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Tag: Cardiff City

Tommy Best – A 75th anniversary

The City of Cardiff is one of several British cities that can trace a significant Black population back to the 19th century. Many people of African or Caribbean descent lived in the area known as Tiger Bay, an area which included within it Butetown and the Cardiff docks.

The relationship between the Black residents of the area and other areas of the city with a predominantly White population was often uneasy. In 1919 so called ‘race riots’ broke out in several British cities and Cardiff was prominent among them. Organisations the Black population might have looked to for support and protections were often among the worst culprits or, at the very least, stood aside and did nothing. The National Union of Seamen was active in supporting the interests of seamen against Government attacks – but only if they were White seamen. Shockingly, the police were also culpable, arresting Black people for defending themselves but generally not their White attackers who almost invariably had instigated the trouble.  Three men died during the ‘riots’ in Cardiff, one of a fractured skull, allegedly, as a result of a blow to the head administered by a policeman.

But Tommy Best, Cardiff City’s first Black player, was not from Cardiff. For a Cardiff-born Black pioneer you need look no further than Bob Delgado. Bob’s family had certainly been affected by the 1919 ‘riots’,  his grandfather had escaped through a skylight when his house was attacked by a White mob.

Tommy Best

Bob was born three months after Tommy made his Cardiff debut on 30th October 1948. Tommy’s birthplace,  Milford Haven, is about 100 miles to the west of Cardiff, it was (and still is) an area with an almost exclusively White population. Tommy and his four siblings would certainly have been very noticeable in the small town.

Tommy served in the Royal Navy during World War Two and it was while his ship was docked in Belfast for repairs that Tommy achieved the first of several career milestones. He appeared as a guest player for Drumcondra in a cup tie against Belfast Celtic, he scored and impressed the Belfast team so much that they offered him a contract. Tommy thus became, we believe, the first Black player to play professionally in the top tier of Irish football. Tommy’s military service subsequently saw him posted to Queensland, Australia, where he played for Thistle FC. Tommy’s post-War career in football is covered in the Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers chapters of Football’s Black Pioneers.

In October 2023 Bill Hern, co-author of ‘Pioneers’, contributed to a BBC Wales programme commemorating the 75th anniversary of Tommy’s Cardiff debut:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67255682

We like to feature programmes from games that our Pioneers featured in but, so far, although a small number of Cardiff programmes for 1948/49 and 1949/50 (the two season Tommy featured in the Cardiff team) are available to buy, none are from games Tommy actually played in. We will keep looking!

It makes me very proud to have put St Lucia on the football map

There are now many footballers of Caribbean heritage playing in the English Football League but of course it was not always that way. Hull City for example did not field a single black player until 1986 but when they did so that pioneering first black player was Ray Daniel the son of St Lucian parents who spent much of his childhood on the island.

Ray features in Football’s Black Pioneers – the Stories of the First Black Players to Represent the 92 League Clubs. Bill Hern talked to Ray about his memories and feelings for the island of his parents’ birth.

His parents Joseph and Cecily Daniel nee President were born in St Lucia and came to London in 1960 seeking a better future for themselves. Finding the cost of living in London too high they moved 35 miles north to Luton where they settled. Ray was born there on 10th December 1964.

Joseph and Cecily felt that Ray and his brother would fare better if they were brought up with Cecily’s parents in St Lucia so Ray was sent there and spent much of his childhood with his grandparents, returning to England in 1972.
Ray recalled fond memories of his time on the island, “it was safe, free and uncomplicated” and “just how a child should be brought up. We looked after each other as a community.”

Educated at Belvidere School, Ray enjoyed his schooldays and recalls the excitement of going to the dock when ocean liners arrived. All in all it was an idyllic childhood but after seven years on the island, Ray’s parents decided it was time for him to return to England. Any disappointment he felt about leaving his grandparents and the freedom and sunshine of St Lucia were overcome by his excitement at seeing his parents after so long apart.

Ray settled quickly in Luton and immersed himself in his new environment. One of his most significant discoveries was football and he soon found that he excelled at the game. In St Lucia he had played cricket, so football was a new activity to him.

