On our programme pages we try, where possible, to feature the programme for the first game that our Pioneer played for the team. That isn’t always possible of course and the further back in time you go, the harder it gets. Generally, with luck and patience, programmes from the 1960s and ’70s can be found.
But why are we featuring programmes almost a decade apart for Everton?
One of the first issues we had when we started work on ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ was determining when a player is ‘black’? We addressed this issue in the introduction to the book – except that we didn’t because it was axed due to space constraints (and possibly because it was simply too long). Here is what we would have said if space had allowed:
As soon as we started on this project we knew we would have a problem deciding what we meant by ‘black’. Indeed, when we contacted fans groups up and down the country it was often the first question they asked: ‘what do you mean by black?’ So, what do we mean by ‘black’? Well first of all we don’t mean simply ‘non-white’. This rules out players such as Frank Soo of Stoke City who had mixed Chinese and English parentage.
Obviously if a footballer had two parents who were demonstrably ‘black’ there is no issue, but what if only one parent was ‘black’ or only one grandparent? Looking at someone doesn’t necessarily help either, one comment we saw on a fans’ forum was that a manager who is often described as a black manager, ‘doesn’t look very black to me’. It isn’t always easy to tell just by looking at someone!
Nowadays, when we complete the census form every ten years we are asked about our ethnicity and we decide how we want to answer. The ‘ethnicity’ question on the census form is relatively recent, for many years the question simply wasn’t asked and besides, the most recent census forms available for scrutiny date from 1911, not a lot of use to us!
Nor, in most cases, are we in a position to approach former players and ask them how they regard themselves and, even if we could, it might only offer limited assistance. To cite just one example, Tony Collins, who appears later in this book in the Norwich, Crystal Palace and Rochdale chapters, was interviewed by a Palace fan some years ago. It was put to him that he was the first black player at Crystal Palace and his response was ‘no, I wasn’t’. This might indicate that he thought there had been a black player at Palace before him but, having contacted his daughter, Sarita, she confirmed to the authors that he simply didn’t think of himself as black and didn’t like to be defined in that way. Tony Collins had a black father and a white mother and, for our purposes, we have regarded that as ‘black’ and we hope most readers would agree with us on that.
But what of cases where it was a grandparent or even great grandparent who was black? Under the old US ‘Pass Laws’ or the loathsome apartheid regime in South Africa such individuals would be treated as black or ‘coloured’. Such instances are few and far between in this book. Where this situation does arise we simply tell the player’s story and invite readers to consider the evidence for themselves.
And that is a very long winded way of explaining why we are featuring more than one Everton programme. We regard Mike Trebilcock as Everton’s first black player (Mike had a black father and white mother), but we know some people regard Cliff Marshall as Everton’s black pioneer (Cliff had two black parents). So we are covering both here.
Mike Trebilcock
The people who produce football programmes have always had the tricky task of anticipating what the team line ups will be for any particular match, lead-in times will inevitably mean that programmes must be sent to the printers several days before the match (even more of a problem over the Christmas period) and a lot can happen in that space of time. In the event, the programme for Tottenham Hotspur’s home game against Everton on 1st January 1966 got it almost spot on. Almost.
The only change from the two line ups in the programme is the one that particularly interests us. Mike Trebilcock had only signed for Everton from Plymouth Argyle in December and so the fact he isn’t shown in the programme for this match on New Year’s Day is hardly a surprise. Mike actually replaced the super-talented Alex Young in the Everton eleven. Mike wore the No.10 shirt in the days when that meant he played in the ‘inside left’ berth, John Hurst switched across to the No.8 (inside right) shirt. As a digression, I remember one season when Crystal Palace manager, Dickie Graham, deliberately gave his players the ‘wrong’ numbered shirts as he believed that this would confuse the opposition. It certainly confused us fans!
Mike must have done reasonably well on his debut as he kept his place in the team for the next game, home to Aston Villa on the 8th, indeed he scored in that game. After that he wasn’t selected until 8th April, perhaps he was injured?
His return to the team was timely as it gave him the opportunity to secure his place in FA Cup history by becoming the first black player to score in the Final.
His appearance at Wembley was by no means assured as Fred Pickering was originally the name in the frame. A late injury to Pickering left manager Harry Catterick with a dilemma, by all accounts Pickering thought he was fit enough to play but Catterick decided not to risk him, selecting the relatively inexperienced Trebilcock instead.
The unexpected nature of Mike’s selection is illustrated by the programme. There are pen pictures of thirteen Everton players, Mike isn’t one of them. Indeed he only appears in the programme as an afterthought, an inset of his face superimposed on the team photo.
Mike repaid his manager’s faith by scoring twice as Everton came from two goals down to win 3-2.
In spite of his achievement Mike only played four more League games for Everton, two in the 1966/67 season and two in 67/68. In January 1968 he moved to Portsmouth.
So, Mike’s Everton career was, in the end, a bit of a damp squib (just fifteen appearances in total) but, once you’ve made a piece of history it can never be unmade and Mike’s place in the annals is secure.
Cliff Marshall
Cliff Marshall made his Everton debut at the age of nineteen on 11th January 1975 in a home game against Leicester City. There is a certain inevitability about the fact his name does not feature in the programme.
He was a local lad, born in Sefton. A friend of ours, 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 trainers.
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 later play for England at schoolboy level).
When the time came to turn professional Cliff had offers from both the Merseyside giants and Cliff’s decision to join Everton was the cause of much disappointment to Glynn Smith, the school’s Deputy Head teacher and main football coach, who was an ardent Liverpool fan.
In the event, Liverpool’s loss was perhaps not too great as Cliff only made eight appearances in the Everton 1st team.
Cliff has spoken about the racism he experienced growing up in Liverpool. Interviewed shortly before his death in November 2021, he recalled ‘people were calling us all sorts, the N-word and Slave. Fighting was just a part of growing up as a black kid back then. I remember one incident where a bully approached me at school, I asked him why he hated me so much, and he told me it was because I was different.’ Things didn’t improve when he turned out for Everton, Cliff experienced what some players of the era have described as ‘the full banana treatment’ with fans throwing banana skins and making monkey chants toward him. [1] https://scousesportsnews.wordpress.com/2021/10/30/black-history-month-evertons-first-black-player-talks-about-the-difficulties-of-playing-in-the-1970s/
Like Mike Trebilcock, Cliff’s Everton career was short. He made just seven League appearances and one in the FA Cup before the dream came to an end. There was a short, enjoyable spell in Miami playing for the Miami Toros, followed by fourteen appearances for Southport and some non-League football before he retired from the game aged just 22. He had fallen out of love with the game and, in view of the racism prevalent on the terraces in those days, it is not hard to see why that might have been. Cliff was a precocious talent that was never fulfilled, it is likely racism played a part in that.