sidcow Posted October 11, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted October 11, 2020 (edited) I was wondering how many black players Villa have had before Mark Walters who is the first black player I remember. A bit of research tells me Stan Horne was the first one in 1963. Then it seems we had 2 Zambians Emment Kapengwe and Freddie Mwila in 1969. Mark Walters started in 1981. Were there any inbetween? It is amazing how recent this all is. Shocking really. I was 8 years old when Viv Anderson became the first black player to represent England. Edited October 11, 2020 by sidcow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 I remember an Irish chap we bought from ManU absolute bargain, Paul something, really good 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 (edited) double post again, theres a glitch in the system, so hottie..... Edited October 11, 2020 by Phil Silvers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Funnily enough I was thinking about black Villa players, but I didn't wanna make a post about it cause, well, it's a some what delicate topic in ways. My thoughts were more about why it's such a high percentage of youth players that are black. Or youth players that "make it". Unless I'm wrong less than 5% of the English population is black. Yet when I look at Villa youths the last few years... Hogg, Moore, Vassell, Gabby, Delfouneso, Ramsey, Archer, Vasiliev, Baker, Clark, Grealish, Robinson, Green, +++ it just seems it's a disproportionate amount that are black relative to general demographics. Not that it matters one iota, but these are the things I think about haha. Is this due to a class divide etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 15 minutes ago, sidcow said: we had 2 Zambians We must lead the league in players from atypical African footballing nations. Zambia Zimbabwe Tanzania Burkina Faso Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 15 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said: double post again, theres a glitch in the system, so hottie..... I actually find this gif slightly repulsive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Silvers Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 3 minutes ago, maqroll said: I actually find this gif slightly repulsive sincere apologies buddy, it has been deleted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 4 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said: Funnily enough I was thinking about black Villa players, but I didn't wanna make a post about it cause, well, it's a some what delicate topic in ways. My thoughts were more about why it's such a high percentage of youth players that are black. Or youth players that "make it". Unless I'm wrong less than 5% of the English population is black. Yet when I look at Villa youths the last few years... Hogg, Moore, Vassell, Gabby, Delfouneso, Ramsey, Archer, Vasiliev, Baker, Clark, Grealish, Robinson, Green, +++ it just seems it's a disproportionate amount that are black relative to general demographics. Not that it matters one iota, but these are the things I think about haha. Is this due to a class divide etc? I think it's football in general, not just us. The class issue is probably a big factor, compared to why there are so few black professional cricketers as most of them go through the private school system., football is still a working class game and I'd say the proportion of black people that make up the working class is much higher than 5%. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, sidcow said: I was wondering how many black players Villa have had before Mark Walters who is the first black player I remember. A bit of research tells me Stan Horne was the first one in 1963. Then it seems we had 2 Zambians Emment Kapengwe and Freddie Mwila in 1969. Mark Walters started in 1981. Were there any inbetween? It is amazing how recent this all is. Shocking really. I was 8 years old when Viv Anderson became the first black player to represent England. Ivor Linton was before Walters I think I'm of an age where black players have always been part of Villa so skin colour has never really registered. They're Villa players and thats all that matters regardless of being black, white or any other skin colour. Looking back, Gary Thompson, Andy Gray and Tony Daley were the black players in the Villa team when I started supporting them. Edited October 11, 2020 by Xela 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted October 11, 2020 Author VT Supporter Share Posted October 11, 2020 27 minutes ago, Xela said: Ivor Linton was before Walters I think I'm of an age where black players have always been part of Villa so skin colour has never really registered. They're Villa players and thats all that matters regardless of being black, white or any other skin colour. Looking back, Gary Thompson, Andy Gray and Tony Daley were the black players in the Villa team when I started supporting them. Ivor Linton Joined 1977 apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weedman Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 4 hours ago, sharkyvilla said: I think it's football in general, not just us. The class issue is probably a big factor, compared to why there are so few black professional cricketers as most of them go through the private school system., football is still a working class game and I'd say the proportion of black people that make up the working class is much higher than 5%. I always thought it was because a lot of black people naturally develop more musclular physiques earlier than other ethnicities and as these top level sportsmen are all elite athletes having that added athleticism would be a huge benefit in breaking through. I'm sure the numbers of black people at all elite sports are way above the average (except cricket, which I never really noticed before, perhaps that is a bit of a class divide as you say) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-R Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Weve had a fair good amount of Black players at Villa and some very exciting ones at that to. Some of my Favourites were Paul McGrath, Dallian Atkinson and Ugo Ehiogu. