It’s unthinkable now but, in a career that spanned six seasons from 1964/5 to 1969/70, Peter Foley never had a black team mate or saw a black player on any opposing team.
He was one of only a handful of black players in the English Football League when he made his debut for Workington in 1965, he was their first black player and he would go on to achieve that same distinction at the two other clubs he played for in the League, Scunthorpe and Chesterfield (as well as non-league Bacup).
Neither Workington or Chesterfield were in the Football League at the time our book, Football’s Black Pioneers was published and so Peter appeared only in the Scunthorpe chapter. We don’t yet have a programme for any of his four Chesterfield games but Chesterfield fan, Peter Griffiths, has given us the perfect opportunity to feature Peter here by sharing with us a signed photo of him in Chesterfield’s colours.
Peter joined Chesterfield just before the start of the 1969/70 season. It had been almost 12 months since his last League game for Scunthorpe where he believes he was frozen out
‘one director did not like me because of my colour. He victimised me and tried to prevent me being picked, I was a good player but don’t think I was allowed to fulfil my potential.[1]The Independent, 4th March 2003
He joined Chesterfield on a trial basis. No doubt he had high hopes of a fresh start, certainly the Nottingham Football Post did, they predicted that
“the coloured winger signed from Scunthorpe has shown signs that might well be usefully channelled on the right wing”
He made his Chesterfield debut at Swansea’s Vetch Field on 9th August, a game that ended in a goalless draw witnessed by 7,939 spectators. He seemed to have proved his fitness as he started in three further games that month: a League Cup game on 13th at Bradford City (a 1-1 draw); his home debut against Port Vale on 16th (a 1-0 defeat in front of 5,062 fans); and the League Cup replay against Bradford City on 20th (another 1-0 defeat, watched by a crowd of 5,609). In this last game he was substituted and replaced by Ernie Moss who would go on to become a Chesterfield legend.
And that was it. At only 25 years of age his League career was over. He had made a total of 104 appearances for his three clubs and scored 21 goals, a respectable return for someone who played most of his games on the wing.
Having only narrowly avoided being required to apply for re-election in 1968/69, Chesterfield went on to win the Division Four title in 1969/70, but Peter wasn’t around to share that glory. While Chesterfield were celebrating their title success, Peter was plying his trade at Bacup Borough in the Lancashire Combination League, he had signed for the non-league club in November 1969. He went on to play for other non-league clubs such as Netherfield, Morecambe and Rossendale, and also had a spell managing Workington after they had dropped out of the Football League. Football management is a precarious business and with a family to support it was probably just as well that he found a new career working with the Windscale Nuclear Power Station, known as Sellafield since 1981.
But his greatest and most lasting impact was through the work he performed in the fight against racism. Peter was particularly active as a Trades Union representative and held senior positions with the General Municipal Boilermakers’ Union (GMB) including chairing the GMB Northern Region Race Committee, being president of the Union’s National Race Committee, membership of the GMB and TUC’s National Race Committees and playing a crucial role in developing the Union’s equality and diversity policies.
In 1998, he received an award from the Professional Footballers’ Association for being a Pioneer of Black British Football.
In the New Year’s Honour’s list 2003 he was awarded the MBE for his anti-racism work both through the Union and the Let’s Kick Racism Out of Football campaign.
He also worked for Show Racism the Red Card and was admitted to their Hall of Fame on 9th October 2013.
On the occasion of Peter’s inclusion in the Hall of Fame Tommy Brennan, the GMB Regional Secretary, said:
“Peter has been a fantastic ambassador for GMB over his many years of service gaining the respect of all concerned in the battle against racism generally and in football particularly.”
Although Peter retired from full-time employment, his valuable anti-racism work continues and he is chair of AWAZ Community Interest Company,[2]AWAZ is not an acronym but a word that means ‘voice’ in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages an organisation which helps Black and Minority Ethnic groups in Cumbria where he lives.
Peter Foley is deservedly recognised as a Football Pioneer but it was his experiences of racism in the game that fired his lifelong passion for the cause of anti-racism and he has continued to use what he experienced to improve the lives of other minority groups, fully earning the accolades he has received as a strong and caring defender of the community.