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.
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!