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Tag: Plymouth Argyle

Jack Leslie statue

7th October 2022 was a special day, Plymouth Argyle defeated Accrington 3-0 at home to consolidate their place at the top of League One. But it was a special weekend even before the match kicked off. Most Argyle fans would surely agree that the unveiling of a statue to Plymouth hero, Jack Leslie, was of longer lasting significance than the result of a single game. Which was the icing and which was the cake – a 3-0 win or a statue that will stand as a lasting and fitting tribute to someone who was scarcely heard of outside Plymouth until a couple of years ago? We know what we think!

Jack’s story is well known, now – called up to the England squad in 1925 but mysteriously uncalled up just days later when the selectors discovered he was black or, more likely, were heavily leant on by the powers that be who felt a black man could not represent England.

Bill Hern, co-author of Football’s Black Pioneers, attended the unveiling ceremony and it was an emotional day for all those who worked to secure justice for Jack.

It is such a privilege that our names, as authors of Football’s Black Pioneers and supporters of the campaign for the statue, appear on the plinth.

The Jack Leslie Campaign, who worked tirelessly to bring the statue about, have produced a video to celebrate the event:

https://jackleslie.co.uk/

Copies of the souvenir match day programme are still available but, in that time-honoured phrase, ‘hurry while stocks last’.

The unveiling secured considerable national publicity and the Football Association finally righted a long-standing wrong when they awarded Jack a posthumous cap:

“[Leslie] faced adversity because of the colour of his skin; he was deselected and never played for our country, so we’re delighted to award him with a posthumous honorary cap to recognise his career, his contribution to our game and wider society, and to right this historical wrong.” (FA statement)

Jack Leslie is every … where

I’m sure fans at many clubs will have a chant along the following lines (amended slightly for the sake of propriety!):

He’s here, he’s there, he’s every bloomin’ where, Roger Hoy, Roger Hoy

That’s the first version of it I remember singing lustily from the terraces of Selhurst Park. Roger Hoy was with Palace for just two seasons (1968-69 and 1969-70) before moving on to Luton Town – he played 62 games and scored 7 goals for us. Not the longest of spells but clearly he was someone we took to our hearts, albeit briefly.

A player with a more illustrious record than Roger was Jack Leslie. Jack played 400 games for Plymouth Argyle (1921-1934) and scored 137 goals. Infamously, he was called up to the England squad in 1925 but was then ‘un-called up’ when the powers that be decided the world wasn’t yet ready for a black England international.

Jack is finally getting the recognition he deserves and a statue of him is to be erected at Argyle’s ground in 2022. You can read the full story here:

https://jackleslie.co.uk/

But, while we wait for the unveiling, Jack is popping up every [bloomin’] where. He was mentioned on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip (at 9 minutes 25 seconds):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0010bxx/antiques-road-trip-series-23-episode-25

And on Coronation Street:

Anyone would think it was Black History Month!

Thirty three years after his death we can still say:

He’s here, he’s there, he’s every bloomin’ where, Jack Leslie, Jack Leslie!

The Verulam Radio sports blog with Tony Rice

Verulamium, a name to conjure with. It was the site of a Roman town in what is present day St Albans. I think I may have been taken there as a child, or perhaps I’m confusing it with Colchester. Anyway, Bill Hern and I definitely appeared on the Verulam Radio sports blog where we had a very enjoyable chat with Tony Rice. Some hosts are just great at putting you at your ease and Tony did that from the start.

We spoke to Tony only a couple of days after the sad news that Tony Collins (the first black player at Watford, among others) had died so, understandably, we spent some time discussing Tony’s amazing career. But as usual we strayed far and wide and in particular we ruminated on the importance of education, something that Tony feels as passionately about as we do.

We hope you enjoy listening to it.

https://radioverulam.com/podcast/bill-hern-and-david-gleave-authors-of-footballs-black-pioneers/

Support the campaign for a statue of Jack Leslie

Statues are very much in the news at the moment. Should we venerate them, tear them down, board them up to protect them from threats (real or imagined), or shuffle them off to a dusty museum?

But sitting alongside such questions is another one, should we put up new statues and, if so, who should they represent?

If we occupied high office no doubt we would stand up and proclaim “what the people want is…” Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view, we don’t occupy high office but we do know that what a growing number of ‘the people’ want, particularly if they live in Plymouth, is a statue commemorating Jack Leslie.

Born in London’s East End to a white mother and black father, Jack was a working class lad who made good as a footballer and had a long and successful career with Plymouth Argyle. So successful that he was called up to join the England squad for an international in Belfast in October 1925. Had he played he would have been the first footballer of colour to win an England cap, beating Viv Anderson to that honour by 53 years. Shamefully he was ‘un-called up’ by the selectors when they realised he was black. In Jack’s own words “They found out I was a darkie and I suppose that was like finding out I was foreign.”

A campaign is afoot to erect a statue in Jack’s honour in Plymouth. Plymouth City Council have already announced their intention to rename a square in the city after Jack (a square currently named after Sir John Hawkins, a ‘privateer’ whose activities included trading in enslaved people). But “what the people want…” is a statue of Jack Leslie.

The campaign has attracted the attention of the BBC who featured the story on their website https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53184615

You may also have heard about the campaign on the Today programme on Radio 4. If you missed it, you can listen to the item here:

If you would like more details of the campaign you can read about it here: https://jackleslie.co.uk/. Why not go further and add your voice to demands for a statue and, as today the campaign launches its crowdfunding appeal, a donation too?

Another thing you can do is pre-order a copy of Football’s Black Pioneers https://www.conkereditions.co.uk/2020/06/05/footballs-black-pioneers-pub-date-moved-forward-to-august-available-now-for-preorder where we talk about Jack and other football pioneers like him!

‘They found out I was a darkie’

On the morning of 6th October 1925 Jack Leslie was called into the office of Plymouth Argyle manager Bob Jack and given the great news that the International Selection Committee had met the previous day and chosen him for the England squad to take on Northern Ireland in Belfast on 24th October. He wasn’t in the starting eleven but was named as a travelling reserve. In their excitement it is unlikely either man gave a second thought to the fact that Jack was on the verge of becoming the first black player to represent England.

The selection of a Third Division player was unusual enough to attract comment regardless of his colour and so there was a lot about Jack’s call up in the local and national press. The Northern Whig, for instance, commented “Leslie who has scored plenty of goals for the Argyle, is an inside forward of great ability and will soon work his way into representative matches.”

But it wasn’t to be. On the day he should have been in Belfast he actually played for Plymouth, scoring twice in a 7-2 home win over Bournemouth.  He had been dropped from the England squad.

No explanation was ever given, indeed, in a move Donald Trump would have been proud of, the FA even denied he had ever been selected. In Jack’s own words , “I did hear, roundabout like, that the FA had come to have another look at me. Not at me football but at me face. They asked, and found they’d made a ricket. Found out about me daddy, and that was it. Me mum was English but me daddy was black as the Ace of Spades. They found out I was a darkie and I suppose that was like finding out I was foreign.”

Jack Lesley’s de-selection must rank as one of the most shameful incidents in the long and far from blemish-free history of the FA.

Shocking though it is, that story shouldn’t be all Jack is remembered for. He had a very successful club career and you will be able to read about it in ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’.

A group of fans are setting up a campaign to have a statue erected at Argyle’s ground, Home Park, and you can read about their plans here https://jackleslie.co.uk/