book will be on sale from 31st August and can be pre-ordered from the publishers: https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/product/footballs-black-pioneers-subscriber-copies-for-pre-order/

Unsung pioneer makes Exeter City debut!

Steve Stacey is just the sort of character we wanted to celebrate when we first had the idea for our book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’. Steve is hardly a household name and yet he was an important pioneer in the 1960s and early 1970s. He was the first black player at three clubs who are still in the English Football League (Charlton, Ipswich and Exeter City), he also played for Bristol City, Wrexham and Chester (the latter two were in the League at the time) but wasn’t the first black player at any of them.

Exeter City were Steve’s last League club and he made 64 appearances in all competitions over the course of the 1971/72 and 1972/73 seasons, scoring one goal (in a 1st round FA Cup game away at Walton & Hersham).

In a career that was hampered by injuries he nevertheless made a total of 192 appearances for the six clubs he represented from when he first signed as a professional with Bristol City in 1961 until his final appearance for Exeter City on 24th March 1973.

Now is an opportune time to celebrate Steve’s contribution because he made his Exeter debut 49 years ago today on 14th August 1971.

Royal recognition for two pioneers!

Calvin Symonds (being tackled), Rochdale’s first black player, back home in Bermuda

Two of the pioneers who appear in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ have featured in an article about the book in The Royal Gazette. The Gazette was founded in 1828 and is Bermuda’s only daily newspaper, the paper claims to reach 97 per cent of the adult population of the island.

Calvin Symonds, the first black player at Rochdale and Clyde Best, not the first black player at West Ham but an important pioneer nonetheless, both live on the island of Bermuda where they were born. You can read the article here: http://www.royalgazette.com/soccer/article/20200806/bermuda-pair-among-footballs-black-pioneers.

Meanwhile, another important pioneer, Lindy Delapehna, has featured in an article about the book in The Jamaica Gleaner: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20200806/english-footballers-jcan-heritage-chronicled-new-book. The Gleaner is a relative upstart as it was ‘only’ established in 1834!

‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ will be published on 31st August. There is still time (just) to become a subscriber (your name will appear in the book and you will receive a signed copy and a free gift), details here: https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/product/footballs-black-pioneers-subscriber-copies-for-pre-order/

Celebrate Jamaican independence day – Jamaica’s black pioneers

‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ will feature three footballers who were born in Jamaica and at least another ten with Jamaican heritage.

Pictured below are six of our Jamaican footballing pioneers. Only one of them was born in Jamaica, but do you know which one? Two of them would help their teams reach the final of the European Cup (forerunner of the Champions League) during their illustrious careers, but do you know which two?

The answers to these questions and many, many more will be in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ which will be published on 31sr August. Oh, and one of the players pictured has contributed a foreword to ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’!

Keeping alive the memory of Albert Johanneson

During the four years it took to research ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ we have met and spoken to many wonderful people, players themselves and family members. Few have been more supportive than Alicia and Yvonne, the daughters of Albert Johanneson. Although Albert wasn’t the first black player at Leeds United it would have been impossible to write the book without referring to him. He was one of those pioneers who played during the most difficult years and was on the receiving end of the most vile racist abuse. His experiences undoubtedly contributed to his sad early death.

There is Facebook page aimed at keeping his memory alive and they have been kind enough to mention our book: https://www.facebook.com/groups/albertjohanneson/?post_id=10158021440406284

Bill Hern on BBC Radio York

Albert Johanneson – **Not** the first black player at Leeds United

On 30th July, Bill Hern continued his (virtual) tour of the nation’s radio stations when he was interviewed by Jules Bellerby on BBC Radio York. Unsurprisingly the interview focused on Yorkshire clubs with Jules’ team, Leeds United, first up for discussion. The pair also talked about the chances of Harrogate Town making it into the book. Harrogate play Notts County in the play-off final on Sunday 2nd August, three days after the interview and Bill explained that chapters have been written covering each of the teams.

You can listen to the interview here:

If you want to find out who was the first black player at Leeds United (and 91 other clubs!) why not pre-order a copy of ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ here:

https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/product/footballs-black-pioneers-subscriber-copies-for-pre-order/

Roland Butcher in Barbados (and Stevenage!)

Roland Butcher was interviewed recently on Channel DDX in Barbados where he is now a highly respected sports administrator. Cricket fans will probably know that Roland was England’s first black test cricketer and the first black captain of Middlesex, but how many football fans will know that he was the first black player for Stevenage? He was, and this is why Roland will feature in Football’s Black Pioneers, due to be published on 31st August.

During a wide ranging interview Roland was kind enough to mention the book:

https://twitter.com/ddxchannel/status/1285858379945185280?s=11

The publishers, Conker Editions, are still taking advance orders and, if you are quick, your name will appear in the book as a subscriber: https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/product/footballs-black-pioneers-subscriber-copies-for-pre-order/

Paul Canoville – Chelsea’s first black player

Many of the pioneers who feature in Football’s Black Pioneers experienced racism during their time in the game, Paul Canoville faced more than most. The fans at many clubs could overlook the colour of a player’s skin if he was wearing the shirt of the team they supported. This didn’t stop them abusing black players on opposing teams in the vilest terms. Chelsea fans were unusual, if not quite unique, in the abuse they heaped on one of their own.

Paul made his Chelsea debut on 12th April 1982 and I was in the crowd that day. Football Shorts have now published the story and you can read it here:

https://www.footballshorts.org/all-the-films/your-stories-david-gleave

Eventually Paul won over many of the doubters through his performances in Chelsea’s colours but the abuse should never have happened.

He has written about his experiences within football and beyond and his auto-biography is well worth reading.

