Liverpool 1980/81

It was 4^th October 1980 when Liverpool were represented by a black player, Howard Gayle, for the first time.

Young players must overcome huge challenges to make it into the first team of a professional football club. For every one who makes it there are hundreds of others who have fallen by the wayside. The challenges are even greater when you play for a club like Liverpool, even more so when you are making your way in the game in 1980, a year when Liverpool where at the very height of their powers.

Being black wouldn’t have helped. In his autobiography^[1]61 Minutes in Munich, page 98, published by deCCoubertin, 2016, Howard tells of an incident in training with a Liverpool legend who, as a fan, Gayle had idolised from the terraces. A simmering issue came to a head and Gayle says ‘It was “black this, black that”. The place went quiet. Everybody could hear it, including the staff. He was a legend. I was a nothing. Nobody said a word.’ Howard also tells of the loneliness of being the only black player when he went for a trial, a not uncommon experience for black players in those days – Dave Busby, Brighton’s first black player, told author Bill Hern of a trial he had at Nottingham Forest when he was the only black lad and he felt unwelcome and noticed that the other players wouldn’t pass to him unless they absolutely had to. Unthinkable today but this was what it was like for that generation of pioneers.

As a forward, Howard was competing for a place in a very successful team, Kenny Dalgleish occupied one of the positions Howard aspired to fill, so getting into the team at all was a major achievement.

It comes as no surprise that Howard doesn’t feature in the programme for his debut game away at Manchester City:

Although not named in the programme, Howard went on as a substitute for David Fairclough.

Liverpool won the game 3-0 but another point Howard makes in his book is that even a good performance and a good result didn’t mean the reserve would keep his place in the team – when they were fit again the established player would slot straight back in. Howard only made four more appearances that season and, after that, his Liverpool career was over.

Liverpool were founded in 1892 so there was a gap of 88 years before they fielded a black player, how typical is that? Howard was also the first black player at Blackburn Rovers (founded 1875, Howard played his first game for them in 1987, a gap of 112 years); and Newcastle (founded 1892, Howard’s debut was in 1982, 90 years later). So, not untypical at all really. Perhaps the only surprise is that the City of Liverpool, thanks to its status as a major port with strong connections to the Caribbean^[2]Not to beat around the bush, Liverpool was very heavily involved in the trade in enslaved Africans, had one of the longest established black communities in Britain, a factor that helped neighbours Tranmere Rovers field their first player of mixed heritage in 1946.

There are two black faces in the programme, both Manchester City players. Dave Bennett appears in an action shot from City’s recent game against Arsenal and Clive Wilson was singled out as ‘Star Man’ for a recent performance in City’s reserves. Bennett went on to make almost 400 appearances (mainly with three City teams, Manchester, Cardiff and Coventry) in a League career that lasted until 1991/92; while Wilson’s career stretched to almost 600 games before retiring in 2000. City had fielded their first black player as long ago as 1965.

Howard Gayle’s Liverpool career was short^[3]In total he made almost 300 first team appearances in spells with Fulham, Liverpool, Newcastle United, Birmingham City, Sunderland, Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers and Halifax Town but, as the first black player to make the breakthrough into the first team, it was significant.