A story of the Windrush Generation
Viv Anderson was born in Nottingham on 29th July 1956. His parents, Audley and Myrtle were both from Jamaica. Audley came to England, stepping off the SS Auriga at Plymouth, Devon, on 12th October 1954. The voyage of 4,508 miles (7,255 kilometres) on the steam ship would have taken around two weeks and the fare is likely to have been over £1,000 in today’s prices. Audley traveled by steam train to Nottingham where his sister-in-law was already living. Myrtle, also travelling on the Auriga, arrived in Plymouth on 24th March 1955. It would be nice to think that Audley traveled to Plymouth to meet her. For both of them the journey would have been arduous, the crossing possibly rough, and the temperature on arrival colder than anything they would have been used to in Jamaica. Their experiences were typical of the Windrush generation.
The Empire Windrush had steamed from the Caribbean to England just a few years earlier, arriving at Tilbury near London in June 1948. The Andersons were just two of the increasing number of people from the Caribbean who travelled to England in her wake.
If the Anderson’s journey was typical, so too was the ‘welcome’ they received. Myrtle, a qualified teacher in Jamaica, was told when she applied for teaching work that her qualifications counted for nothing in the UK. When she did manage to get a job in a school it was as a dinner lady. Later she trained to be a nurse and worked in the NHS.
Events took a nasty turn in Nottingham in August 1958 when white racists attacked the small black community. This was described as a ‘race riot’ which possibly doesn’t give the full story. A gang of white men attacked a black man who had been seen in the company of a white woman. A crowd of over 1,000 quickly gathered and there was widespread fighting and much blood was spilled (according to the Nottingham Evening Post “the whole place was like a slaughterhouse”), mercifully no one was killed but reports suggest eight people were taken to the city hospital for treatment. The white racists who started the trouble were perhaps taken unawares by the strength of opposition they faced, the Jamaican community in particular made it clear they were not prepared to be pushed around.
Although the Andersons are unlikely to have been directly involved, they must have had concerns for their own safety and, as any parent will understand, that of their son. Myrtle was heavily pregnant with their second child and there must have been times when the couple doubted the wisdom of their decision to come to a country where the welcome was so hostile. Viv has said his childhood was relatively untroubled by discrimination and his parents must take a lot of credit for protecting him from the worst excesses of the environment they lived in.
Of all the players featured in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’, Viv Anderson was by far the most successful. At the age of 18 he made his debut for his home town club, Nottingham Forest, on 21st September 1974. He would go on to make 430 appearances for them including two European Cup (now the Champions League) finals (both won). Forest also won the Division One title (now the Premiership) during Viv’s time with the club. He would go on to play for Arsenal, Manchester United, Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and, briefly, Middlesbrough in a career that spanned 22 seasons, making 768 appearances in all competitions.
On 29th November 1978 Viv became the first black player to win a full international cap for England when he played at Wembley against Czechoslovakia (a match England won 1-0). He went on to win a total of thirty caps.
As his playing career was coming to an end Viv became the player-manager at Barnsley and, after one season, was recruited by former England colleague, Brian Robson, to be deputy manager at Middlesbrough. They remained in charge for seven seasons, five of them in the Premiership, and reached two League Cup finals.
Viv was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in 2000. He is now the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Playonpro, an organisation that helps ex-players, sportsmen and women, come to terms with their new life when their sporting career comes to an end.