Department of Sociology:
Sports Resources

Fact Sheet 4: Black Footballers in Britain

This is an archive of the resource which were offered by the Centre for the Sociology of Sport. The Centre has now closed and these pages are no longer updated.

1. Introduction

1.1 Despite the lengthy history of black communities in Britain, it was not until the late 1970s that the number of black players within the professional ranks of British football gradually began to increase to significant numbers. This marked the real beginnings of a break-through fro black players which was to lead to the game in Britain becoming more ethnically diverse, although racism in football during the seventies and eighties also became a serious social problem. However, it would be wrong to suggest that the history of black players within the British game can be traced back only to the late 1960s. There has actually been a small, and largely unacknowledged, black player contingent in the British game since the formative years of competitive professional football in Britain back in the late nineteenth century.

2. Before the First World War

2.1 Much of what we know about black players in British football before 1950 comes from the work of an historian, Phil Vasili. We rely largely on Vasili for much of the material on this period which is presented here. The rapid development of the professional game in both England and Scotland coincided with the rise to sporting fame of Arthur Wharton, believed to have been England's first black professional league player (See, Vasili,1993 & 2000). Wharton was of Euro-African descent, coming from a middle class family. He entered the professional game in 1889, having joined Preston North End three years previously. Wharton was initially signed as a goalkeeper, although he could also play outfield, as a winger. Indeed, Wharton's sporting talents also extended onto the athletics track, where he gained national recognition as A.A.A.100 yards champion in 1886, becoming the first British athlete to run under ten seconds in both heats and finals.

2.2 Wharton enjoyed popular celebrity status, and was interviewed by the local press and in Athletic Journal', at that time one of the leading sports magazines in this country. However, Wharton was to face exclusion by the Euro-African elite which disregarded his "hero of the masses" status. He was also the subject of racial discrimination, when in 1893, he applied for a job working in the Gold Coast Colonial Administration. Wharton's rejection from the post was at odds with established colonial civil service policy, which had tended to favour young, university educated, athletic and well built males.

3. The Inter-War Years

3.1 During the period between 1919 and 1939, a small number of black players came to the fore, playing for a variety of British clubs. Unfortunately, their efforts have either been largely unrecognised or forgotten, even by the clubs they played for. Their experiences suggest that they, too, were the victims of racial prejudice and discrimination, both on and off the field.

3.2 Illustrative is the case of Jack Leslie, a London born Anglo-African player with Plymouth Argyle in the 1920s and 1930s. Leslie had made a strong impression as a goal-scorer, managing to score more than 400 goals for Plymouth between 1921 and 1935. He was once, erroneously, informed by his manager, Bob Jack, that he had been selected to play for England. However, he was never to make the national team. 'He must have forgotten I was coloured' Leslie remarked ruefully later (Vasili, 2000: 62). Sixty years on from that humiliation, Leslie was still convinced that it was the fact that he was black that prevented him from making the England side. He was probably right.

3.3 In 1938, Northampton Town signed John Parris, who later went on to play for Wales, thus becoming the first black player to represent any of the home national sides. However, his achievements have not been widely celebrated. A player who could have equalled the prominence of Wharton and Parris, had not the war interrupted the early years of his career, is R.H. Brown, who signed as an apprentice for Stoke City in 1938. He didn't make his league debut until the resumption of the League competition in 1946. He spent only a year playing alongside the lauded Stanley Matthews, who was transferred to Blackpool in 1947.

3.4 Some Asian and African players arrived in Britain at this time and played in bandaged feet, as was their local custom. One such player was Abdul Salim, an Indian national, who was on the fringe of first team football at Celtic just prior to the Second World War. Tewfik 'toothpick' Abdullah, one of a trio of Egyptians who played in the Football League between 1911-39, also played in bare feet for Sporting Club Cairo and the Egpytian Army. However, he managed to make the transition to boots, signing for Derby County in 1920. His two compatriots were H. Hegazi, a centre forward for Cambridge University, Dulwich Hamlet and Fulham, and M. Mansour, who played in goal for Queens Park Rangers during 1938-39.

