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.
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
| ↑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/ |
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