He shone for a local boys club to the extent that Luton Town signed him as a full-time professional when he was 18 years old.

Luton were in the top Division (what is now the Premier League) when Ray was selected as substitute in a crucial game at home to fellow relegation strugglers Sunderland. He got onto the pitch as a replacement for Wayne Turner but the match was a disaster for Luton who lost by three goals to one.

Ray made his full debut in Luton’s penultimate game of the season on 9th May 1983. It could not have been a tougher baptism, against second-placed Manchester United in front of 34, 213 people at Old Trafford. Luton lost 3-0 but won their remaining game to secure their First Division status.

The following season saw Ray spending time on loan with Third Division Gillingham before returning to Luton where he performed well but could never hold down a regular place in the team and in June 1986 he joined Hull City then in the Second Division (now known as the Championship).

Thus it was that on 23rd August 1986 Hull City, 82 years after it was formed, fielded a black player for the first time. Ray had a very happy debut as the ‘Tigers’ beat West Bromwich Albion 2-0.

Hull City vs West Bromwich Albion, match day programme, 23rd August 1986

Ray played 61 times for Hull before joining Cardiff City where his manager Len Ashurst described him as a “model professional.” In November 1990 Ray joined Portsmouth where he had perhaps his greatest success, an appearance in the FA Cup semi-final against the mighty Liverpool in front of over 40,000 fans at Villa Park, Birmingham. So near yet so far, Portsmouth held Liverpool to a goalless draw only to lose the tie on penalties.

Ray’s last game in the Football league was for Walsall in January 1997. In a career spanning 15 seasons Ray played 334 games and scored 13 goals. No St Lucian has come anywhere near this sort of record either before or since and Ray can lay claim to being St Lucia’s most successful ever footballer.

Had football been the world-wide game that it is nowadays there is no doubt that Ray would have been selected for the land of his parents’ birth. When asked if he would have liked to have played for St Lucia he unhesitatingly replied, “without a doubt.” He said he would even overcome his fear of flying in order to wear the St Lucian shirt.

Given the length of his career Ray would almost certainly have made a record number of appearances for St Lucia and would have also knocked in a few goals.

Ray has only been back to St Lucia once since 1974 and that was a sad occasion because his father died before he could get there. He has very few remaining relatives in St Lucia and found the island very different from the place he remembered but that might be because he saw it through the eyes of a man rather than a carefree child who enjoyed the safety and freedom of an idyllic childhood.

When asked how it felt to be the first St Lucian to make an impact in English football Ray admitted modestly that he had not realised he holds a special place in black British football history as the first black player for Hull but it makes him very proud to have put St Lucia on the football map.

Given the current parlous state of the St Lucia national team it is good to remember that the island once produced a player like Ray Daniel.[1]You can see more about Ray here: https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/hull-city-1986-87/ and he gets a fleeting mention here too: https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/chelsea-1981-82/

References

References
↑1 You can see more about Ray here: https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/hull-city-1986-87/ and he gets a fleeting mention here too: https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/chelsea-1981-82/

Armed Forces Day – Footballers Who Served

The contribution made by black men and women to all aspects of British life is often not given the prominence it deserves. Whether it has been in helping establish the NHS, or running our transport and postal services (and many more besides), Britain wouldn’t be the country it is today without the input of unsung black heroes and heroines working alongside their white colleagues.

‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ will remember the first black player to represent each of the EFL (English Football League) and Premier League clubs. We will remember their contribution on the football field.

But several also served in the military.

As today is Armed Forces Day, we pay particular tribute to Walter Tull, the best known of our pioneering footballers to fight for his country.

In addition to being the first black player to represent Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town, Walter served in the Army and rose to the rank of Lieutenant. He was killed in action in France on 25th March 1918.

Walter wasn’t the only footballing pioneer to don a uniform. Tommy Best (Cardiff and Queens Park Rangers), Tony Collins (Crystal Palace, Norwich and Watford), Roy Brown (Stoke City) and Albert Payne (Tranmere Rovers) were among those who served during World War Two.

We salute them.