Conker Editions

Category: News

York City rejoin the Football League!

The 2025/26 battle for automatic promotion from the National League to the Football League could not have been closer. With one round of fixtures of the gruelling forty-six game season left to play, York City led by two points from Rochdale.

As luck would have it, the two were due to meet in the final game of the season and Rochdale would have home advantage. The maths was clear and simple, a win would see Rochdale leapfrog their rivals and secure top spot and the one automatic promotion place. Any other result would see York City promoted and consign Rochdale to the play-offs. York’s vastly superior goal difference could play no part in deciding the outcome.

After an understandably tense game, the score stood at 0-0 up to and beyond the ninety-minute mark. Then, those anxiously watching updates on Sky Sports news, heard:

There has been a winner, very, very late on, it’s come in the 95th minute and it has come for …. Rochdale

in the 95th minute, Leeds-born Emmanuel Dieseruvwe had scored the goal that would propel Rochdale back into the Football League[1]Emmanuel Diesweruvwe has been around a bit and was one of the four Black players to represent Salford City, when they played their first ever game in the Football League in 2019. He was also the … Continue reading.  At the ground, Rochdale players and fans were jubilant and it took several minutes to clear celebrating fans from the pitch.

But wait, this is football …

We hand you back to the Sky newsreader:

Extraordinary scenes at the Crown Oil Arena, where York City in the one hundred and third minute, after Rochdale had taken the lead in the ninety-fifth minute through Emmanuel Dieseruvwe, have equalised and York City are back in the Football League.

The equalising goal might politely be described as ‘scrappy’ but a goal it was, although, with shades of Geoff Hurst at Wembley in the 1966 World Cup Final, there were heated arguments over whether the ball had crossed the line. The linesman sorry, referee’s assistant said that it had and with no goal line technology or VAR in the National League, the goal stood. After a decade-long absence, York City were back.

First Black Player

The team that beat Rochdale included at least two Black players: defender Malachi Fagan-Walcott and midfielder (and Crystal Palace academy product), Hiram Boateng. But who was York City’s first Black player?

For anyone who has a copy of our book Football’s Black Pioneers, the name will be a familiar one, for it was none other than Tony Collins.

Tony Collins, signing for York City, July 1949 [2]From ‘Tony Collins, Football Master Spy’ by Quentin Cope and Sarita Collins, The Book Guild, 2016

Tony features in the book as the first Black player at Norwich, Watford and Crystal Palace. He also played for Torquay, for whom he appeared more than a hundred times over the course of the 1955/56 and 1956/57 seasons; and was on the books of Sheffield Wednesday without making it into the first team.  Tony’s last club as a player was … Rochdale, where he went on to become the first Black manager of any Football League club. Unusually, Tony was not Rochdale’s first Black player, that honour goes to Calvin Symonds who is now ninety-four and will no doubt be following the fortunes of his former club from his home on the beautiful island of Bermuda.

Tony made his debut for York on 3rd September 1949 in a 1-0 loss away at Tranmere Rovers.[3]To show that you should never rely solely on AI for your ‘facts’ my search gave the date as 3rd December. The estimable English National Football Archive gives the correct date. He wore the No.10 shirt which, in those days would have been called the inside-left position. He played only nine more first team games, scoring once, over the course of that season before moving on to Watford.

A manager can have a huge impact on a player’s career, for good or ill. The manager who signed Tony was Tom Mitchell, an experienced man described as a ‘gentleman’ in Tony’s biography. But whatever his personal attributes, Mitchell was unable to bring success on the pitch. In March, with York languishing in 21st place (out of 22) in Division Three (North), Mitchell resigned. His replacement, Dick Duckworth, did not make a positive impression on Tony (or on the team’s fortunes, they finished bottom).

‘An uncouth individual whom some would describe as a ‘madman’ with a ‘hit and hope’ attitude to the playing of ‘the beautiful game.’ … The opportunity to make uncalled for comments relating to the colour of a person’s skin could often not be resisted.[4]Tony Collins, Football Master Spy’ by Quentin Cope and Sarita Collins, page 39, The Book Guild, 2016

Tony did not like the man and could see no great future for himself at York. When the opportunity to move to Watford came, he jumped at the chance.

References

References
↑1 Emmanuel Diesweruvwe has been around a bit and was one of the four Black players to represent Salford City, when they played their first ever game in the Football League in 2019. He was also the scorer of Salford’s first goal in the Football League
↑2 From ‘Tony Collins, Football Master Spy’ by Quentin Cope and Sarita Collins, The Book Guild, 2016
↑3 To show that you should never rely solely on AI for your ‘facts’ my search gave the date as 3rd December. The estimable English National Football Archive gives the correct date.
↑4 Tony Collins, Football Master Spy’ by Quentin Cope and Sarita Collins, page 39, The Book Guild, 2016

Calvin Symonds, Rochdale’s First Black Player is ninety-four

Calvin Symonds, born on Bermuda on 29th March 1932, made his debut for Rochdale FC on 15th September 1955 and thus became their first Black player.

Calvin has celebrated his 94th birthday back on Bermuda where he is best known as an outstanding cricketer, but we celebrate him he as the oldest of the footballing pioneers who featured in our book. We wish him many happy returns.

Fancy a Blizzard this Christmas?