4. The Post War Years - 1946 to the Early 1960s

4.1 As the game became more widely played within the European-colonised areas of Africa and Asia, so the potential supply of black footballing talent from those continents began to increase. In addition to this new development, the late forties saw the beginnings of an influx of immigrants arriving from the British colonies, most of whom had been persuaded to leave their country of origin in order to meet the growing labour shortage in Britain. This was to have an impact (albeit, limited at that time) upon professional football in this country. As is, in many ways, the case with today's transfer market, the shortage of quality home players led to increasing competition and inevitably pushed transfer fees upwards beyond the scope of many clubs. This moved many club scouts to look abroad for less expensive 'foreign' talent and thus, increased the numbers of non-British born black players playing in England.

4.2 One of the most popular and successful African-Caribbean players playing in the Football League during this period was Jamaican-born Lloyd 'Lindy' Delapenha, who played for Middlesbrough between 1950-57. A great favourite at Ayresome Park, Lindy managed to score 90 goals in 260 appearances for the club, having previously played for Arsenal (as an amateur) and for Portsmouth during their 1948-49 League championship winning campaign, featuring in seven games. Another black player who made his name during this period was Charlie Williams, who made 158 appearances for Doncaster Rovers between 1948-49 and 1957-58. Barnsley-born Williams was signed from local league side Upton Colliery in October 1948 and made his league debut the following season. Williams achieved even greater fame during the early seventies as a television entertainer, starring in Granada Television's The Comedians and ATV's The Golden Shot.

4.3 Giles Heron became the first African-Caribbean player to play first team football for Celtic, scoring on his debut during the 1951-52 season. He was nicknamed the 'black flash' because of his speed. However, like many black professionals in Britain playing at this time, his achievements are almost entirely overlooked. Celtic's historical publications make no mention of Heron's time at the club. Heron was criticised in Glasgow for being unable to transfer his pugilistic tenacity (Heron had previously been both an athlete and a boxer) onto the football field, being described in the local press as"lacking resource when challenged". Similar judgments made on the basis of racial stereotypes became commonplace and, as a consequence, black players playing in Britain became dogged with a purely negative image in the eyes of many top coaches and administrators over a number of decades.

4.4 Perhaps the most famous black player in England during the sixties was Albert Johanneson, a South African signed by Leeds United in 1961. During this time Leeds also signed another talented black South African, Gerry Francis, but it was Johanneson who made the bigger impact at a time when Leeds were establishing themselves as one of Europe's major footballing forces. English clubs actually favoured white South Africans, feeling they would better 'fit in' in Emnglish football culture. In 1965, Johanneson became the first black player to play in an F.A. Cup Final. At a time when the appearance of a black player at the top level in England was still very much a novelty, Johanneson was often subject to racial abuse, both by spectators and by opposing players. Such racism was often dismissed by club staff as nothing more than 'name calling'. Johanneson retired in 1970, having been unable to gain the rewards and the recognition of some of his contemporaries. In the late 1980s, Johanneson was 're-discovered' by the tabloid press living in poverty in Leeds, his years as a great local player forgotten or ignored. He died an early death, a great player allowed to decline in retirement.

4.5 Other English clubs, both professional and amateur, were also instrumental in bringing black players from Africa into the British game during the fifties and the early sixties. Watford signed a number of such players during this time, while Coventry City signed the Nigerian international, Steve Mokone. Tranmere Rovers also had a Nigerian on their books, Elkaneh Onyeali, and Cambridge City had two African international players on their staff, John Mensah from Ghana and Francis Fayemi from Nigeria. Sadly, their impact on the British game was limited and did nothing to eliminate the racial myths which continued to dog black players over the following years. However, the increasing post-war immigration of black people to Britain was to have a profound effect on football particularly when during the 1970s and 1980s, the number of young black males born and raised in Britain increased substantially.

5. The 1970s and Early 1980s: A 'Black Explosion' in Football

5.1 For any keen young black football followers living in Britain during the 1960s their local heroes were likely to be white British players. Internationally, of course, Pele, Eusebio, Garrincha and others will have been known to many black Britons especially following the 1966 World Cup Finals, held in England. This local situation began to change during the late sixties and early seventies. As James Walvin has observed:

"Young blacks in Britain grew up in communities which were often already influenced by the attachments and loyalties to local football teams. So many of the older stadiums in the urban areas were close to those industrial complexes and their working-class communities which had traditionally given them such loyal support throughout the century. It was then perfectly natural that many young blacks should gravitate towards supporting their local teams in the major cities. It was also predictable that many of these youths would seek in football - and in other athletic activity - the challenges and success which seemed elusive in other walks of life". (Walvin, 1986: 71)

Gradually, as black participation in the British football world increased (as it also did in athletics and boxing), so too did the number of black role models, the focus of which would provide young black footballers in Britain with greater inspiration.

