Crystal Palace - Football's Black Pioneers

Can you name the first eleven Black players of the team you support?

I’ll hazard a guess that the answer to the question in the title is ‘no’. If that’s the case, and if you would like to find out, then Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) may be able to help!

SRtRC are marking thirty years of action with a powerful new initiative: The First 11 Black Players Project. They are partnering with UK football clubs, the PFA, the FA and the EFL to unearth a hidden history – honouring the first eleven Black players to represent each club. Their stories will be brought to life in a physical exhibition and embedded into SRtRC’s anti-racism workshops, turning legacy into a lesson for the future.

Here are links to some of the teams they have looked at:

It took Bill Hern and I four years to research Football’s Black Pioneers and we were only looking for the first Black player at each club, identifying the first eleven is a major undertaking, hats off to SRTRC!

Of course, a project like this is bound to throw up a few difficult questions. At Brentford, for instance, the name of Fred Corbett is not included. When we wrote our book, we thought long and hard about Fred. In the end, we included him as the first Black player at West Ham, Gillingham, Bristol City and, yes, Brentford. But, we acknowledged that there is no firm evidence that Fred was Black and that opinion is divided on whether he was. SRTRC’s decision not to include him is understandable (even if we don’t agree!).

Looking at the list of names for Crystal Palace I was shown, took me on a long and enjoyable trip down memory lane. I had fond memories of many players on the list and was reminded of names I had forgotten. But my reverie was interrupted by a question- was Rachid Harkouk (a name many older Palace fans will remember) Black? He was of mixed heritage and he played for the Algerian national team. His name isn’t on the list, maybe that’s right, maybe it isn’t, either way, he was definitely a memorable character regardless of his colour!

Want to know more?

For more information on the First 11 Black Players Project, please email info(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)theredcard.org

Black History Month 2025 – More Than a Game

Tony Collins (1957), Mark Lindsey (1973) and Vince Hilaire (1977) were, we believe, the first three Black players to represent Crystal Palace in the Football League.^[1]We could confuse things by mentioning Ricky Heppolette (Anglo/Indian heritage) and Rachid Harkouk (Algerian/Welsh heritage) who both played in the 1976/77 season and made their debuts before Vince … Continue reading They featured prominently in the exhibition at the launch event held at Selhurst Park: ‘More Than a Game: Celebrating Black Legacy in British Football’. It was a great exhibition and this display attracted a lot of interest.

The media team at Palace have produced a very nice film about the launch event and a talk I gave to a group of academy players.^[2]Before any Andrew Watson affcianados take umbrage, in my talk I described Arthur Wharton as the first Black professional footballer, the young lad interviewed was so pleased to hear about … Continue reading The film lasts a little over four minutes and even non-Palace fans may enjoy it:

https://replay.dropbox.com/share/SVSNBpFXajuaYCCE

I’m sure other clubs have organised similar events, if you know of any, please share them with us and we will be happy to give your club due credit on here.

References[+]

References
↑1	We could confuse things by mentioning Ricky Heppolette (Anglo/Indian heritage) and Rachid Harkouk (Algerian/Welsh heritage) who both played in the 1976/77 season and made their debuts before Vince but then we would have to get into all sorts of debates about whether they were ‘Black’.
↑2	Before any Andrew Watson affcianados take umbrage, in my talk I described Arthur Wharton as the first Black professional footballer, the young lad interviewed was so pleased to hear about Arthur’s Ghanaian heritage that he missed the word ‘professional’. I am aware that some people believe Andrew did accept payment from at least one of his clubs, thus making him a professional, but it’s a hotly disputed topic (see Andrew Watson’s Wikipedia entry if you want to delve deeper).

Tony Collins R.I.P.

We were truly saddened to hear of the passing of Tony Collins at the age of 94. Tony truly was a pioneer. He was the first black player at three clubs who are current members of the Football League (Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Watford) and at two further clubs who were in the League when he played for them (York City and Torquay United).

He also made history as the first black manager of a Football League club (Rochdale), before going on the play prominent roles at Bristol City, Leeds United, Manchester United and England).

A legend has passed.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/feb/08/tony-collins-football-league-first-black-manager-dies-at-94?CMP=share_btn_link

Russ’s Rambles – Football’s Black Pioneers

You know how some people like to watch cricket on the TV with the sound turned down and listen to the radio commentary? If you watch this edition of Russ’s Rambles then I’d recommend turning the pictures down and listening to the sound – neither Bill or I would claim to be photogenic!

Our chat with Russ Budden did indeed ‘ramble’ but I hope you’ll agree we covered some interesting ground.

Football’s Black Pioneers on the Adrian Goldberg talk show

It was a pleasure to chat to Adrian Goldberg about ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’. He was enthusiastic about the book which he described as ‘a simple but brilliant concept’ and ‘a really great book’. There are a couple of slips of the tongue on my part, I should clarify that Arthur Wharton was the first professional black player, Willie Clarke was the first black player to score in the English Football League and Charlie Williams was the only black man in his village not in the whole of Yorkshire!

Three of our Pioneers – Even the hairstyles tell a story!

Do you know who the pioneering black footballers pictured above are and the clubs they played for? If you don’t (or even if you do) keep your eyes open for ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’, the book that will tell the stories of the first black players to represent each of the 92 Football League clubs.

Tony Collins, still going strong at 93

Pioneering black footballer, Tony Collins, was the first black player at several Football League clubs in the 1940s and 1950s and also became the first black manager of a League club in 1960. He was recently interviewed by BBC North West: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/37698576 (you will need Adobe Flash Player to view the video).

Tony will certainly feature in our forthcoming book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’.

Brentford

Derby County

Lionesses

Middlesbrough

Sunderland

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