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Laurie Cunningham


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https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58822497

An article about one of the most exciting players I have ever seen. A brilliant footballer who was probably decades ahead of his time in football terms and who suffered the racially abusive society that still exists even if not quite as openly obvious as it was then.

Edited by cidered abroad
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  • The title was changed to Laurie Cunningham
1 hour ago, cidered abroad said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58822497

An article about one of the most exciting players I have ever seen. A brilliant footballer who was probably decades ahead of his time in football terms and who suffered the racially abusive society that still exists even if not quite as openly obvious as it was then.

I read this earlier, excellent article. I remember he was one of the few players that could illicit a round of applause from the opposition fans, the crowd at Ashton Gate seemed in awe of him. I was in the enclosure and he jumped what seemed like 2 feet in the air on the touchline to flick a ball one side of Sweeney and then spin around the other side of him to pick it up again. I said on here recently that there are times when I have to check whether Foden's feet actually touch the ground, and he is one of the few players that can glide across the pitch like Cunningham did, and Cunningham could do it on the 70's mud baths.

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20 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

I read this earlier, excellent article. I remember he was one of the few players that could illicit a round of applause from the opposition fans, the crowd at Ashton Gate seemed in awe of him. I was in the enclosure and he jumped what seemed like 2 feet in the air on the touchline to flick a ball one side of Sweeney and then spin around the other side of him to pick it up again. I said on here recently that there are times when I have to check whether Foden's feet actually touch the ground, and he is one of the few players that can glide across the pitch like Cunningham did, and Cunningham could do it on the 70's mud baths.

Like Best, Bowles, Marsh, Currie and a fair few others he showed skill and speed playing on pitches that resembled ploughed fields/quagmires for large parts of the season.

They also received nothing like the protection from refs afforded to today's superstars, yso risked serious injury in every game from the agricultural tackles (assaults) meeted out by defenders. 

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indeed a quite fantastic player to watch (I only saw clips of his days at The O's) on TV and then witnessed the strength, speed and power when he played for the Baggies at Ashton Gate. I will query one thing in the article though. It claims (Ive often seen the claim), that the first Black Player to play for England was Viv Anderson.... which makes me wonder why Paul Reaney was never considered to be the first black coloured player in an England shirt.....or am I inadvertently missing something

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Just now, Sweeneys Penalties said:

indeed a quite fantastic player to watch (I only saw clips of his days at The O's) on TV and then witnessed the strength, speed and power when he played for the Baggies at Ashton Gate. I will query one thing in the article though. It claims (Ive often seen the claim), that the first Black Player to play for England was Viv Anderson.... which makes me wonder why Paul Reaney was never considered to be the first black coloured player in an England shirt.....or am I inadvertently missing something

Plus there was a black player picked for England in the 30s who was sent away again when he turned up, because of his skin colour.

Presumably the selectors were just going by stats in the days before extensive travel and film.

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5 minutes ago, Port Said Red said:

Plus there was a black player picked for England in the 30s who was sent away again when he turned up, because of his skin colour.

Presumably the selectors were just going by stats in the days before extensive travel and film.

Actually Viv Anderson is cited as the first black player in the England senior team. The chap I mentioned is this one.

Decades before Anderson made his senior debut, Plymouth striker Jack Leslie was called up to play the Republic of Ireland in 1925. However, he was dropped from the squad before making his debut.

Leslie’s family believed he was dropped after a scout was sent to watch him play and realised the colour of his skin, having been called up on the strength of his goalscoring statistics in the days before video footage was available.

So not England at all. As well all know the ROI became decidedly less fussy in later years.

Edited by Port Said Red
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4 hours ago, cidered abroad said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58822497

An article about one of the most exciting players I have ever seen. A brilliant footballer who was probably decades ahead of his time in football terms and who suffered the racially abusive society that still exists even if not quite as openly obvious as it was then.

 

Really interesting feature that made you know the personality of Laurie a bit more.  I'd forgotten about all that stuff around the horrible murder of his brother's partner and step-daughters.

I well remember watching his last ever game in the UK - the '88 FA Cup final. He still had bags of flair.

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49 minutes ago, Sweeneys Penalties said:

indeed a quite fantastic player to watch (I only saw clips of his days at The O's) on TV and then witnessed the strength, speed and power when he played for the Baggies at Ashton Gate. I will query one thing in the article though. It claims (Ive often seen the claim), that the first Black Player to play for England was Viv Anderson.... which makes me wonder why Paul Reaney was never considered to be the first black coloured player in an England shirt.....or am I inadvertently missing something

I suspect the reason Viv Anderson is considered to be the first black player, rather than Paul Reaney is that PR is of mixed race. 

Edited by PHILINFRANCE
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I live for the day we can have a discussion about a player any player without reference to the colour of his skin, all this talk of racism to me is getting tiresome I expect the usual suspects to come out of the woodwork to criticise me for saying you don't know what it's like etc etc being white we all know there is a tiny and it is a tiny minority that harbours racist views but I'm sick to death of having it rammed down my throat constantly sorry to rant on but as somebody that lived through the era of Banana throwing monkey chants and the like the insults and abuse black players have to put up with today is but a fraction a shameful fraction I admit of what it once was. 

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2 hours ago, Port Said Red said:

Actually Viv Anderson is cited as the first black player in the England senior team. The chap I mentioned is this one.

Decades before Anderson made his senior debut, Plymouth striker Jack Leslie was called up to play the Republic of Ireland in 1925. However, he was dropped from the squad before making his debut.

Leslie’s family believed he was dropped after a scout was sent to watch him play and realised the colour of his skin, having been called up on the strength of his goalscoring statistics in the days before video footage was available.

So not England at all. As well all know the ROI became decidedly less fussy in later years.

Jack Leslie is a legend to Plymouth fans. The club have stuff named after him at Home Park and a statue of him will be put up at the ground - it`s being made as we speak. All the money for it was raised by a crowdfunding appeal.

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