5.2 Clyde Best proved to be such a role model for many black youngsters. A powerful center-forward born in Bermuda, Best entered the first team at West Ham in 1969 and played alongside England World Cup heroes such as Moore and Hurst. In the early 1970s, West Ham United had a number of aspiring young black footballers on their books - but Best as the most promising. At a time of increasing television coverage of football, Best's exploits in the West Ham side were relayed to a wider public, which included an audience of aspiring, talented black footballers. A young local, black footballer in Leicester at the time remembered Best's influence:

"When I was younger there weren't any black players. I saw that football was dominated by white players and just run by white clubs, and stuff, and when I saw Clyde Best for the first time on TV as a black player it made me think, 'Black men can get into the Football League if they work hard enough at it' "(Highfield Rangers, 1994: 28)

5.3 There were other black stars also emerging at this time. Brendan Batson, at Arsenal, had had a brief flirtation with first team football in north London having been part of the youth team squad which won the F.A. Youth Cup in 1971; Ricky Heppolette starred for Preston North End and Leyton Orient and was probably the first ethnic Indian to break into first team professional football in England; Ces Podd, a defender at Bradford City and Cliff Marshall at Everton, all entered a profession which could not be described as in any way multi-cultural. Nor were these players given much in the way of a warm welcome by some of their fellow professionals.

5.4 Sadly for Clyde Best, he was never to reach the heights in his career scaled by some of his white West Ham team mates. At a time when he was the only black player playing regular first team football in the English First Division, he was constantly subject to criticism and racial abuse. Brian Woolnough's book on black footballer's Black Magic: England's Black Footballers, published in 1983 is, ostensibly, a celebration of black players in the British game but is, in fact, run through with racist assumptions. On Best, Woolnough commented:

"He is perhaps the best example of why it has taken so long for managers, coaches and the public to accept the coloured (sic) stars. Best would be brilliant one game, bad the next, and the question marks against the black players' stamina, power and determination hung over them for years" (Woolnough,1983: 5)

5.5 The racist treatment received by black players at this time from both spectators and by players had probably dissuaded many black parents from encouraging their sons to pursue a professional career in football (Longmore, 1988; Hill, 1989). Nonetheless, Best provided a platform which future black stars could build upon and become successful players. The mid-to-late 1970s saw a growing number of young blacks playing in the Football League. At Nottingham Forest, Viv Anderson was a key member of Brian Clough's side which won domestic and European honours between seasons 1977-78 and 1979-80. Anderson also became the first black player to win a full England cap, over half a century after the Jack Leslie 'false alarm' episode. He moved into coaching and football management after his playing days ended - at Barnsley and then Middlesbrough - but was one of the few black players to successfully make this transition.

5.6 At West Bromwich Albion there was another impressive source of inspiration for young black apirants. Ron Atkinson's side included three black stars in the regular first team line-up; Laurie Cunningham, Batson and Cyrille Regis. This development was seen by many commentators as a pioneering and bold move at a time when many clubs had no black players and racial stereotyping was common in coaching and managerial circles. Regis broke into the first team within a few months of signing for West Brom in May 1977 and remembers some of the racial abuse that he endured initially from some of the Hawthorns crowd: "I think they were rebelling against me 'cause I'd taken a white guy's place in the team" (quoted in Cashmore, 1981: 154). However, the West Brom fans, impressed by his early scoring exploits were quick to warm to the former electrician who had joined Albion from non-league Hayes. Regis believed that it was this early recognition and acceptance of his talents by both the club and fans alike, which allowed his career at West Brom to develop. Members of large black communities in nearby Handsworth also provided some active support for Regis and his colleagues at a time when black fans were reluctant to attend matches for fear of their own safety. Regis would later reach the pinnacle of his career in 1987, when he was a key figure in Coventry City's F.A. Cup winning triumph.

