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repeatbeatpoet's review
informative
medium-paced
3.5
A decent-good primer on each of the first Black players for the 92 teams in the English Football League. It’s about 1-2 pages per player, all stories are written in straightforward language and are easy to read. Would’ve loved deeper dives on particular people, but this is meant to be a ‘wide and shallow’ surface level info book, not a deep dive into wider sporting racial politics/culture.
andrewfontenelle's review
5.0
Growing up in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s, there seemed to be just a handful of Black football players. I recall attending some matches at West Ham during my school days in East London with Clyde Best and Ade Coker as unusual but notable Black players making the full team squad. But it was only later in life after reading "Colouring Over the White Line: The History of Black Footballers in Britain" by Phil Vasili I was to fully appreciate the long history of Black Footballers in Britain going back to the late nineteenth century.
So it was with some interest that I attended a presentation given by Bill Hern and David Gleave entitled "Football's Black Pioneers". The talk was partly to advertise the book of the same name which dealt with the first (i.e. pioneer) Black players representing 92 of the Football League clubs. In the two hours, the two men covered so much and were so enthusiastic about the subject that I knew I had to read the book.
The book is organised in alphabetical order by club listing the careers of the first Black player to represent each of them. It also provides some interesting facts along the way. Stories like that of Jack Leslie called up to play for the England national team in 1925 but dropped when the selectors found out that he was Black. At the same time, we learn about the atmosphere in which many of these pioneers found themselves that more often than not included racist abuse.
This is a celebration of Black British (and sporting) history and much credit must be given to the two authors for the meticulous research they have undertaken in producing this work.
So it was with some interest that I attended a presentation given by Bill Hern and David Gleave entitled "Football's Black Pioneers". The talk was partly to advertise the book of the same name which dealt with the first (i.e. pioneer) Black players representing 92 of the Football League clubs. In the two hours, the two men covered so much and were so enthusiastic about the subject that I knew I had to read the book.
The book is organised in alphabetical order by club listing the careers of the first Black player to represent each of them. It also provides some interesting facts along the way. Stories like that of Jack Leslie called up to play for the England national team in 1925 but dropped when the selectors found out that he was Black. At the same time, we learn about the atmosphere in which many of these pioneers found themselves that more often than not included racist abuse.
This is a celebration of Black British (and sporting) history and much credit must be given to the two authors for the meticulous research they have undertaken in producing this work.
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