A campaign is now underway for a statue to be erected of Jack Leslie, the former Plymouth Argyle footballer who was denied his dream of playing for England due to the colour of his skin.
In 1925 the talented Leslie was poised to become the first ever black player to pull on the England shirt, only for the decision to call him up to the national side be reversed.
Former Plymouth footballer Jack Leslie was denied a dream of playing for England due to the colour of his skin
After showcasing his remarkable talent in the old third division with Plymouth, Leslie was selected to play for England against Ireland in Dublin. He would never attend the match.
In the days following Leslie’s selection, the national newspapers published the team which instead included Billy Walker, of Aston Villa.
Walker was in the starting line-up whereas Leslie was named as a travelling reserve, after selectors became aware of the colour of his skin. He did not travel to the match, instead remaining in Plymouth and scoring two goals in a 7-2 victory over Bournemouth.
It was not until 1978 that England would field their first black footballer, following the selection of Viv Anderson.
Leslie therefore would have been the first ever black player to play for England, 53 years before Anderson. Now, a campaign group want his legacy to be remembered accordingly, with a statue erected in his honour.
Bill Hern co-author of the 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.
Born to a Jamaican father and English mother Leslie (seen bottom, second from right) became a vital player for Plymouth Argyle and carved a strong reputation for himself
Leslie (third from right) pictured warming up with his Plymouth team-mates. In 1925 his England call-up was reversed after selectors realised the colour of his skin
‘Had he played for England as he should have he would have fired the aspirations of generations of young black players.’
Speaking of Leslie’s initial selection for the national team his granddaughter, Lesley Hiscott, told the BBC: ‘I believe that the manager sent in his request, saying: “I’ve got a brilliant player here, he should pay for England,’”
‘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.’
Following his career 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, Leslie’s other granddaughter, 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.”‘
Leslie in action for Plymouth – the team for which he made 401 appearances and scored 137 goals in the positions of inside left or central defender
Viv Anderson went on to become the first black player to play for England, making is debut in 1978 – some 53 years after Leslie should have received a national cap for the Three Lions
Leslie is still remembered fondly at Plymouth Argyle and the club have already honoured him with a mural and also renamed their boardroom after him.
And now a group of fans are campaigning for a statue, at a time when decisions are being made around the UK to bring down monuments which pay tribute to slave traders and people who benefitted from social injustice.
‘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 to pull off its aim of producing the statue. Among the supporters include former England player Anderson and the club itself.
‘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 said.
‘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.’
Leslie’s football career came to an end after he sustained an injury when a lace from a leather ball flew into his eye. He and his family then returned to east London thereafter and he resumed his trade as a boilermaker.
In his retirement Leslie asked West Ham United for work, ending up in the boot room where he cleaned the mud from the boots of England stars including Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst
Following his retirement and with time on his hands, his wife Lavinia urged him to go to West Ham United 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, poignantly, he cleaned the 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 died in 1988 at the age of 88. The crowdfunding information for the Jack Leslie Statue Campaign can be found by clicking here.