5.7 As well as Anderson and the trio at West Brom, there were other examples of young black players attempting to make the grade at this time. Vince Hilaire made his debut for Crystal Palace as a 17 year old in 1976 and rose to prominence with the side which was later, fatally, to be dubbed the "team of the eighties" following a storming success in winning the Second Division Championship in 1978-79. Garth Crooks broke into the Stoke City side in the late seventies and was to enjoy a successful career with Tottenham Hotspur and Charlton Athletic during the eighties. However, whilst the number of black footballers playing in the Football League was steadily increasing - there were about 50 black professionals in the late 1970s - so too was the level of racist activity organised by far-right wing groups in and around many football stadia. Spectators frequently hooted at black players, threw peanuts and bananas, and chanted various racial taunts and slogans at them. Hilaire remembers the racism he experienced at Port Vale in 1976, where he was about to make his Palace debut as a substitute:

"After about 20 minutes, the manager, then Terry Venables, told me to go and have a warm-up. I came out of the dug-out, and I started jogging around the touchline. I couldn't believe the abuse that was coming at me... animal noises and all the names you think of calling a black person. Any name under the sun. And it frightened me a bit, so I couldn't wait to get back in the dug-out. And I thought, 'Well, if this is the sort of reception I'm going to get, then I don't really want to know' " (quoted in Williams, 1992: 11)

5.8 Even when black players represented the English national team, they still had to endure racism from a section of England supporters. Cyrille Regis was actually booed when he first played and scored for England at Wembley simply because he was a black. The Liverpool player, John Barnes was singled out for similar treatment both at home and abroad (See, Hill,1989). In the summer of 1984, he was subjected to booing and racial taunts by English fans during the national team's tour of South America. These so-called 'fans' were clearly identifiable by the union jacks they displayed, which often had far-right slogans painted on them. Foreign black players are also just as vulnerable, as was clearly demonstrated by the taunts aimed at Ruud Gullit in a friendly match at Wembley against Holland in 1988, while the Cameroon national side were also subjected to bigoted chanting during their visit in 1991.

6. The Late 1980s and After - A 'New Era'?

6.1 The 1980s saw a considerable increase in the number of black players playing both for non-league part time clubs and in the Football League itself. Indeed, a number of today's stars, such as Arsenal's Ian Wright were first spotted playing non-league football. By the end of the decade, clubs with no black players on their books were now very much in the minority. Although overt racism inside football clubs was beginning to decline, on the terraces, it still remained a problem. Also, black supporters continued to be a rarity at stadia across the country, even in areas where there is a substantial local black population. These two negative aspects were, during the seventies and for much of the eighties, consistently overlooked by football clubs, the game's authorities and also by the British Government.

6.2 By the late 1980s, a number of high profile clubs with little previous history of signing black players made significant moves into the transfer market in this direction. At Liverpool, John Barnes was signed for a fee of nearly £1 million from Watford, while at Leeds United, Rod and Ray Wallace were captured from Southampton. Viv Anderson and Paul Ince moved from London's Arsenal and West Ham, respectively, to Manchester United whilst in Scotland, Mark Walters left Aston Villa to join Glasgow Rangers, a team idolised by a largely Protestant following, and with a hooligan element espousing Loyalist and far-right causes (See, Murray, 1984). The Glasgow club banned some season ticket holders following racist abuse aimed at Walters.

6.3 Perhaps partially as a result of these high profile signings, but also as the game was changing in terms of its promotion and marketing (Williams, 1999) overt racism on the terraces of football grounds began to decline. The success of local black players at Arsenal for example, has served to attract more black fans to that club's matches and to counter racism (at least on the surface) among local fans. At Liverpool, the signings of John Barnes, Mark Walters, Michael Thomas, David James and Phil Babb has not only led to a reduction in overt racism among the club's fans, but has encouraged a small number of black and Asian supporters to the club's home games. At Leeds United where the problem of racism had long been a feature of a vocal minority of home support, the signings of black players and the launch of an anti-racist campaign at the club involving supporters, the local Trades Council, the police and Leeds players, has gone some way towards curbing racist chanting and far-right activities in and around the Elland Road stadium (See, Leeds TUC & AFA, 1987). However, a highly publicized incident involving an attack on a young Asian allegedly implicating two of the club's players has recently arguably set back some of the progress which might have been being made in these areas.

6.4 In addition to these local campaigns, the cause of 'kicking racism out of football' has been taken up on a national level, especially since the emergence of the post-Hillsborough period of reconstruction and modernisation of the professional game in Britain. New legislation introduced in 1991 which outlawed racist chanting at football matches gave the police new powers to arrest those fans who persisted in racist chanting. The work of a number of organisations, including the Football Supporters Association, the Professional Footballers Association, the Commission for Racial Equality, the Football Trust and that of football fanzines has contributed in challenging both hooligan and racist behaviour at football stadia. In the early part of the new millennium top clubs in England were recruiting players from all over the globe - many of whom were black. On the one hand this 'new cosmopolitanism' might have further diminished overt racism among fans and club staff, but on the other it may have closed off avenues for British blacks and Asians who have ambitions to become professional footballers. It is clear, too, that the acceptance of foreign players in England depends on their compliance with certain normative qualities of English football culture which assume that the game (and its players) are aggressive, tough and manly (Back et al, 2001: 157-8)

6.5 It has been estimated that around 300 of the 2,000 football professionals in England and Wales are black. Racism has not been eradicated from the British game, of course, as evidenced by the continuing involvement in hooligan disturbances of right wing groups. However, most clubs now have black professionals, and in the wake of recent anti-racism campaigns, the problem of racism at British football stadia is, at last, being confronted. Black players now face the challenge of qualifying as managers and coaches in the game. Opposition here, in an institutionalised sense, still seems quite strong, with some established chairmen, managers and coaches questioning the coaching and managerial capabilities of black footballers (See Back et al, 2001, Ch. 6). Black players have now largely established themselves as players in England; but how long before they are routinely accepted on the management and coaching side? While the overt fan racism of the past may be less evident, some researchers claim that black players and coaches still have to accommodate to the norms of 'white' football cultures. In this sense, in the new football era: 'It seems that it is possible to talk about the absences of racism in football, but not about its presence…It is the implicit normative racism located in the everyday embodied practices of football's white core that policies the integration of black and foreign players' (Back et al, 2001).

6.6 Recent research (Bradbury, 2001) suggests that 10% of young players (14+) who are based in FA Premier League and Football League club youth Academies and Schools of Excellence are reported to be black. 1.6% of such players are reported to be of Asian origin. Most English clubs now have some younger black players, but 13 clubs do not. Most clubs in England still have no Asian youngsters on their books. The total estimated number of 71 young Asian players based at professional clubs in 2001, thirty of whom were concentrated at just six clubs, shows the continuing problem of recruiting young Asian footballers to professional football clubs in England.

6.7 According to estimates based on club replies, about 13% of all professional players at FA Premier League and Football League clubs during the 1999/2000 season were UK born black players Bradbury 2001). This may suggest a slight fall recently in the recruitment of players from black British backgrounds, though the data here, over time, are probably not always completely comparable and reliable. Szymanski (2000) suggests that the wages of successful black players in England are lower than those of white equivalents because, he contends, the market value of black footballers is lower - there is less competition from all clubs for their services. Minority ethnic workers are considerable under-represented in the administrative departments of professional football clubs. Only two minority ethnic employees, nationally, hold what one might describe as a senior administrative post at any of these 88 professional clubs.

6.8 The administrative recruitment procedures at a large number of football clubs seem effectively 'closed' to outside applicants, including members of minority ethnic communities (Bradbury, 2001). Many clubs (35%) still admit to using methods of 'word of mouth' or personal contacts in order to recruit senior administrative staff. This is likely to discriminate against applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds and against women and it almost certainly helps to maintain a strongly 'white' senior administrative core in professional football.

7. Asians Can't Play Football ?

7.1 As British players, mainly from African-Caribbean backgrounds, have gradually overcome racist opposition to their place in the British game, so attention has recently shifted to the lack of Asian players in the footballing profession. Currently few professional clubs in Britain have a professional British player of Asian origin in their squad. Even in cities such as Blackburn, Bradford, Glasgow, Leicester and London, where there are large British Asian populations there has been no significant British Asian breakthrough. Why should this be the case?

