[Lord Snooty]

Was famously Viv Anderson of Nottingham Forest, but should've been Jack Leslie of Plymouth Argyle of Plymouth Argyle. But he was dropped when it was found out that he was actually, a black man!

A campaign has now been started to get a statue of him erected. Here's the story from the BBC website:-

A campaign is being launched to erect a statue of a footballer dropped by England when selectors found out he was black.

Picked in 1925, Jack Leslie would have been the first black player to play for England, 53 years before Viv Anderson.

By the time he died, in 1988 at the age of 88, there were many more black players at top levels of the game.

Leslie was born in Canning Town, in London's docklands, in 1900, to an English mother and a Jamaican father.

A gifted athlete, he played for Barking Town, where his prolific scoring record attracted the attention of Plymouth Argyle, then a third-division club. He joined them in the 1921-22 season and stayed for 14 years, making 401 appearances and scoring 137 goals, a feat made all the more impressive because of the racial abuse he experienced at the hands of both crowds and opponents.

He is remembered as a great attacking inside left but also a utility player who could fill in as a central defender.

In 1925, Argyle's manager, Bob Jack, called his star striker into his office and gave him some thrilling news - Jack Leslie had been selected to play for England against Ireland.

It was a great achievement for the player and an honour for third-division Plymouth.

His selection was the talk of the club and the town - but some days later, when the newspapers published the team, Billy Walker, of Aston Villa, was in the starting line-up and Leslie was named as a travelling reserve. He never did travel with the England team to Belfast.

Instead, while England struggled to a 0-0 draw, he scored twice, as Plymouth trounced Bournemouth 7-2 at home.

"I believe that the manager sent in his request, saying: 'I've got a brilliant player here, he should play for England,'" his granddaughter, Lesley Hiscott, said. "So then someone came down to watch him.

"They weren't watching his football.

"They were looking at the colour of his skin.

"And because of that, he was denied the chance of playing for his country."

Leslie later suggested finding out he was black, for the selectors, must have been "like finding out I was foreign".

But he accepted what had happened and, according to his granddaughters, never expressed any bitterness. They remember him as a kind and loving grandfather.

He had married their grandmother, Lavinia, in 1925, at a time when it was unusual for a black man to marry a white woman.

And as a consequence, some of the family, and Lavinia in particular, experienced racial abuse.

Lyn Davies said: "If I walked down the street with my friends and he was coming the other way, he would cross to the other side of the road so I could pretend that I didn't know him, so I didn't suffer.

"But I'd run across and say, 'Hello Granddad.'"

Despite helping Plymouth gain promotion, a top-four finish in division two, captaining the club and, in 1931-32, scoring 21 goals in 43 games, Leslie was never again picked for England.

Anderson, picked to play for England against Czechoslovakia at Wembley in 1978, went on to win 30 caps.

"I'd never heard of Jack Leslie until up to two weeks ago," he told BBC News.

"And that's a crying shame, because what he achieved and what he did should be paramount in every black person's mind.

"It's a crying shame but hopefully the statue they are trying to get erected will carry on his legacy."

Argyle have already honoured Leslie with a mural and renamed their boardroom after him.

And now a group of fans are campaigning for a statue.

"At a time when some statues are being pulled down, we want to put one of Jack Leslie up to commemorate his amazing achievements and to remember the injustice that he suffered," campaign co-founder Greg Foxsmith says.

The campaign hopes to raise £100,000.

And supporters include Anderson and the club itself.

How many statues of black people does the UK have?

"Having a statue promoted by our fans and funded by fans is a statement by them that they are joining the fight against racism in football," Plymouth chairman Simon Hallett told BBC News.

"History has been written by the winners and I think we are now trying to pay more attention to some of the victims of those victories."

Bill Hern co-author of the upcoming book Football's Black Pioneers said: "Jack Leslie should have been a major figure in the history of British football and society.

"Everyone needs a role model and young black footballers didn't have that major role model in the 30s, 40s and 50s.

"Had he played for England, as he should have, he would have fired the aspirations of generations of young black players."

Leslie's playing days came to an end after he sustained an injury when a lace from a leather ball flew into his eye.

He and his family returned to east London and he resumed his trade as a boilermaker.

Following his retirement and with time on his hands, Lavinia urged him to go to West Ham and ask the club if there was any work he could do.
He met manager Ron Greenwood, who immediately recognised and remembered him as a great player.

