Walter Tull became the first black
outfield player to play in the English top flight when he signed for
Tottenham Hotspur in 1909. Tull was the subject of racist abuse, with
one particular match against Bristol City leading to Tottenham selling
him to Northampton Town.
HIDE CAPTION
Walter Tull
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Walter Tull was the first professional black outfield player in the English top division
- Tull signed for Tottenham Hotspur after glittering amateur season with Clapton
- Joined the Footballer's Batallion at outbreak of World War One and was made an officer
- Was gunned down just a month before his 30th birthday during fierce fighting in France
Around him, amidst an intimidating, vicious atmosphere, the noises begin.
First, the boos, then the monkey noises.
The incessant chanting,
the vitriolic abuse, the gestures and then, the indignity of receiving
punishment for having the temerity to stand your ground.
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At first glance, Walter
Tull, an officer in the British Army during the First World War and
England Under-21 footballer Danny Rose appear to have little in common.
Rose is a successful
Premier League footballer, at the start of a promising career, which he
hopes will see him become a full international.
Before he was killed in
the Great War, Tull was a pioneering black footballer, who blazed a
trail for black stars of the future such as Brendan Batson, Laurie
Cunningham, Viv Anderson and Cyril Regis.
One man is on our
television screen with pictures being sent around the world, the other
has no grave, only an inscription on the memorial wall at the
Fauborg-Amiens war cemetery and memorial at Arras.
Black pioneer
But Tull's story, recorded some 93 years ago, could not be more apt given what Rose was forced to endure in Krusevac.
While most were left
stunned by Rose being sent off for his reaction to being targeted by
racist chanting, the tale is all too familiar for those who know their
history.
Tull became the first
black outfield player to to compete in the top-flight of the English
league after signing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909.
Like Rose, he too
suffered racial abuse from the stands with his career almost
disappearing from history and public consciousness.
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That it didn't is
largely thanks to two men, writer and producer Phil Vasili and director
David Thacker, who are taking Tull's story to the stage and eventually
the big screen.
While the film
surrounding Tull's life is scheduled to coincide with 2014's 100th
anniversary of the Great War, the play will open in February in Bolton.
"I think the play will be very topical," said Vasili, author of the biography Walter Tull, 1888-1918: Officer, Footballer.
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"It's quite poignant that the play should start so soon given what happened to Rose in Serbia.
"What happened to Rose, happened to Walter around 93 years previously and both were victimized twice.
"Rose was racially abused and then sent off, Walter was also abused before being dropped by Tottenham and eventually sold.
"Both men were punished twice. It's funny how something which happened nearly a century ago could be so relevant."
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If it wasn't for
Vasili's work the story of the man who changed the face of football for
black Britons could have been confined to the scrapheap of history.
Although Arthur Wharton,
a goalkeeper from Ghana, was the first professional black player to
have competed at the top level in England, it is Tull who is credited
with being a pioneer as he was the first black outfield player.
Giant strides
Initially Vasili's attempts to get publishers or media outlets interested in Tull's story appeared to hit a dead end.
"I first came across him in 1993 and there was nothing contemporary about him, he had almost become forgotten," Vasili recalled.
"In the first years, I couldn't get anyone interested in it. Over time, the interest has grown and he's now got publicity.
"With the play and the
film, we're hoping to show people that whatever obstacles you face, you
can achieve the things you strive for.
"On a political level,
things are never simplistic. Britain may have been a different place for
black people at that time and there was prejudice.
"But at the same time,
there were a number of progressive institutions and people who helped
the black community and Walter on their way.
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"Symbolically, Britain
has been a multicultural place for a long time. Tull had a black father
and a white mother and if you look at the number of mixed-race
footballers, he led the way for them."
But what would Tull have
made of the recent events in Serbia? And what would he have though of
the John Terry racism saga that has proved so divisive for English
footall over the last year?
"I think he would have
been very sad," said Vasili. "Britain is a different place today than it
was when Walter was alive and there have been giant strides.
"He was the only black
outfield player in the top division at one time and now that isn't the
case. He was a great role model and led the way for those that play
today."
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Tull, who was born in
Folkestone, Kent, on April 28, 1888, endured a difficult childhood with
illness, death and poverty plaguing the family.
The grandson of slaves
in Barbados, his father arrived in England in 1876 following abolition
some 43 years earlier. Walter's mother, Alice, died when he was just
seven before his father passed away two years later.
With all six children
surviving their parents' death, the demands on their stepmother, Clara,
were too much to bear and Tull along with his brother Edward were taken
to live in a Methodist orphanage in Bethnal Green, east London.
When Edward was adopted
two years later by a couple from Glasgow and went on to become the first
black dentist in the city, Walter turned to football to help with his
solitude.
It was here, while
training to be a printer, Walter caught the eye with his football skills
and soon won a trial with amateur side Clapton F.C.
Vitriolic racism
His success, which
helped the club win the Amateur Cup, London Senior Cup and London County
Amateur Cup in the 1908-1909 season, secured him a dream move to
Tottenham Hotspur.
The transfer made Walter just the second black professional player in the English top division and the first outfield player.
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After making his debut
at the age of 21, Walter enjoyed success at Tottenham until a vitriolic
episode of racism at Bristol City in October 1909.
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"The game at Bristol was the first time I came across racism being mentioned in a match report," said Vasili.
"In previous reports,
writers would use coded language such as 'Tull took unwarranted abuse'
but there was no hiding it in this Bristol game."
The Football Star
described the Bristol City fans racist chants as "lower than
Billingsgate", while another newspaper labeled it as "a cowardly
attack".
One reporter vented his
fury by writing, "Let me tell those Bristol hooligans that Tull is so
clean in his mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play
football."
The episode appeared to embarrass Tottenham, which promptly dropped Tull from the team and sold him to Northampton Town.
Under Herbert Chapman,
the future manager of Arsenal, Walter enjoyed great success, making 110
appearances and attracting the interest of Scottish giants Glasgow
Rangers.
The First World War
broke out in 1914, with Tull signing up to the 17th Service Battalion of
the Middlesex Regiment, which was nicknamed, "The Diehards".
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He was involved in
combat at the end of the Battle of the Somme between October and
November 1916, before being sent back to England suffering from trench
foot and shell shock.
After making a full
recovery, Walter was ordered to go up to Scotland to the Officer
Training Corps, despite military regulations forbidding those who were
not of "pure European descent" from becoming officers.
What happened to Rose, happened to Walter around 93 years
previously ... It's funny how something which happened nearly a century
ago could be so relevant
Phil Vasili
Phil Vasili
Military bravery
In May 1917, he was appointed an officer, despite it being technically illegal.
"I guess he never
received the medal because the rules at the time prohibited it," added
Vasili. "Perhaps those on the ground didn't realize and some civil
servant or bureaucrat must have pointed it out.
"They couldn't have given an award to a black soldier and not a white soldier at the time."
Walter's military success continued as he became the first black officer in the British Army to lead troops into battle.
In Italy, he led his men at the Battle of Piave and was commended for his outstanding leadership abilities by his peers.
Walter's efforts did not go unnoticed and he was recommended for the Military Cross, but never received it.
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After finishing in
Italy, Walter was transferred to the Somme Valley in France. It was on
March 25, 1918 while trying to escape a German advance at Favreuil, that
he was fatally injured by machine gun fire.
"Such was Walter's bond
with his men that even with the machine guns firing, his men still tried
to recover his body," said Vasili.
"They risked their lives
to try and bring him back because he was a person who they all looked
up to and respected. He was a very humble character, who wanted to be
judged by his actions and deeds.
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