Imagine yourself gently toasting in front of a log fire while a blizzard rages outside. In our centrally heated house that would be a sure sign that a call to 999 was needed – flaming logs, yikes! Now re-imagine yourself, snuggled down on the sofa on Christmas Day, the central heating is working just fine, and, although a blizzard may or may not be raging outside, you have your very own copy of The Blizzard to read. That would be nice, no, that would be brilliant! There isn’t much you can do about the weather but the magazine is just a click away (click on the image below)!

Andrew Watson, truly a pioneer

Bill Hern recently had the pleasure of a visit to Corinthian Casuals’ stadium, the King George’s Arena in Tolworth, where he met up with an old friend Llew Walker. Llew is the author of A Straggling Life, the biography of Andrew Watson. Born in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1856, Watson became the first Black international when he appeared for Scotland in 1881. He not only played, but captained his country in a 6-1 victory over England. It’s a sobering thought that it would be another 98 years before England fielded its first Black full international, Viv Anderson.

Watson doesn’t appear in Football’s Black Pioneers for the simple reason that he never played in the English League. Nevertheless, he remains an icon of Black football history. He played for Corinthians in the early 1880s (Corinthians and Casuals were separate entities until they merged in 1939) and was an influential figure both north and south of the border in the game’s formative years. He definitely deserves to be known as a ‘pioneer’.

A Straggling Life is a great book, meticulously researched and well worth a read if you want to know more about Andrew Watson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Want to buy the book(s)? Just click on the image!

Can you name the first eleven Black players of the team you support?

I’ll hazard a guess that the answer to the question in the title is ‘no’.  If that’s the case, and if you would like to find out, then Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) may be able to help!

SRtRC are marking thirty years of action with a powerful new initiative: The First 11 Black Players Project. They are partnering with UK football clubs, the PFA, the FA and the EFL to unearth a hidden history – honouring the first eleven Black players to represent each club. Their stories will be brought to life in a physical exhibition and embedded into SRtRC’s anti-racism workshops, turning legacy into a lesson for the future.

Here are links to some of the teams they have looked at:

Brentford

https://www.brentfordfc.com/en/news/article/club-news-celebrating-first-11-black-players-brentford

Derby County

https://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/2025/10/club-news-rams-celebrate-black-history-month-with-show-racism-the-red-card

Lionesses

https://www.theredcard.org/news/the-launch-of-the-first-11-black-lionesses-exhibition/

Middlesbrough

https://www.theredcard.org/news/first-11-black-players-exhibition-middlesbrough-fc/

Sunderland

https://www.theredcard.org/news/introducing-the-first-11-black-players-exhibition-sunderland-afc/

It took Bill Hern and I four years to research Football’s Black Pioneers and we were only looking for the first Black player at each club, identifying the first eleven is a major undertaking, hats off to SRTRC!

Of course, a project like this is bound to throw up a few difficult questions. At Brentford, for instance, the name of Fred Corbett is not included. When we wrote our book, we thought long and hard about Fred. In the end,  we included him as the first Black player at West Ham, Gillingham, Bristol City and, yes, Brentford. But, we acknowledged that there is no firm evidence that Fred was Black and that opinion is divided on whether he was. SRTRC’s decision not to include him is understandable (even if we don’t agree!).

Looking at the list of names for Crystal Palace I was shown, took me on a long and enjoyable trip down memory lane. I had fond memories of many players on the list and was reminded of names I had forgotten. But my reverie was interrupted by a question- was Rachid Harkouk (a name many older Palace fans will remember) Black? He was of mixed heritage and he played for the Algerian national team. His name isn’t on the list, maybe that’s right, maybe it isn’t, either way, he was definitely a memorable character regardless of his colour!

Want to know more?

For more information on the First 11 Black Players Project, please email info(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)theredcard.org

Clyde Best mural unveiled

It was a privilege and a pleasure to meet not one, but two Bermudian legends when we visited the island last year. Calvin Symonds, now ninety-three,  was the first Black player to represent Rochdale and is celebrated as such in our book. Clyde Best was not the first Black player at West Ham but he is such a legend that it would have been wrong not to talk about him in the book – so we did!

Both men are revered on Bermuda (Calvin for his cricketing exploits in particular). Clyde is obviously known to us as a footballer but, when we chatted to them we were surprised to hear about Clyde’s cricketing exploits on the island too.

Clyde’s legendary status is honoured in a recently unveiled mural – we are only sorry we didn’t get an invitation to the unveiling!

https://www.royalgazette.com/general/news/article/20251121/new-mural-in-homage-to-footballer-clyde-best-unveiled/

Black History Month 2025 – More Than a Game

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:

https://replay.dropbox.com/share/SVSNBpFXajuaYCCE

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.

References

References
↑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 but then we would have to get into all sorts of debates about whether they were ‘Black’.
↑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 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).

Black History Month 2025

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:

https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/barnet-fc-1991-92/.

Crystal Palace Black footballers exhibition

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!

References

References
↑1 Visitors attend the Crystal Palace Black History Month event at Selhurst Park, London on 25 October 2025. (All photos: Dylan Hepworth/KontentHaus

Barnet and Oldham Athletic – Welcome Back!

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8deYqJLYFCM

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:

https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/barnet-fc-1991-92/

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.

Uriah Rennie 23/10/1959 to 8/6/2025

 

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: