‘On 18 September 1909 a remarkable occasion took place when Tottenham played Bradford City away at Valley Parade in the First Division. Bradford won the match 5-1 with Walter Tull scoring the Spurs goal. But that wasn’t what made it remarkable . Not only did Walter Tull play for Tottenham that day, but William Clarke was playing for Bradford City, which was probably the first time that two non-white men had played professional football against each other and it was certainly a first for the First Division of the Football League.’
Question answered?
No, because it didn’t happen!
Walter Tull and Willie Clarke were both of mixed heritage but, while Walter did play in the game on 18th September, Willie Clarke didn’t. Willie’s last game for Bradford City was on 21st November 1908, a game Bradford lost at Manchester United. He made no appearances for City during the 1909/10 season.
The quote that opened this post is from a book about Walter Tull but you can find this false story on the internet too. This is just one of the many pieces of fake history that will be debunked in the forthcoming book ‘Football’s Black Pioneers’.
So if 18th September wasn’t the date, when was?
We aren’t going to answer that here but one possible early example was reported in the Leeds Mercury on 25th January 1929:
The only trouble is that didn’t happen either!
Jack Leslie did appear in the Plymouth team on Saturday 26th January but Eddie Parris didn’t play for Bradford Park Avenue that day!
Eddie played in the 3rd Round tie against Hull City on 12th January, indeed this was his debut for Bradford and he scored the goal that secured a replay. He was also in the team that won the replay 3-1 on 16th to set up the home 4th Round tie against Plymouth Argyle. But, for whatever reason, he wasn’t in the team that faced Plymouth and his next game for Bradford wasn’t until 23rd February, away at Tottenham.
Never believe what you read in the papers!
So, for now, the question remains unanswered!
[source: English National Football Archive https://www.enfa.co.uk/]