A quick dash to Woolworths

Cliff Marshall will feature in the Everton chapter of Football’s Black Pioneers but the following story didn’t make the final cut.

Liverpool historian Ray Costello, then a teacher, remembers Cliff as a bright eleven-year-old at Windsor Street School in the Liverpool Toxteth area. As one of the teachers taking the boys to football lessons, he recalls Cliff being chosen for the Liverpool junior trials to be held in another school some distance away. Ray and the school Head teacher both accompanied young Cliff to the trial, but when they arrived, discovered that it was to be held indoors on a wooden floor. Cliff had turned up with conventional studded boots. Undaunted, the redoubtable Headmistress, Ceridwen Jones, made a quick dash in her car to the not-too-local Woolworths to buy a pair of pumps.

The boys were split arbitrarily into two teams and, being equally matched, it was a hard-fought game. Cliff was the only boy to score a goal that day. He was accepted for the Liverpool Boys’ Team (and would also play for England at schoolboy level).

Later, as a young adult, Cliff joined Everton, much to the chagrin of Glynn Smith, the school’s Deputy Head teacher and main football coach, who was an ardent Liverpool fan.

Cliff made his Everton debut on 11th January 1975 but was he their first black player? Football’s Black Pioneers will reveal all!

Support the campaign for a statue of Jack Leslie

Statues are very much in the news at the moment. Should we venerate them, tear them down, board them up to protect them from threats (real or imagined), or shuffle them off to a dusty museum?

But sitting alongside such questions is another one, should we put up new statues and, if so, who should they represent?

If we occupied high office no doubt we would stand up and proclaim “what the people want is…” Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, we don’t occupy high office but we do know that what a growing number of ‘the people’ want, particularly if they live in Plymouth, is a statue commemorating Jack Leslie.

Born in London’s East End to a white mother and black father, Jack was a working class lad who made good as a footballer and had a long and successful career with Plymouth Argyle. So successful that he was called up to join the England squad for an international in Belfast in October 1925. Had he played he would have been the first footballer of colour to win an England cap, beating Viv Anderson to that honour by 53 years. Shamefully he was ‘un-called up’ by the selectors when they realised he was black. In Jack’s own words “They found out I was a darkie and I suppose that was like finding out I was foreign.”

A campaign is afoot to erect a statue in Jack’s honour in Plymouth. Plymouth City Council have already announced their intention to rename a square in the city after Jack (a square currently named after Sir John Hawkins, a ‘privateer’ whose activities included trading in enslaved people). But “what the people want…” is a statue of Jack Leslie.

The campaign has attracted the attention of the BBC who featured the story on their website https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53184615

You may also have heard about the campaign on the Today programme on Radio 4. If you missed it, you can listen to the item here:

If you would like more details of the campaign you can read about it here: https://jackleslie.co.uk/. Why not go further and add your voice to demands for a statue and, as today the campaign launches its crowdfunding appeal, a donation too?

Another thing you can do is pre-order a copy of Football’s Black Pioneers https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/2020/06/05/footballs-black-pioneers-pub-date-moved-forward-to-august-available-now-for-preorder where we talk about Jack and other football pioneers like him!

Belated Happy Birthday to Peter Foley, MBE

Peter Foley was born in Edinburgh on 28th June 1944, the son of a white mother and a black Ghanaian father. He was one of the very few black players in League football in the 1960s and was the first black player at Workington and Chesterfield (when both were still Football League clubs), as well as Scunthorpe. He will feature in in Football’s Black Pioneers as Scunthorpe’s first black player.

Peter suffered his first football-related racist abuse while playing for Workington at Queen’s Park Rangers’ Loftus Road ground on 5th April 1965. The crowd was only 4,642 but Peter recalls that during the warm up he could hear chants of “Zulu, Zulu, Zulu.” He quickly realised those chants were aimed at him as the only black player on the pitch.

Aged just 20, the impact on Peter was traumatic. When he saw that the first fixture for the following season was a return to London and an away game with Millwall he was so concerned about the abuse he might have to suffer, particularly given the reputation of the Millwall crowd, that he feigned injury so he would not have to travel to the capital.

This was a seminal moment in Peter’s life. He realised he had let himself and his team down and allowed the racists to win. He never feigned injury again and he vowed he would never again hide from racism but would fight it wherever he came across it. That he did so is amply demonstrated by his MBE, awarded in 2003, for his anti-racism work both through his Trade Union and the Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football campaign.

There is much more to Peter’s story, including his unexpected discovery of a brother he didn’t know he had. You can read it in Football’s Black Pioneers which will be published on 31st August 2020 and can be pre-ordered here: https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/2020/06/05/footballs-black-pioneers-pub-date-moved-forward-to-august-available-now-for-preorder/

Armed Forces Day – Footballers Who Served

The contribution made by black men and women to all aspects of British life is often not given the prominence it deserves. Whether it has been in helping establish the NHS, or running our transport and postal services (and many more besides), Britain wouldn’t be the country it is today without the input of unsung black heroes and heroines working alongside their white colleagues.

‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ will remember the first black player to represent each of the EFL (English Football League) and Premier League clubs. We will remember their contribution on the football field.

But several also served in the military.

As today is Armed Forces Day, we pay particular tribute to Walter Tull, the best known of our pioneering footballers to fight for his country.

In addition to being the first black player to represent Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town, Walter served in the Army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant. He was killed in action in France on 25th March 1918.

Walter wasn’t the only footballing pioneer to don a uniform. Tommy Best (Cardiff and Queens Park Rangers), Tony Collins (Crystal Palace, Norwich and Watford), Roy Brown (Stoke City) and Albert Payne (Tranmere Rovers) were among those who served during World War Two.

We salute them.