Joe Cooke was not Oxford United’s first black player, at least, in spite of what it says in Football’s Black Pioneers, we don’t think he was. We, and it must be said many United fans, believe there was another black player at Oxford before Joe, but that player has never, so far as we know, self-identified as black. We must respect his wishes and so Joe is the man who has the accolade.
When I started going to games in 1963 Oxford United were the new boys in the League, 1962/3 was their first season. They settled into Division 4, consolidated steadily, won promotion to Division 3 at the end of the 1964/65 season and then to Division 2 at the end of the 1967/68 season. So, the 1968/69 season was when they first crossed swords with my team, Crystal Palace. They lost their home fixture 2-0 at their Manor ground and I had a fine time in the away end. A 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park in March would have been less to my liking.
I don’t remember there being any black players on either side in either of those games and a quick look at the records books confirms that was the case. The one United player I do remember was Ron Atkinson. He had been with the club since their days in the Southern League and once they had joined the Football League he made over 400 appearances for them in all competitions. I think you would describe Ron as a ‘no nonsense’ centre back and, in my memory at least, the phrase ‘thighs like tree trunks’ could have been invented for him.
But Ron wasn’t black, of course (although he would earn a mention in the pages of Football’s Black Pioneers when he was manager of West Bromwich Albion during the time ‘the three degrees’, Batson, Cunningham and Regis, were playing for them), and the debut of United’s first black player, Joe Cooke, was still a decade in the future.
You have to scroll forward to 25th August 1979 before you reach Joe’s debut, away at Hull. We don’t have the programme for that game (yet) but he made his home debut a week later on 1st September 1979 against Barnsley and that is a programme we do have and Joe’s name is even in it.
It would be reasonable to describe Joe as a ‘seasoned pro’ by the time he arrived at Oxford. Eight seasons at Bradford City and a single one at Peterborough had preceded his stint at Oxford.
Bill Asprey, United’s recently appointed manager, refers to Joe in his programme notes:
‘After signing Joe Cooke from Peterborough I put him in the team and left out Paul [Berry] who had scored two goals the previous week.’
A brave decision which could have backfired, but didn’t as Joe scored in the 2-2 draw at Hull (Berry came on as sub and also scored). Joe drew a blank against Barnsley but Paul Berry didn’t as he scored the only goal of the game. 5,120 souls witnessed Joe make history (4,029 had witnessed his debut at Hull).
There was at least one famous name in the Barnsley line up – Norman ‘bite yer legs’ Hunter, winding down after a long and successful career at Leeds is named in the programme but didn’t actually play. Another player coming towards the end of a long career, this time appearing in the No.7 shirt for Oxford, was Ray Graydon. At the other end of his career, David Speedie, came on as a sub for Barnsley and. Mick McCarthy was in the Barnsley team too, two players with long illustrious careers ahead of them.
But, for all their achievements, there was only one person on the field that day who could claim to be Oxford United’s first black player. Joe was at Oxford for two seasons, made 78 appearances and scored 13 goals, hardly prolific, but he made history nonetheless – – take a bow, Joe Cooke.
Joe was born on the Caribbean island of Dominica on 15th February 1955, the only one of our Pioneers to be born there although two other ‘black Pioneers’, Paul Canoville (Chelsea) and Roly Gregoire (Sunderland), had Dominican heritage. Visit our ‘where were they from’ page to find out more about the heritage of our black pioneers https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/footballs-black-pioneers-where-were-they-born/.