Tony Collins (1957), Mark Lindsey (1973) and Vince Hilaire (1977) were, we believe, the first three Black players to represent Crystal Palace in the Football League.[1]We could confuse things by mentioning Ricky Heppolette (Anglo/Indian heritage) and Rachid Harkouk (Algerian/Welsh heritage) who both played in the 1976/77 season and made their debuts before Vince … Continue reading They featured prominently in the exhibition at the launch event held at Selhurst Park: ‘More Than a Game: Celebrating Black Legacy in British Football’. It was a great exhibition and this display attracted a lot of interest.
The media team at Palace have produced a very nice film about the launch event and a talk I gave to a group of academy players.[2]Before any Andrew Watson affcianados take umbrage, in my talk I described Arthur Wharton as the first Black professional footballer, the young lad interviewed was so pleased to hear about … Continue reading The film lasts a little over four minutes and even non-Palace fans may enjoy it:
I’m sure other clubs have organised similar events, if you know of any, please share them with us and we will be happy to give your club due credit on here.
We could confuse things by mentioning Ricky Heppolette (Anglo/Indian heritage) and Rachid Harkouk (Algerian/Welsh heritage) who both played in the 1976/77 season and made their debuts before Vince but then we would have to get into all sorts of debates about whether they were ‘Black’.
Before any Andrew Watson affcianados take umbrage, in my talk I described Arthur Wharton as the first Black professional footballer, the young lad interviewed was so pleased to hear about Arthur’s Ghanaian heritage that he missed the word ‘professional’. I am aware that some people believe Andrew did accept payment from at least one of his clubs, thus making him a professional, but it’s a hotly disputed topic (see Andrew Watson’s Wikipedia entry if you want to delve deeper).
I write this as Black History Month 2025 draws to a close although, for us, every month is Black History Month. So our next Black History Month starts tomorrow! The idea that we should only talk about Black history in one month of the year is anathema to us.
Should we still bother with Black History Month at all?
It would be nice to think that we live in a world where the colour of history didn’t matter but, sadly, that isn’t the world we live in. Increasingly, we see and hear from people who seek to stir up division and hatred based on skin colour. We live in a world where people in positions of authority think it’s OK to complain about the number of Black people they see in TV adverts (just one example of the tactics they employ). Apparently such adverts don’t reflect society. Well, neither do adverts that feature talking dogs but you don’t hear them complaining about that. When called out about it they apologise (maybe) and say they chose their words poorly. But this sort of thing isn’t accidental, their words have seeped into and contaminated public perceptions, leaving an unpleasant residue. It is intentional and it is designed to set people against each other.
To come back to football, we are divided by the colour of the shirts our teams wear, we should never allow anyone to divide us on the basis of our skin colour.
We regard Black History Month as a chance to tirelessly spread the word. The fact that opportunities to speak at events come up much more frequently during October is annoying (what did November do to upset anyone?!) but we accept as many invitations as we can. Here are just some of this year’s BHM activities.
The National Football Museum
We, Bill Hern in particular, have made repeated efforts to engage with the people at the National Football Museum but generally the door to involvement has stayed firmly closed to us. It’s disappointing but they must have their reasons. In my experience, big organisations often prefer to spend tens of thousands of pounds on consultants than demean themselves by talking to mere amateurs. Anyway, at least they now stock Football’s Black Pioneers in their shop; if you visit the museum be sure to check it out. And it’s nice to see us rubbing covers with Pelé!
Hammersmith Library
Generally libraries have been pretty supportive of Pioneers. Here we are on display in Hammersmith where we stand proudly next to Walter Tull:
Karl Marx takes a keen interest!
Leaving no stone unturned in his quest to educate the proletariat, Bill did a presentation about Football’s Black Pioneers to the Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d’Italia (ANPI; National Association of Italian Partisans) at the Marx Memorial Library in London. I have no idea how the invitation came about! Karl Marx evidently took a close interest. As a long term (not to say, permanent) resident of Highgate Cemetery I find myself wondering what team Karl supports, no doubt it would have to be someone with a good left winger!
Capital City College
Bill’s presentation to a group of around two hundred students at the Enfield and Tottenham campuses of the Capital City College was enthusiastically received. The feedback was glowing! We are hopeful that this will lead to a long term collaboration with students from the college.
Crystal Palace academy
Ably assisted by my wife, I spoke to a group of 16-17 year-old boys at the Crystal Palace Academy. Their age meant that there was no real opportunity to take photos.
I had told the organisers that I particularly wanted to talk about Ed Stein, Barnet’s first Black player. I asked the boys when was the last time they had heard a positive story about an asylum seeker? Come to think of it, when was the last time you heard a positive story about an asylum seeker? Ed was the son of an asylum seeker, as were his two brothers, Mark and Brian, both of whom played for England. It’s interesting how history that is commonplace to one generation is quickly forgotten by the next. I started by asking the group what they knew about apartheid. The answer was ‘nothing’, so I gave them a quick history lesson to explain why Ed’s parents felt it necessary to flee South Africa for their lives and seek asylum in the UK. Ed Stein doesn’t feature in the book as Barnet were not in the Football League when it was published but you can read his story here:
We were invited to the launch event for an exhibition at Selhurst Park about pioneering Black footballers. I was honoured to share a platform with, among others, Palace legend, Mark Bright. The exhibit featuring the first Black player for Palace, Tony Collins, attracted a lot of interest. It was an absolute privilege to be part of such a prestigious event. A big thank you and ‘well done’ to the organisers, Laura Baptiste and Dana Tohme; not resting on their laurels, plans are already being made for another event.[1]Visitors attend the Crystal Palace Black History Month event at Selhurst Park, London on 25 October 2025. (All photos: Dylan Hepworth/KontentHaus
Your reflections on Black History Month 2025
If you were involved in any Black History Month events, do share them with us and, no, there is no need to wait until next year!
We are delighted to celebrate the return to the Football League of Oldham and Barnet. Oldham featured in our book, Football’s Black Pioneers, but Barnet did not.
You can see highlights of Oldham’s thrilling play-off win against Southend (a team that also features in our book) here:
Barnet, on the other hand, do not feature in the book and so we have added a piece about them, and their first Black player, to our website. You can read it here:
If you don’t yet have a copy of our book and would like to know the story of the first Black player at Oldham (or Southend) it is still available through Amazon or any good bookshop.
It is sad to report the death of Uriah Rennie the first Black referee in the Premier League.
In Football’s Black Pioneers we wrote about the first Black player at each of the Football League clubs, we mentioned the first Black manager (Tony Collins at Rochdale) and we recorded the trials, tribulations and triumphs of them all. They were true pioneers.
We made no mention of Black referees.
Born in Jamaica in 1959, Uriah Rennie moved to Sheffield as a child. He took up refereeing in local football in 1979. He rose to the top and was on the FIFA list from 2000-2004. As a referee he would have faced the same issues as the pioneering players and no doubt the popular chant ‘who’s the bastard in the black’ would have taken on a whole new meaning when he was the referee.
He was every bit a pioneer too and deserves to be remembered as such.
As I wrote this I thought ‘there should be a book’ and, of course, there is:
