Pitch Black (4 page)

He was blossoming in his quest to make the big time, but something else was happening as well. ‘It was great having him around,’ Regis said of his new-found friendship with Laurie Cunningham.

Regis highlights the two factors that were key to his initial development at West Bromwich Albion. Of course, he was hungry. As a raw nineteen-year-old, he was keen to show what he could do in the top flight of English football. Although it’s a matter of conjecture as to whether Ronnie Allen had paid for Regis’s transfer out of his own pocket, the manager nonetheless had some form of investment in him and was prepared to give him an extended run in the side. His hunger and the belief of his manager were important factors, and these alone may have been enough to guarantee his success at Albion, but equally important were his friendship with Cunningham and his residency in Handsworth. Regis
remembers: ‘We’d be seen in and around Handsworth and we soon became popular in the black community. People would come up to us and you started seeing black kids taking a real interest in going to football matches.’

His friendship with Cunningham was an important part of his initial experience and, ultimately, with the arrival of Brendon Batson, was to define his career at Albion. Playing up and down the country, suffering the taunts together, created an important bond in helping the two players to deal with the abuse they received. For Cunningham, this was equally important. Up until then, he had been the only black player at the club. Here was someone who was able and willing to share the load.

Handsworth was also an important part of Regis’s ‘settling-in’ period. Becoming a part of a black community provided him with an opportunity to escape from the pressures of justifying his blackness. In Handsworth, he could just be himself. In turn, he became an instant hero amongst the black community. The ability of black players to deal with racist abuse and use the experience as a source of motivation gave inspiration to black communities not only in Birmingham but throughout the country. The experiences of black players in suffering racist abuse mirrored their own experiences, but differed in an important dimension. The dehumanising effects of both racist abuse and racial discrimination offered very few opportunities to resist their impact. Football provided an opportunity to hit back. Here were players who not only took the abuse but turned the taunting of their abusers on its head in order to perform well on the pitch. For black communities therefore, black players who were scoring goals, making goals, tackling and playing well were resisting and fighting back in the only way they were able.

As Regis put it, ‘Black people of all ages would just want to talk to us or just wish us well. I suppose in some way they wanted us to know that we had their support and we weren’t doing this on our own.’

Regis had quickly established himself as a first-team regular. However, before 1977 had ended, Ronnie Allen had taken up an opportunity to manage the Saudi Arabian national side and Albion were on the hunt for a new manager. Veteran defender John Wile was installed in a caretaker role, but Albion appointed a young and hungry manager who’d done very well with unfashionable Cambridge United. Ron Atkinson was to change Albion’s fortunes and play a pivotal role in changing the way that black players were perceived and the way in which incidents of racism were handled.

Arsenal had won the historic league and cup double in 1971. Their domestic dominance was further underlined by the fact that their youth team, containing Brendon Batson, had won the FA Youth Cup the same year. Batson was born on the Caribbean island of Grenada and had arrived in the UK at the age of nine. He was spotted as a thirteen-year-old playing representative football for his district and signed as an apprentice at fifteen. First-team opportunities had eluded Batson and he made only ten appearances in three seasons. He moved to Cambridge United in 1974 and joined a team in the fourth tier of English professional football. United had only been a league outfit since 1970 and there was an amateurish quality to the whole club. For Batson, this was a far cry from his beginnings at Arsenal: ‘At Arsenal the apprentices were raised to be gentlemen as part of our
development. We were introduced to fine food, told to dress well, taught good manners and taught discipline. When I went to Cambridge, I wondered what have I got into here?’

However, a few months later, Ron Atkinson was appointed manager and transformed the club. Many of the older players were replaced by youth team players and free signings, and the team began to do well. Atkinson obviously rated Batson highly – and why not? He had played in the top tier of English football for Arsenal and was a fine if very underrated footballer. Batson was a cultured right-back. He was a good solid defender, had good positional sense, was strong in the tackle and good going forward. Quick and athletic, he wasn’t blessed with blistering pace, but was rarely exposed by even the best of attackers. Atkinson had made him team captain as United improved considerably and achieved promotion to the Third Division in 1976/77.

Early in his United career, Batson had been sent off for retaliation after being continually called a ‘black bastard’ by an opponent. He recalled later, ‘The ref actually apologised for sending me off and supported me at the disciplinary hearing. It meant that I wasn’t suspended.’ Atkinson had tough words for Batson and told him in no uncertain terms that he’d need to find a way of dealing with the abuse. Batson learned the necessary lesson and never allowed himself to resort to retaliation throughout the rest of his career. The referee in that incident, however, had shown a level of sympathy for Batson that was entirely out of keeping with the prevailing attitude of football officials. Racist abuse from fellow professionals was commonplace and given free rein. Retaliation would be punished, but there were no sanctions for racist abusers. While black players were often subject to abuse from 30,000–40,000 spectators, in addition to abuse
from their fellow professionals and managers, it was far preferable to the experiences of friends and family in the workplace. Batson recalls:

United’s improvement under Atkinson had brought the club the kind of success that the relatively new league members could only have dreamed of, and at the start of the 1977/78 season, the newly promoted outfit had made a good start and were in a healthy position when Atkinson left to join West Bromwich Albion. A few weeks later in a £30,000 deal, Batson joined Atkinson at Albion. The Three Degrees had arrived at The Hawthorns.

BEFORE REGIS, CUNNINGHAM
and Anderson, there was Ces Podd. Footballing club culture dictates that the player who has made most appearances for the first team is automatically and inalienably afforded the status of club legend. Between 1970 and 1984, Podd made 502 appearances, more than anyone else in Bradford City’s history, but his influence on the progress of black footballers was down to more than merely his record number of appearances. At age nine, Podd had arrived from St Kitts with his family and settled in Leeds. As a pacy winger, he’d had trials with Manchester United and was invited to sign professional forms that the club had posted to him. He’d signed the forms, and on them indicated his Caribbean birth, at which point he never heard from United again. He was then invited for a trial at Wolves. He travelled from Leeds to Wolverhampton and assembled along with other trialists in the hope of
impressing enough to secure a professional contract. At the trial, two teams were picked and Podd was told he’d have to come back another time. He was the only black kid there.

As a result of this second knock-back, Podd decided instead to enrol on a graphic design course at Bradford College of Art. Soon after starting his course, he was invited to attend trials at Bradford City. At the trial, the same chain of events that had occurred at Wolves began to play itself out in similar fashion. Two teams were selected and once again, as the only black kid at the trial, he was told there wasn’t space for anyone else.

Eventually Podd moved to right-back, where he played for the majority of his career. Playing entirely within the bottom two divisions of English professional football, he was never afforded the kind of recognition that many of his contemporaries – the Three Degrees, Anderson, Crooks etc. – received, but as one of a handful of black players plying their trade in English professional football he endured the racist abuse that was a key feature of the experience of black footballers throughout the 1970s and ’80s. His experiences of racism would have a profound effect on him, his family and his career choices.

Podd’s mother couldn’t bear to watch her son receive so much racist abuse. After the first game she attended, she refused to watch him play. His father, however, continued to attend, travelling to away games on the official supporters’ coach, where he was treated, as Podd puts it, ‘like family’. Podd’s commitment and no little skill had endeared him to the club’s supporters, and it was the supportive atmosphere they created that provided Podd with an important anchor as he sought to deal with the racism that plagued the game.

Indeed, such was his gratitude that despite being courted by several clubs, he refused to leave Bradford City. In 1974, four years into his tenure at Bradford, he was informed by his then manager that the mighty Liverpool had expressed an interest in signing him and asked if he would go if they made an offer. He said no. Liverpool instead signed the virtually unknown Phil Neal from Northampton. Podd was also offered an opportunity to sign for Portsmouth for far more money than his wages at Bradford, but again refused to leave. His gratitude to the club for providing him with the opportunity to play professional football after so many disappointments elsewhere was a factor, but the biggest issue for Podd was the psychological impact of dealing with racist abuse.

For a large part of his career, Podd rarely encountered another opposition black player, but in 1971 he was joined in the City team by Dominican-born and Bradford-raised forward Joe Cooke. At a time when there were a handful of black footballers, when Podd and Cooke could go weeks and months on end without ever seeing another black player, and when racism from terraces and from opponents was commonplace, Bradford City provided something that money and First Division football couldn’t buy. That luxury item was security. Podd was secure at City. He was adored by
the fans. His fellow professionals, his managers and indeed everyone at the club treated him not only with respect but with warmth. That comfort and security proved to be irresistible as bigger and better offers to further his career came in. Podd refused them all and it was his experience of racism that fuelled his resistance to a move away from Valley Parade. He had of course played at grounds all over the country and had been subjected to vicious abuse from both fans and opposition players. He cited many southern football venues as places where he received the most hostile of receptions, in stark contrast to the experiences of many black players after him, who described their trips to northern grounds as some of their worst experiences of racism. The security of Bradford City, combined with Podd’s thorough and absolute enjoyment of playing professional football, provided him with a shield against some of the worst experiences he encountered. Moving elsewhere could put his love of the game in jeopardy. Dealing with less enlightened and possibly hostile supporters, managers, club officials and teammates was too big a chance to take, so he stayed at City and amassed games, wholehearted performances and his legendary status.

Events in March 1981 perfectly illustrated his standing both at City and amongst his fellow black professionals. He was granted a testimonial match, the first black footballer to be granted such an honour. It was a reward for his commitment, his attitude and above all his loyalty. Amongst supporters, loyalty is revered; disloyalty, or even its impression, is reviled. Long-serving players are described as ‘loyal servants’ and Podd had stayed loyal in spite of overtures from some very attractive suitors. His record is likely to stand for 100 years. In today’s climate it seems impossible that a
player in the lower leagues could ever stay at one club for so long. Instability, short-term contracts, poor financial performance and high managerial turnover militate against the one-club longevity of any professional working in the lower leagues. It would be difficult enough at Premier League level; lower down the league ladder, it would be the stuff of fiction.

If the granting of Podd’s testimonial made history, the game itself proved to be a significant milestone for other reasons. After writing to a number of league managers, Podd had put together a ‘Black All Stars’ team to play in his testimonial at Bradford City’s Valley Parade ground. With unanimous support from their clubs, almost 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, George
Berry, 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.