7.2 Firstly, it will take time for Asian players to break into the professional ranks. Also, the cultural distinctiveness of the Asian community may be a factor. Cricket, not football, is the favoured national sport, for example, in India and Pakistan, though few British Asian cricketers have made it into the professional ranks of that sport in Britain either! Certainly, British Asians play football in large numbers (See, Westwood, 1993; Fleming, 1993). As far as locally organised football is concerned, Asians play in considerably large numbers. A Manchester University study in 1991 found that a higher proportion of the Bengali Community in Britain played football (60%) than any other, including whites (47%), and that 36% of the Indian community and 43% of Pakistanis played the sport compared with 26% of Africans and 34% of people of Caribbean origin. There are an estimated 300 teams across Britain playing in leagues organised by local Asian communities, set up mainly in response to the non-acceptance of Asian youths into white or mixed teams (Brown, 1995, p15). However, Asian players who have ambitions for a career in the professional game complain of their 'marginalisation'. For example, in 1994 a three-day tournament in Birmingham involving Asian teams drew over 5,000 spectators, yet there were no scouts from either Football League or FA Premier League clubs present (Brown, 1995, p16). So, are Asian youngsters in Britain just not good enough? Or, are other factors at work?

7.3 A project in the 1990s (Bains and Patel, 1994) challenged the view that Asian footballers do not have what it takes to survive as professional footballers in the 1990s. This project aimed to persuade clubs that they should be doing more to get Asians involved and examined a new set of racial stereotypes faced by Asian players; that they are too small; undisciplined; culturally unwilling to 'integrate'; not committed to the game and so on. Evidence was found inside the professional game for all of these stereotypes abut Asian players. The project 'monitored clubs and their attitudes towards Asian youngsters, and it also asked Asian youth players about their ambitions to become professional players. Staff at some clubs acknowledge that the selection system they use in choosing young players discriminates against Asians: "because they have not been regarded as likely pros" (Quoted in Brown, 1995, p15). Finally, in the longer term the project aims to establish a 'Centre of Excellence' for young Asian footballers in England to better their prospects of making the grade. Who knows? In a few years we may well have a football captain of England whose roots lie in the Indian sub-continent. This is already the case for cricket - with Nasser Hussain.

References and Further Reading

Back, L., Crabbe, T. and Solomos, J. (2001) The Changing Face of Football, Berg

Bains, J., Patel, R. (1994), Asians Can't Play Football! Midland Asian Sports Forum

Bradbury, S. (2001) 'The New Football Communities', Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football Research, University of Leicester

Brown, M. (1995) 'Asian Games' in When Saturday Comes, February, pp. 14-17

Cashmore, E. (1982), Black Sportsmen, Routledge

Commission for Racial Equality, PFA, The Football Trust (1994), Lets Kick Racism out of Football

Fleming, S. (1992), 'Sport and South Asian Male Youth', PhD Thesis, Brighton University

Highfields Oral History Group (1994), Highfield Rangers: an Oral History, Leicester City Council

Hill, D. (1989), Out of His Skin: the John Barnes Phenomenon, Faber

Leeds TUC and AFA (1987), Terror on the Terraces, unpublished monograph

Longmore, A. (1988), 'Black Revolution' in Football Today, November pp. 6-7

Murray, B. (1984) The Old Firm: Sectarianism, Sport and Society in Scotland, John Donald

Szymanski, S. (2000) 'A market test for discrimination in the English professional leagues', J. of Political Economy, Vol. 108 No. 3

Vasili, P. (1994), The History of Black Footballers in Britain, (unpublished paper)

Vasili, P. (2000) Colouring Over the White Line, Mainstream Press

Walvin, J. (1986), Football and the Decline of Britain, Macmillan

Westwood, S. (1990), "Racism, black masculinity and the politics of space" in Hearn, J. and Morgan, D. (eds), (1990), Men, Masculinities and Social Theory, Unwin and Hyman, pp. 55-71

Williams, J. (1999) Is it All Over: Can Football Survive the FA Premier League? South Street Press

Williams, J. (1992), 'Lick my boots....' Racism in English football', SNCCFR, Leicester University

Woolnough, B. (1983), Black Magic: England's Black Footballers, London

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