Greenwood offered him a job in the boot room, where, somewhat poignantly, he cleaned mud from the boots of England stars Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, and Trevor Brooking.

In a further ironic twist to his story, Leslie also cleaned the boots of West Ham's black striker Clyde Best, who, in the late 1960s and 1970s, was still one of only a tiny number of black players in top-flight English football.

Leslie loved the work and being around footballers but it was hardly fitting for a man who should have occupied a unique place in football history - and now, perhaps, will.

"Stories like this are incredibly sad. Discrimination in the game, in any form or from any time period, is unacceptable," said FA chairman Greg Clarke, adding that English football had made "huge strides" in diversity, although there was still more to do.

He said the FA backed the campaign for a statue to recognise Leslie as a pioneer.

And today that target for the statue has been reached.  

Crowdfunders have raised £100,000 to erect a statue of a footballer who was dropped from the England team when selectors discovered he was black.

Jack Leslie would have been the first black person to play for the nation having been selected in 1925.

A campaign for his statue outside Plymouth Argyle's Home Park stadium has attracted donations from nearly 2,000 people since July.

Campaign co-founder Greg Foxsmith said he was "delighted" by the news.

Leslie joined Argyle in 1921 and stayed there for 14 years, making 401 appearances and scoring 137 goals.

Club chairman Simon Hallett said: "Jack was not just a great footballer. He has become a symbol of the injustices in our game and in our society.

"I hope that when we have his statue up it will become an enduring symbol of the progress we can make in fighting the evil of racism."

Leslie's granddaughter Lyn Davies said: "I nearly fell over when I realised we had gone over the £100,000. It's just amazing, I'm stunned."

Lesley Hiscott, another granddaughter, said she was "over the moon" and "ecstatic".

Former Argyle player Ronnie Mauge described the campaign as "phenomenal" and said he was "so proud of the Plymouth people and the club".

"He [Leslie] laid the foundation for someone like me to go to Plymouth," Trinidad and Tobago international Mauge added.

Argyle supporter and comedian Josh Widdicombe said the campaign had "shined a light" on racism in football.

Mr Foxsmith said: "We want to use the Jack Leslie story to highlight those issues, to challenge prejudice, to challenge discrimination, and to show in 2020 we can be better than we were in 1925."

Fundraising for the statue will continue, with proposals for its design considered by Leslie's family and fans

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53184615
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-53733149

[Devongone]

There is an assumption that Leslie didn't make the team because they realised he was black ......... we don't actually know it, but the assumption doesn't seem unreasonable.

It is very big news down here in the South-West, rivalling tourists literally laying waste to Salcombe and all points west. In Plymouth it is controversially proposed to name a street after Leslie. It is controversial because the street has long been named after Sir John Hawkins, a privateer, who fought alongside Drake and who has also been looked upon as the originator of England's slave trade. For centuries Hawkins was regarded as a hero and it is certainly a denial of history to consign him to obscurity. But other than in Plymouth Jack Leslie's life and achievements had been allowed to slip into obscurity too.  In today's game a winger with his capacity for scoring goals would be fast-tracked to fame and fortune with a top Premier League club and would have little difficulty gathering a collection of England caps.

The only sad aspect is that very belated recognition of Jack Leslie is not simply the good news story it should be. He should be recognised and we should both celebrate how much our attitudes are changing and have changed and be aware that cities like Plymouth and Bristol became themselves via the slave trade. We should also be aware that Manchester's development and the Industrial Revolution itself were partially driven by the profits made because products like cotton, sugar and tobacco were produced by slave labour. We can't forget our history, both good and bad, because we must not forget why Jack Leslie was forgotten and how a man like that could be left to clean Bobby Moore's boots. But as you read this, do consider that the world today with all the comforts you enjoy would be very different had the slave trade not existed. Black History matters and should be taught, but part of that history was the commodification of black people, because they were not recognised as fully human. God-fearing Christian men made fortunes slaving and gave us hospitals and schools to remember them by.

[Lord Snooty]

Yes indeed, Devon. I've been reading up on a lot of stuff on the subject since the Colston statue went for a swim. All stuff we were never told at school or subsequently later in life. It's all been swept under the carpet and I for one, am glad we're starting to talk about it at last.