Leeds United - Football's Black Pioneers

Brighton Rock – The podcast

Bill Hern certainly gets around, this week he was ‘in’ Brighton – not literally of course, Bill is a law abiding citizen! He spoke to Russell Guiver and David Townsend who run the Brighton Rock blog. Funnily enough Russell and David are Brighton fans. Brighton Rock has been described as “Probably the best podcast you will hear concerning Brighton fc. Very insightful, hosted by a presenter who is passionate about our club.”

It didn’t take long for the conversation to get round to a discussion of Brighton’s first black player and it soon became evident that Dave Busby (for it was he) had slipped under the radar of both Russell and David. This is precisely why we felt it was important to write ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ now before the contributions of players like Dave are completely lost to history.

You can listen to their wide-ranging discussion here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/footballs-black-pioneers-with-guest-bill-hern/id1504890714?i=1000499448132

Keeping alive the memory of Albert Johanneson

During the four years it took to research ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ we have met and spoken to many wonderful people, players themselves and family members. Few have been more supportive than Alicia and Yvonne, the daughters of Albert Johanneson. Although Albert wasn’t the first black player at Leeds United it would have been impossible to write the book without referring to him. He was one of those pioneers who played during the most difficult years and was on the receiving end of the most vile racist abuse. His experiences undoubtedly contributed to his sad early death.

There is Facebook page aimed at keeping his memory alive and they have been kind enough to mention our book: https://www.facebook.com/groups/albertjohanneson/?post_id=10158021440406284

Bill Hern on BBC Radio York

Albert Johanneson – **Not** the first black player at Leeds United

On 30th July, Bill Hern continued his (virtual) tour of the nation’s radio stations when he was interviewed by Jules Bellerby on BBC Radio York. Unsurprisingly the interview focused on Yorkshire clubs with Jules’ team, Leeds United, first up for discussion. The pair also talked about the chances of Harrogate Town making it into the book. Harrogate play Notts County in the play-off final on Sunday 2nd August, three days after the interview and Bill explained that chapters have been written covering each of the teams.

You can listen to the interview here:

If you want to find out who was the first black player at Leeds United (and 91 other clubs!) why not pre-order a copy of ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’ here:

https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/product/footballs-black-pioneers-subscriber-copies-for-pre-order/