As far as we know, only one of the players to feature in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ has appeared on the panel show ‘Would I lie to you?’ Chris Kamara tried to persuade the opposing team that, not only was he born on Christmas Day, but that his parents had named him ‘Christmas’. To be honest, he did make it sound plausibe (a bit, if you’d had a few drinks) but the other team didn’t buy it – they pronounced it a lie.
It was partly true, Chris’s birthday is 25th December but he was not given the name Christmas. So we take the opportunity today to wish Chris Kamara a happy birthday.
As well as being the first black player at Swindon Town (and, by the reckoning of some, Brentford), Chris was also one the few black players to make a successful transition into management and, of course, is now a well-known TV pundit.
But Chris is truly a man of many talents as I hope you will agree after listening to this track:
Happy birthday, Chris, from the team at Football’s Black Pioneers and happy Christmas to anyone reading this during the festive season.