FOOTBALL4GOOD MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2019

In his autobiography, Regis wrote: “The more abuse I received, the more I channelled my an- ger into my performances.” Upon earning a call- up to become one of the few black players to represent England, his debut began by opening a piece of fan mail in the dressing room. Inside the envelope lay a bullet and a message, which read: “If you put your foot on our Wembley turf you’ll get one of those through your knees.” He kept the bullet. Their presence formed the weapon that braved the wilderness they found themselves in. For those who came before, it was unchart- ed territory. The first non-white player to step onto the hallowed Wembley turf was Albert Johanneson for Leeds in 1965. “There was no comparable footballer of his type in Europe. Maybe George Best,” said Sir Alf Ramsey, England’s 1966 World Cup-winning manager. Best himself said, “Albert was quite a brave man to actually go on the pitch in the first place, wasn’t he? And he went out and did it. He had a lot of skill.” Johanneson left South Africa to escape apart- heid only to be received with abuse upon arrival at Heathrow. He would discover later the shocking extent of racism both around and in football. He followed his compatriot Steve ‘Kalamazoo’ Mokone, the first black South African to play in Europe. Mokone helped Dutch side Heracles win the 1958 Tweede Divisie and subsequently had a stand in the club’s Polman Stadium named after him as well in the town of Almelo. “If Pelé of Brazil is the Rolls-Royce of soccer players,” declared Italian football writer Beppe Bracco, “then Kala of South Africa, lithe and lean, is surely the Maserati.” Football owes a lot to its Latin American pio- neers. Bracco’s lyrical waxing, placing Brazil as the cornerstone of footballing superlative, is testament to the nation’s immeasurable influ- ence on the sport once used against its own players as a weapon of racist oppression. The 1958 World Cup was the first to be televised when Brazil were crowned king. During the nation’s consecration, five young black second stringers including a 17-year-old Pelé, once accused of having weak minds and forced to un- dergo psychological testing on account of their ‘character’, gave birth to beautiful football and the eulogization “it’s just like watching Brazil”. Being black and playing football in Brazil left players needing to do more to be recognised, during a time when a large number of athletes still hailed from the sons of higher class white families – women at this point were still banned from playing. Leônidas da Silva, battled racism throughout his lengthy career while likewise setting the stand- ards the country was known for. ‘The Black Diamond’, as he was also known, popularised what we now call the bicycle kick. The Uruguayan José Leandro Andrade was the first international football idol, remaining one of only four players to hold three world titles. He helped cement Uruguayan footballing exceptionalism in the 1920s, earning the right to wear sky blue shirts and fly high in status above the rest. During the first Copa America tournament in 1916, the Chilean delegation filed a complaint after losing 4-0 to Uruguay. They requested for the game to be disallowed because their oppo- nents had fielded “two African slaves”. Isabelino Gradín and Juan Delgrado scored two of the four goals in the first international tournament to feature black players. At the time, Gradín and Delgrado were the only black footballers on any na- tional team. They were playing proof that regardless of winning, bigotry too climbed all the way to the top. Fluminense Football Club owe their nickname ‘Rice Powder’ to Carlos Alberto, the first non-white player, whose pre-match ritual involved whitening his face. Together with Arthur Friedenreich, Brazil’s first mixed-race star, he helped pose questions to football being used as justification to reconsolidate theories of white suprema- cy after the abolition of slavery; planting the seeds which bore fruit in Pelé’s boots. Before Friedenreich, the game was played exclusively by whites. While the son of a German immigrant and black washerwoman played in the top division for 26 years, he never earned a cent. His record 1,329 goals “brought to the sol- emn stadium of whites the irreverence of brown boys who entertained themselves with a rag ball in the slums,” wrote Eduardo Galeano – football’s pre-eminent man of letters. During his prime, President Epitácio Pessoa decreed Friedenreich unfit for national duty on account of patriotic prestige. Only people with white skin would be permitted. Before going to fight in WWI for the Footballers’ Battalion and becoming an Officer in spite of his “non-European” heritage, Walter Tull’s battle was against crowds of thousands. After signing for £10 with Tottenham Hotspur, during a match in 1909 one reporter described the “cowardly attack on him in language lower than billingsgate”. He wrote further that “Tull is so clean in mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play football. In point of ability, if not actual achievement, Tull was the best forward on the field.” Tull never received the military cross commend- ing extensive service in action for which he was nominated. It is believed racial prejudice prevented his military career from being held in high esteem, as it did relegating him to foot- ball’s reserve teams. Lack of recognition also plagued Arthur Wharton, the United Kingdom’s first mixed-heritage footballer to play professionally. The goalkeeper was known for his eccentric playing style. The goalkeeper’s punch, we all associate nowadays with keepers, dates back to his methods in the 1880s which also included swinging from the bar and catching the ball between his knees. Some thought he ought to receive recognition at an international level, yet the colour he brought to the game, in more ways than one, was a step too far for decision-makers. Only amateurs preceeded Wharton. Among them: Andrew Watson. The fullback credited as Britain’s first black player by over a decade, entered the professional game slightly later. He became the first black player to represent and captain Scotland, play in the English FA cup, and be a football administrator as match secretary at Park Grove and Queen’s Park. These stories are shocking as the actions of the players are commendable. They ought not only to be remembered, but to serve as a call to action of a problem we finally need to address as an utmost priority. Next time we bemoan the VAR system, which supposedly ignores the lifeblood of the game by hampering fans’ experience of it, it might be worth asking: who is really being left out of the picture? THESE STORIES ARE SHOCKING AS THE ACTIONS OF THE PLAYERS ARE COMMENDABLE. THEY OUGHT NOT ONLY TO BE REMEMBERED, BUT TO SERVE AS A CALL TO ACTION OF A PROBLEM WE FINALLY NEED TO ADDRESS AS AN UTMOST PRIORITY. 20 21 FOOTBALL4GOODMAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2019 VAR AGAINST RACISM?