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottaloo Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 4 hours ago, sharkyvilla said: I think it's football in general, not just us. The class issue is probably a big factor, compared to why there are so few black professional cricketers as most of them go through the private school system., football is still a working class game and I'd say the proportion of black people that make up the working class is much higher than 5%. Off topic i realise but that reminds me of my nephew who is at private school in Perth WA & is in the school's first XI. He is massively talented at that & as a hockey goalkeeper too (has toured with Australia U18, when only 16)....anyway, his cricket coach at school is Graeme Wood, ex aussie test opener. His hockey coach is a former olympian silver medallist Rick Charlesworth. When i was out there visiting one year, my nephew was playing a school game & was on the verge of a fifty when a parent stood next to me said the team's performances had come on leaps and bounds since his mate Adam popped down to give regular midweek training tips.......then Adam turned up, all g'day mate & this bloke introduced me to his mate Adam........Adam Gilchrist, no less. He was really modest, "Hi, pleased to meet you, I'm Adam" (like i needed telling who he was !). My brother saw my jaw drop and quipped "Yeah, it's amazing what $AU13,000 a term can buy you at these schools." in a rueful way. Then i looked at both teams - no black players, no indigenous players, just one asian lad and 21 white kids. It did make me wonder about inner city school kids. Later that night, I looked up all the current aussie cricket squad and sure enough, all public school educated. Not one Rodney Marsh or DK Lillee type amongst them. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 2 hours ago, Xela said: Ivor Linton was before Walters I think I'm of an age where black players have always been part of Villa so skin colour has never really registered. They're Villa players and thats all that matters regardless of being black, white or any other skin colour. Looking back, Gary Thompson, Andy Gray and Tony Daley were the black players in the Villa team when I started supporting them. What? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottaloo Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 3 minutes ago, momo said: What? Andy Gray...the other one.......came from (or went to ) Crystal Palace, midfielder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 7 minutes ago, mottaloo said: Off topic i realise but that reminds me of my nephew who is at private school in Perth WA & is in the school's first XI. He is massively talented at that & as a hockey goalkeeper too (has toured with Australia U18, when only 16)....anyway, his cricket coach at school is Graeme Wood, ex aussie test opener. His hockey coach is a former olympian silver medallist Rick Charlesworth. When i was out there visiting one year, my nephew was playing a school game & was on the verge of a fifty when a parent stood next to me said the team's performances had come on leaps and bounds since his mate Adam popped down to give regular midweek training tips.......then Adam turned up, all g'day mate & this bloke introduced me to his mate Adam........Adam Gilchrist, no less. He was really modest, "Hi, pleased to meet you, I'm Adam" (like i needed telling who he was !). My brother saw my jaw drop and quipped "Yeah, it's amazing what $AU13,000 a term can buy you at these schools." in a rueful way. Then i looked at both teams - no black players, no indigenous players, just one asian lad and 21 white kids. It did make me wonder about inner city school kids. Later that night, I looked up all the current aussie cricket squad and sure enough, all public school educated. Not one Rodney Marsh or DK Lillee type amongst them. I'm surprised by that, one thing I noticed when going down under was how many cricket fields there were scattered around the big cities whereas over here in inner London you'd be lucky to find any. But you're right it's a bit off topic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momo Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 2 minutes ago, mottaloo said: Andy Gray...the other one.......came from (or went to ) Crystal Palace, midfielder Oh, I searched him up now. Andrew Arthur Gray! Nice trivia. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottaloo Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 (edited) 5 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said: I'm surprised by that, one thing I noticed when going down under was how many cricket fields there were scattered around the big cities whereas over here in inner London you'd be lucky to find any. But you're right it's a bit off topic. Oh yeah, so did i.....i was tripping over the amount of cricket pitches in the suburbs, but never saw any other than rich lil white kids playing on them. Even the 3 day selection trials for the state team for WA......about 300 kids were there including from the "country" but hardly more than four or five black players were there. Anyway......back on topic Edited October 11, 2020 by mottaloo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted October 11, 2020 Author VT Supporter Share Posted October 11, 2020 I'm mainly surprised that Andy Gray from Palace is on a favourite player list. A more average player I would struggle to think of. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted October 11, 2020 Share Posted October 11, 2020 Freddie Mwila in 1968 must have been the first. Played a game under Tommy Docherty. I remember watching Ivor Linton. Great guy outside the game from what a mate told me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts