Do you know who the pioneering black footballers pictured above are and the clubs they played for? If you don’t (or even if you do) keep your eyes open for ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’, the book that will tell the stories of the first black players to represent each of the 92 Football League clubs.
Category: Black footballers
Is racism on the rise?
You know things aren’t as they should be when three stories concerning racism in the game appear within the space of a few days.
In the first, Danny Rose speaks about his experiences of racism and how it affected him. The story alse features Renee Hector of Tottenham women’s team. We met Renee at an event in London that was held to celebrate the life of Laurie Cunningham. She spoke eloquently about the abuse she faced on social media because she had the temerity to call out racist abuse directed at her by an opposing player during a game: https://theconversation.com/racisms-rise-in-football-demands-harsher-sanctions-and-better-mental-health-support-131701
Although neither Danny or Renee will feature in the forthcoming book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’, Laurie Cunningham definitely will as he was the first black player at West Bromwich Albion and the book will celebrate the first black player at each Football League club.
The second story concerns the failure of the authorities to identify those in the crowd responsible for directing racist abuse at Antonio Rudiger. In a statement Tottenham said that they could neither corroborate nor contradict the allegation that monkey noises were directed at Rudiger during the Chelsea/Tottenham match in December. Rudiger is quoted as saying “They never get punished. In the end I’m the scapegoat.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51611099
The third story concerned a young player, Jonathan Leko, abused by a player on the opposing team whilst playing for Charlton Athletic. The abuser, Leeds United goalkeeper, Kiko Casilla, was found guilty by the FA who imposed an eight match ban and a £60,000 fine. Hopefully this punishment will be sufficient to deter others: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51628153
Is racism on the rise? Sadly, the answer seems to be ‘yes’.
If these sort of incidents can happen in 2019 imagine what it must have been like for the pioneers who were the first to make the breakthrough into the professional game. In the 1970s, for instance, they would generally be the only black player in their team’s squad and possibly one of the few black faces in the town. The names of many of these unsung heroes will scarcely be known to supporters at large and will possibly have been forgotten by the fans of the teams they played for, players like Lloyd Maitland who became Huddersfield’s first black player in 1974:
‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ will tell the story of Lloyd’s brief career and the shocking way in which it ended.
Two unsavoury episodes from the FA’s long history
There have long been question marks over the Football Association’s attitude to black players. The book ‘Pitch Black’ by Emy Onuora, published in 2015, reported a conversation with Graham Taylor in which Taylor said the FA tried to impose an unofficial quota system on the number of black players an England manager should be allowed to use. Taylor (England manager from 1990 to 1993) allegedly said he had been summoned by two members of the FA’s hierarchy and told “in no uncertain terms” he should not go beyond a certain limit.
Taylor is said to have made the remark during a function at Watford’s ground during the 1999-2000 season when Richie Moran was the guest speaker. Moran, a Birmingham City player in the 1990s who eventually quit the game because of the racial abuse he suffered, recalls in Onuora’s book: “Graham Taylor came up to me and said: ‘Look, I’m going to tell you something … I’m never going to admit it, I will be sued for libel.’ He said: ‘When I was manager of England I was called in by two members of the FA, who I won’t name …’ I volunteered two names. He said: ‘I’m not prepared to say, but I was told in no uncertain terms not to pick too many black players for the national side.’”
Other guests at the event also heard the conversation. Taylor died in 2017 but when the book came out in 2015 he initially said he could not specifically remember the conversation with Moran. “That is not me trying to evade it – and it also doesn’t mean I didn’t say it – but if anyone looks at my record with club and country it would be obvious to everyone anyway that I didn’t follow what was apparently said. If anyone looks at my record, I could never be accused of blocking the way for any black player.” Later he was more categoric in asserting that the conversation never took place “I have no memory of that conversation (with Moran). There certainly was an event at Watford. I can remember that, but I certainly have no memory of a conversation about black players.” Taylor went on to say that he would be taking legal advice about what was being said but, if he did, we are unaware of any subsequent legal action.
Moran, was quoted in the Guardian newspaper at the time of the book’s publication strongly refuting Taylor’s denials. “I have a very vivid memory of the conversation.” He went on “I’m not saying for one moment that Graham Taylor had any intentions … all I’m saying is that that is a conversation I had with him. I have no reason to make it up.”
Just to show that there is nothing new under the sun the story of Jack Leslie, a player called up to represent England in 1925 and then ‘un-called up’ a few days later, is one we have been aware of for some time.
Here is recent article on the subject by Martin Johnes of Swansea University and Alex Jackson of the National Football Museum:
Jack Leslie was the first black player to represent Plymouth Argyle and will feature in our forthcoming book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’. He never did play for England though.
Racism in Football and Yeovil’s 1st Black Player – Abdelhalim el-Kholti
A shameful piece of football history was made on Saturday 19th October 2019 when an FA Cup tie between Haringey Borough and Yeovil was abandoned after both teams walked off in protest at alleged racist abuse from a tiny minority of Yeovil fans directed at black players on the Haringey team.
Fair play to the Yeovil players for supporting the stand taken by Haringey. As the manager of Haringey, Tom Loizou, explained ‘Yeovil’s players and manager were different class. Their team tried to calm their supporters down, they tried their best and they supported us – they said “if you’re walking off we’re walking off with you”.’ Such solidarity between opposing teams is the silver lining in the otherwise dark cloud that engulfed the game at Coles Park that afternoon.
The incident reminded me of a sunny afternoon a year or so earlier when I interviewed Abdelhalim el-Kholti (Abdou), the first black player to represent Yeovil in a football league game. Abdou has more decency in his little finger than the racists who claim to support the club could muster between them. Here is the story of my chat with Abdou.
I am sitting in the Grateful Kitchen in Canary Wharf, London. Outside, the waters of the old dock are twinkling in the afternoon sun (difficult to imagine now that this was built to service the slave trade), inside, I am talking with the proprietor Abdelhalim el-Kholti (Abdou). My wife is chatting to Emily, Abdou’s charming wife, about things that only women can talk about, the shared experience of childbirth gives them a common ground that I am only too happy not to be part of. I am talking to Abdou about football, he was Yeovil’s first black player in the football league. While we talk Abdou and Emily’s young son, 18 month-old Sami, is playing at our feet (‘he is already kicking a ball,’ says Abdou proudly).
Abdou was born in Annemasse, France, in an area close to the Swiss border. His parents, both originally from Morocco, had settled in the area, his mother was a house worker and his father worked in a factory. As a boy, Abdou was mad about sport, any sport, by the age of eleven it was football that won the tussle for his affections. But when he told his teachers that he wanted to be a footballer they were very negative ‘you should be a plumber’ they told him. He played in local junior teams and then from the age of 16 or 17, semi-professionally, for a team across the border in Geneva. His first professional club was in his parents’ homeland, Raja Casablanca, in the top division. It was good experience for him: ‘the manager there was coach of the national under-21 team and he wanted to promote young players but, when he got sacked, somebody from the local town took charge of the team and wanted local guys. So, in April, I left and went back to France.’ This story shows the delicate thread by which an aspiring footballer’s career hangs.
Back in France and at a loose end, an uncle working in Bristol was able to help Abdou fix up a trial with Rovers. It seemed he might be offered a contract but once again fate intervened as Garry Thompson, the manager, was almost immediately sacked (he was only in the post for four months). That is the roundabout route that led Abdou to Yeovil. He wasn’t their first black player, Abdelaye Demba (who would go on to earn seven international caps with Mali) was already at the club. Demba made his debut on 17th August 2002 but there had been others before him. Abdou comments that ‘he only stayed a few months but scored some goals and was popular with the fans,’ but Demba left Yeovil at the end of the season leaving the way open for Abdou to become the first black player to appear for Yeovil in the Football League.
Abdou describes himself as a hard working left back or left sided midfielder. Not especially tigerish in the tackle he compensated by being quick, having good technique and ‘a good engine’ as they say. It was a good time to join Yeovil as they were having an outstanding season, playing good football and scoring goals for fun. Abdou’s first game was against Torquay and he scored twice. They gained promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club’s long history. Abdou played a full part, making a total of 36 appearances and scoring 3 goals, earning a champion’s medal in his first season in English football.
Following their elevation Abdou was offered a new contract and he appeared in Yeovil’s first ever League game, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3-1 away win at Rochdale in August 2003. But he was hampered by needing to have a hernia operation and didn’t play many games during the first half of the season. Later he played more often and made a total of 26 appearances, helping Yeovil to a creditable 8th place finish.
Injured towards the end of the 2003-4 season he needed to have a second hernia operation. His career at Yeovil never quite regained its momentum and it was time to move on. He spent 2004-5 with Cambridge (15 appearances) and 2006-7 with Chester, still in the league in those days, (22 appearances). Subsequently he played for a string of non-league clubs but, although he loved playing football, he knew he was never going to make the big time: ‘if you aren’t playing in the Premiership or Championship by the age of 23 or 24 then I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. It’s tough in the lower leagues. Yeovil played good football, on the ground, but not many teams do, it’s boom, boom, boom, long ball all the time. You get kicked a lot,’ he adds ruefully. ’The money isn’t great in the lower divisions and you need to think about how you are going to make a living after football.’ Abdou decided to set up business in the world of catering: ‘my mother was a good cook and it was something I’d worked at in France, you do what you know.’ He continues: ‘it’s tough going, the hours are long, most mornings I’m up at 5.30 to be here by 6. It’s very stressful, and sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it.’ One thing that is clear from our conversation is that Abdou is a very hard worker.
I asked him whether he had experienced much racism during his time in the game. He said that he had often felt a bit of an outsider. As someone who doesn’t drink, the culture at many clubs was difficult for him. At Yeovil, for instance, ‘I was there to play football, not to go out socialising. After training I just wanted to go home, eat good food, rest and look after myself. When I went out I felt I was cheating.’ He says there was ‘banter’ and that sometimes, because of the language barrier, it was difficult to tell how serious it was. But ‘you can’t let it affect you.’ He continues ‘one manager told me that if I didn’t play well he would send me back to Azerbaijan but he was smiling as he said it. Banter? Sometimes it’s hard to know.’
Abdou is fortunate to have the support of a young woman who he has known for about ten or eleven years. He met Emily ‘through a friend’ and they have been together through many ups and downs, marrying in 2015, in her native Ireland. The strength of their relationship is there for all to see. Her parents were fine (‘very open minded’), his less so, his mother in particular thought he should marry ‘a nice Moroccan girl.’ But the presence of a grandchild can have a powerful healing influence in situations like this and it seems that everyone is happy now.
You don’t often read a love story in a book or article about football but this is one. Abdou and Emily are a lovely couple, obviously devoted to each other. They are living proof that Bill Shankly got it wrong all those years ago. Not only is football not more important than life and death as he claimed, it is clear that there are many things in life far more important than football, no matter how it may sometimes feel at five o’clock on a Saturday afternoon.
In October 2019, more than sixteen years after Abdou became the club’s first black player, Yeovil found themselves in the headlines for the wrong reasons. The chairman of Haringey Borough summed up when he said ‘racism is in society but that doesn’t mean we have to accept it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a little club or England, what we both did is how all the game needs to respond.’
[This article first appeared on http://historycalroots.com/]
When was the first time two black players appeared on the same pitch?
‘On 18 September 1909 a remarkable occasion took place when Tottenham played Bradford City away at Valley Parade in the First Division. Bradford won the match 5-1 with Walter Tull scoring the Spurs goal. But that wasn’t what made it remarkable . Not only did Walter Tull play for Tottenham that day, but William Clarke was playing for Bradford City, which was probably the first time that two non-white men had played professional football against each other and it was certainly a first for the First Division of the Football League.’
Question answered?
No, because it didn’t happen!
Walter Tull and Willie Clarke were both of mixed heritage but, while Walter did play in the game on 18th September, Willie Clarke didn’t. Willie’s last game for Bradford City was on 21st November 1908, a game Bradford lost at Manchester United. He made no appearances for City during the 1909/10 season.
The quote that opened this post is from a book about Walter Tull but you can find this false story on the internet too. This is just one of the many pieces of fake history that will be debunked in the forthcoming book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’.
So if 18th September wasn’t the date, when was?
We aren’t going to answer that here but one possible early example was reported in the Leeds Mercury on 25th January 1929:
The only trouble is that didn’t happen either!
Jack Leslie did appear in the Plymouth team on Saturday 26th January but Eddie Parris didn’t play for Bradford Park Avenue that day!
Eddie played in the 3rd Round tie against Hull City on 12th January, indeed this was his debut for Bradford and he scored the goal that secured a replay. He was also in the team that won the replay 3-1 on 16th to set up the home 4th Round tie against Plymouth Argyle. But, for whatever reason, he wasn’t in the team that faced Plymouth and his next game for Bradford wasn’t until 23rd February, away at Tottenham.
Never believe what you read in the papers!
So, for now, the question remains unanswered!
[source: English National Football Archive https://www.enfa.co.uk/]
Tony Collins, still going strong at 93
Pioneering black footballer, Tony Collins, was the first black player at several Football League clubs in the 1940s and 1950s and also became the first black manager of a League club in 1960. He was recently interviewed by BBC North West: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/37698576 (you will need Adobe Flash Player to view the video).
Tony will certainly feature in our forthcoming book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’.