History-Football

Black Stars in UK Football: Are we gaining or losing ground?

Phil Vasili

Historically, it was because British people lived, worked and colonised parts of Africa, South Asia, Australasia and the Caribbean that peoples from these continents and regions came to Britain and played football.

Walter Daniel Tull

Walter Daniel Tulll

One of the earliest players in the 20th century was Walter Daniel Tull, born of a Barbadian father and English mother. He played for the Tottenham Hotspurs, the biggest club in London. Newspapers of the day described Tull as skilful, cool and 'very good indeed'. One journalist predicted 'Tull would make one of the finest wings in the country.'

Unfortunately the prediction wasn't realised. A combination of prejudice and weakness by those in charge at the club's playing field,White Hart Lane, conspired to deprive Tull of the same chance to prove himself as his white team-mates. After sustained racist abuse in a match at Bristol at which, uncharacteristically for the time, even the match reporter felt obliged to make it his lead, it seems Tull was dropped and later offloaded in a classic example of cowardice. Rather than stand behind their player the Spurs' directors decided to remove him.

Tull was signed for Northampton [club] by Herbert Chapman, a former Spurs player, in October 1911. After a slow start Tull established himself as a dependable, classy halfback. Yet it was in a more deadly competition, the first world war, that the full repertoire of his talents came to fruition. Enlisting in 1914, by 1917 he had been promoted to second lieutenant, the first Black soldier to be commissioned a combat officer in the British Army.

Tull was recommended for the Military Cross for an act of heroism in Italy in January 1918. Yet he never received his medal and formal recognition for his bravery. A few months later he was killed at the second Battle of the Somme, March 25 1918, aged 29, his remains decomposing on the battlefield.

For 81 years the only physical reference to Tull the soldier was his name on the memorial wall of the Fauborg-Amiens war cemetery near Arras in northern France. Then, in July 1999, Northampton Town dedicated a memorial garden to Tull's memory. His example of achievement through struggle was rewarded by a publicly subscribed sculptured wall. One side detailing his footballing and military accomplishments. The other side, the front of the memorial, carrying this epitaph:

Through his actions, WDJ Tull ridiculed the barriers of ignorance that tried to deny people of colour equality with their contemporaries. His life stands testament to a determination to confront those people and those obstacles that sought to diminish him and the world in which he lived. It reveals a man, though rendered breathless in his prime, whose strong heart still beats loudly.

The road leading into the team's Sixfields Stadium has been renamed Walter Tull Way. As yet he still has not posthumously received his Military Cross.

Arthur Wharton

Arthur Wharton

Yet Walter Tull wasn't the first Black player in the English top division, that honour goes to Accra-born Arthur Wharton [son of a Scottish father and African-Grenadian mother]. Wharton [who came to to Britain in 1875], had a unique sports career from 1882 to the 1910s. Perhaps his most memorable match was as goalkeeper for Preston North End, a notable Victorian team, in the Football Association (FA) Cup semi-final of 1887. Wharton was also a champion runner, having set a 100 yards record of 10 seconds in his triumph at the national championships at Stamford Bridge in July 1886. This was later accepted as the first world record in the event. He retained the title in the summer of 1887 following it with the professional 'world championship' won at Sheffield in 1887.

Wharton, like Tull, also died under unhappy circumstances. Afflicted by a wasting disease he died in 1930. For 62 years he lay anonymously beneath the grass of Edlington Cemetery near Doncaster until money was raised for a headstone.

Tull and Wharton, were the first generation of Black footballers that played before and during the first world war. They encountered a racism that took a slightly different form to that faced by Black players today. We've already noted the existence of racist abuse. Additionally, until at least the 1950s, nearly all Black footballers had the adjective 'darkie' preceding their name.

Team photographs showed a more covert and subconscious playing out of prejudice. The lone Black player would usually be sitting on the edge of the row, sometimes on the floor. This contrasted sharply with the inclusive ideology of team sport in which a spirit of togetherness - on the principle of united we stand, divided we fall - was a prerequisite for success. Thus, subjectively, for the Black participant, sport provided an arena where you were judged on your ability. Objectively, however, as a person of colour in a white society very self conscious of its image of itself, a Black footballer could never invisibly merge into the whole.

Other "firsts"
Wharton and Tull were not the only pioneer Black players whose careers began before the First World War. Among others, John Walker was acclaimed as the first Black (Scot) to play in both the Scottish and English Football Leagues for Hearts and Lincoln. The Cother brothers of Watford were the first Anglo-Asian professionals. And, in 1899, the first African touring team to visit Britain - possibly the first football tourists from anywhere - came from Basutoland, South Africa.

While I've referred briefly to forms of racism faced by Wharton and Tull we should not reconstruct their lives as victims. Locally they - and some others like the Cother brothers at Watford - were local celebrities often popular, sometimes revered.

Yet the communities in which they lived and which paid for their privileged lives, when discussing their hero, seemed to express an ambivalent and contradictory attitude of praising the footballer while demeaning the Black. Local newspapers revelled in the existence of nationally-known personalities conferring kudos and attracting cultural capital. While simultaneously and automatically using analogies, references and images that would confirm and affirm the world as a racial hierarchy with the so-called 'Anglo-Saxon race' at the head of the evolutionary continuum with Blacks in the rear.

When Arthur signed for a Lancashire club in the 1890s his arrival was heralded as a 'capture' of 'big game' by the hunter-manager. This analogous reference to the leisure pursuits of Britain's colonial elite in Africa and India was not unconscious or coincidental. Blacks, for many Victorians, were part human part animal.

Black footballers in the interwar period
The second generation of Black footballers playing after the first world war consolidated their presence in the British game through being selected on national teams. In 1931 Eddie Parris of Bradford became the first (sic) Black British international when selected for Wales against Ireland. Another Black Welshman, Tommy Best, was picked to play for Wales schoolboys. Tewfik Abdallah an Egyptian international, played for Derby County between 1920-22 while another Egyptian international, Mohamad Latif, signed for Glasgow Rangers in 1934.

This development in the UK was replicating an international phenomenon. In South America, in particular Uruguay and Brazil, players of African origin were becoming international stars: Andrade for Uruguay in the 1930 World Cup; Leonidas for Brazil in the 1938 World Cup finals. Indeed a Chilean/Peruvian select team, with a number of Black footballers, played Celtic at Parkhead in 1933 narrowly losing 2-1.

It could be argued that during this interwar period England fielded its first footballer of colour of Anglo-Chinese origin, Hong Y 'Frank' Soo. He played in wartime internationals during the 1940s. But was he the first to be selected? A decade earlier, claimed Londoner Jack Leslie reminiscing with journalist Brian Woolnough in the 1980s, he had been picked for England while playing for Plymouth in the 1920s and 30s. The offer was soon rescinded when those at the very top of the FA had realised their selectors had chosen a Black man.

Modern times
By the sixties and seventies more and more Black players were playing professional football. But selection for prestigious honours eluded them. There were no Black players in either the 1966 or 1970 England World Cup teams. John Barnes became the first, featuring against Argentina in the 1986 World Cup.

In 1965 South African Albert Johanneson became the first Black player to appear in a FA Cup final, for Leeds United against Liverpool. The following year Mike Trebilcock, a Black Cornishman, became the first Black player to score - twice - in a FA Cup final, for Everton against Sheffield Wednesday. Clyde Best, a centre forward from Bermuda, captured sports page column inches at the end of the 60s with his appearances for West Ham.

In Britain, by the dawn of the 70s third and fourth generation players of colour had become household names by establishing themselves as regulars at first division clubs. Paul Wilson, a Pakistani-Scot played for Celtic between 1967-78 made over 214 appearances, gaining an international cap against Spain in 1975. Laurie Cunningham, in April 1977, became the first Black player to be selected for an England adult team when named in the Under 21 [years] squad. The following year Viv Anderson was acclaimed as the first Black footballer to play for a full England team. Finally in 1995 Paul Ince became the first Black man to captain England.

These firsts in the 1970s were reflected in the prevalence and excellence of Black players throughout the divisions of the Football League. And officially recognised by players themselves through their union, the Professional Footballers Association. In 1976 both Tony Whelan of 4th division Rochdale and Clive Charles of 3rd division Cardiff City were the first Blacks chosen 'best players' by fellow professionals.

The achievements of the seventies Black players - Wilson, Cunningham, Anderson, Ince, Whelan and Charles - are important symbolically. They overturned two damaging stereotypes that had persevered for decades: that Black players were not consistent and that they could not be relied upon for leadership.

Overcoming prejudice and abuse
The stereotype of the lazy, gifted, inconsistent Black player emerged as a distinct profile after the second world when the football industry, like other British industries, was short of labour and looked abroad in colonies and former colonies. As the numbers of Black players increased so did the myths surrounding them.

The 1950s saw a greater number of migrant players of colour making their name in the UK. These included South Africans Steve Mokone and Gerry Francis, and West African Tesilimi 'Thunder' Balogun; Jamaicans Lindy Delapenha and Gil Heron (father of jazz musician Gil Scott Heron) for Middlesbrough and Celtic. And with the appearance of greater number of Black players came the hardening and consolidation of rumour, hearsay and myth into fully-blown cultural stereotypes.

In an inverse proportion to the growing ethnic and cultural diversity of British football all Black players were now defined by a particular set of rigid stereotypes: 'lacking bottle [nerve]'; not liking heavy grounds and winter weather etc. Their individual traits were scarcely noticed.

Balogun, from tropical Nigeria did not like playing in snow while Heron, a golden gloves boxing contender from Detroit, didn't mind the cold weather and was culturally suited to the physical side of the game. In contrast, Londoner Cyrille Regis was encouraged to add a physical dimension to his technically-gifted play; Albert Johanneson, raised in the hard, uncompromising backstreets of a South African township was a ball-playing winger who didn't like being kicked up in the air every other tackle, and subjected to a torrent of abuse by white opposing players.

Comedian Charlie Williams who played in defence for Doncaster Rovers in the 1950s recalls his reaction as a lone Black player with little or no support available from team-mates to the racist abuse he'd face on match days.

"It were always black this and black that which didn't really bother me a great deal, in fact it made me even more determined. I felt sorry for the centre forward . It were nowt to do with him but he were going to get some hammer. Ball might get past me. Player might get past me. But not at the same time!... I used to laugh. They'd shout "get back to your own country" but it were only a short ride home to Doncaster!

Successes but few real gains
Today's Black professionals makeup a significant proportion of football players [Estimates vary from 15 to 25 per cent]. Working and living conditions have improved immensely.

Yet, many barriers to success exist. There are few Black managers and coaches and even less at boardroom level. The fan base of most clubs does not reflect the ethnic communities in which they are situated; for example, there are still very few Asians playing professionally. There are still daily instances of racism at matches. Real problems of integration exist at amateur level.

Nevertheless, there is a growing anti-racist movement among fans and players across the country. There are calls for Black representation in boardrooms and management offices, coaching staffs and referees. "Kick racism out of football" is a popular slogan. These efforts, coupled with wider recognition of the contributions of Black players to British football, give hope for the future.