We try to show on these pages programmes with a particular historic significance for a club’s first black player, first appearance, first goal scored, that sort of thing. There are some we know we are never going to be able to secure, it seems unlikely that the programme for Tranmere Rovers vs Rotherham, played on 31st August 1946, is ever going to pop up on Ebay! However, with a little bit of help from Football’s Black Pioneers, Tranmere produced a very nice double page spread during Black History Month 2021 that featured Albert Payne (the club’s first player of mixed heritage) and his cousin, George. The article appeared in the programme for Rovers home game against Northampton Town (another club we are unlikely to secure an original programme that features their first black player, Walter Tull, as his first game was in 1911)
In August 1946, when Albert Payne made his debut for Tranmere Rovers, barely 15 months had passed since the end of the War in Europe. (Victory in Europe, VE Day, was celebrated on 8th May 1945) and the War in the Far East hadn’t ended until 15th August 1945. Perhaps even more remarkable was that the game was played only a little over two years after Albert was wounded in the D Day landings in Normandy which started on 6th June 1944.
At first sight (or indeed second or third sight) the inclusion of this photo might appear odd – this man clearly was not a footballer! But he, Joseph Payne, played an important, if unwitting, part in the history of Tranmere Rovers. He was the grandfather of both Albert and George Payne, the first two players of mixed heritage to represent Rovers. Joseph was born on the Caribbean island of Barbados and the days of slavery would have been within the living memory of his parents who may themselves have been enslaved for part of their lives. Joseph went to sea as a young man, settled in Liverpool, married a local girl and the rest, as they say, is history.
Albert Payne, a grandson of Joseph, was born in Liverpool on 11th November 1923. As a youngster he was good at boxing as well as football and had a pretty good singing voice too. Any hopes he had of playing League football for Rovers were delayed by the outbreak of World War Two. He enlisted and was involved in the D Day landings in Normandy where he took a bullet in the shoulder. This ended his active service in France but he continued to serve in the Army Physical Training Corps. Every cloud has a silver lining they say and it was while he was stationed in Hereford that he met his wife, Doris. They married in 1947 and they stayed together until she died in 2003. Albert died in 2008.
Albert’s career was hampered by injury, he broke his leg at least once – after his debut on 31st August 1946 against Rotherham he made just nine more appearances in the Football League. His final game was on 19th March 1949, a 2-2 draw with Crewe Alexandra.
Albert went on to lead a full and interesting life after football including drinking sessions with George Best. Albert was working as a driver at the time and one of his regular trips was to the Chelsea Brasserie, a watering hole that George used to frequent. Although his work meant Albert had to stick to orange juice, he and George had many conversations about football and life. There is more about Albert in Football’s Black Pioneers.
Albert’s cousin, George Payne, became Tranmere Rovers’ second player of mixed heritage when he made his debut on 10th May 1947 in an away game against Hull. George’s career lasted considerably longer than Albert’s. He was a goalkeeper and he went on to make a total of 467 League and FA Cup appearances for Rovers. His last appearance for them was on 11th March 1962, a 7-2 win over Colchester – not a bad way to bow out! Towards the end of his career, in the 1960/61 season, George appeared fourteen times alongside the Nigerian, Elkanah Onyeali – an early example of two black or mixed heritage players appearing in the same team.
All this was many years before either of Rovers’ nearest neighbours had fielded a single black player (Everton did so in 1966, while Liverpool did not field ny black players until 1980.
After his playing days were over George and his wife ran a sweet kiosk locally. He died in 1987 after a long illness.
It was great that Tranmere paid tribute to their first two players of mixed heritage during Black History Month and the double page spread in the programme did the cousins proud.
You can read about the first black player for each of the 92 League clubs in Football’s Black Pioneers.
