Pitch Black by Emy Onuora Read Free Book Online Page A

everyone he contacted agreed to participate. The side included Garth Crooks, Luther Blissett, Alex Williams, Vince Hilaire, Terry Connor, Justin Fashanu and Cyrille Regis as well as teammate Joe Cooke, amongst others. For the first time in the game’s history in Britain, the number of black footballers playing in English professional football had grown to such a degree as to make this historic event possible. When Podd had made his professional debut, and for some time after, he could count the number of black players on one hand. As the numbers increased, he wanted to do something to bring the disparate group of black players together, to do nothing more than chat, have a game of football and bond over their shared experiences.
    The game on 30 March wasn’t the first of this type. A similar match had taken place two years earlier, organised by Batson, Cunningham and Regis, on the occasion of a testimonial for their West Brom teammate Len Cantello. A Black XI took on a West Brom side minus the Three Degrees, who all played for the Black XI. The Black XI side, managed by Ron Atkinson, also contained Garth Crooks, GeorgeBerry, Bob Hazell and Remi Moses, in a game that was to be reprised at Podd’s testimonial.
    Although Crooks had travelled to Valley Parade to support Podd’s testimonial, he hadn’t been given permission to play. He had been due to appear three days later in an important league game for his club, Tottenham. In the dressing room, before the game, Crooks stripped off his clothes to reveal his football kit. Ignoring his manager’s instructions, he participated in the game, albeit briefly before being substituted early in the first half, such was his determination to participate.
    The game proved an important opportunity for black footballers to share stories. Justin Fashanu’s brilliant strike for Norwich in a defeat to league champions Liverpool was the current ‘Goal of the Season’ winner. A silver salver presented in recognition of the achievement was sitting in pride of place on the sideboard of his adoptive parents’ Norfolk home. The assembled players had discussed the significance of the goal and debated whether black kids playing football would, rather than pretending to be Keegan or Dalglish, be Justin Fashanu.
    Fashanu’s legendary status never materialised, but that would prove to be a moot point. The game provided an opportunity for black players to discuss their impact on the black community in Britain and the wider game. They could discuss their experiences at clubs, at grounds, with managers and fellow professionals. As an event, it cemented the bonds between black professional footballers, which were further tightened at Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) dinners, under-21 get-togethers and charity events. These opportunities to bond would prove to be invaluable.

CHAPTER 3
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VIVA ANDERSON!
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    AUDLEY ANDERSON HAD arrived from Jamaica in 1954. His wife Myrtle joined him a few months later to make Nottingham their home. Their son Viv was born in the summer of 1956. Competition for the most important of resources – jobs, homes and social spaces – had created serious racial tension in the city between its newly arrived immigrant population – some 2,500 West Indians, almost all of them, like Audley and Myrtle Anderson, from Jamaica, plus around 600 Asians – and the local British-born whites.
    The simmering tension exploded into violence and, as is often the case in these matters, the thorny subject of inter-racial relationships – or, more explicitly, inter-racial sex – proved to be the combustible material that exploded into all-out warfare between blacks and whites. The seemingly innocuous sight of a West Indian man enjoying a drink with a blonde British woman in a pub in the St Ann’s area brought things to a head. The man was assaulted and soon a crowd gathered. Contemporary reports at the time said that the police and local whites were surprised at the speed