Jack Leslie

It is argued by some that Paul Reaney of Leeds United was the first black player to represent England in 1968, but Reaney always regarded himself as white. Whether that was because he saw the abuse handed out to Albert Johannsonn and the effect it had on him I don't know.

The 1880s Preston player Stefano refers to is Arthur Wharton, a goal keeper. He actually left Preston in 1888, just before the inaugural Football League season, however he is the first black player to play in a first division match whilst at Sheffield United against Sunderland in 1895.
I agree with Stefano's scepticism about Leslie's international credentials when you consider how very few 3rd tier club players have ever appeared for England, I would also doubt he was the only black player of his era, it's unfortunate but black people in the past tend to get air brushed out of history.

Have moved a chunk of posts on to a new thread as they all relate to this topic.

Stefano is part right and he is part wrong.

A third division footballer would be highly unlikely to be selected for the annual World Cup Final with Scotland.

Against Ireland, it was a very different story and the net would be cast far and wide. Many amateurs and third division players did play for England. Jack Leslie would be and was in with a chance.

We will never know the full truth, but we do know some facts.

When the team for the Ireland game was announced in the press, Jack Leslie was listed as a travelling reserve.

Jack Leslie did not travel with the team to Ireland.

When asked for the reason why Leslie did not travel, the FA denied that he had ever been selected as travelling reserve!

Something very fishy there. Why pull the fake news ploy? There could be genuine reasons why a travelling reserve did not travel. His club could have asked for his release seeing as he was not due to play anyway. So why did the FA say they had not selected him when the press reports where clear that they had? Not conclusive evidence, but certainly fits in with having second thoughts due to his colour. On balance of probability, I believe this to be true.

As far as the story that he had originally been in the starting lineup, I do not believe that to be true although again I am not certain. If the FA altered the starting lineup to leave him out, why on earth would they have still named him to the press as a travelling reserve? They would surely have just left him out altogether. Why go through the embarrassment of announcing him as a travelling reserve and then have to pretend that they had not selected him as a travelling reserve? Makes no sense at all.

Where did the story that he was in the original eleven come from? It seems Jack Leslie believed it to be true. Could be a misremembering or mis-telling or could be a genuine misunderstanding or miscommunication at the time. Leslie recalled that the Argyle manager told him he was in the team. Who told the Argyle manager? Did they say in the team or in the travelling party? Did they say travelling party and he thought that meant team? Or did he tell Leslie he was in the travelling party and Leslie thought he meant team? We don't know and we never will.

Even if I wasn’t a Trust sceptic at the best of times, I’d still have severe doubts over their joint statement claim that Leslie’s ‘name was removed from the team sheet when officials discovered that he was black’.

Did any such team sheet exist, or have been more than a first draft ?

Let’s be especially kind to the Argyle manager, and remembering that the England selection committee was made up of a group of managers and trainers at the time. Might the Argyle boss have heard on the managerial grapevine that his player was highly tipped to get an International run out against the Irish ?

Why not give your player a boost, hopefully giving him extra confidence so that he might play even better for Argyle, now assured that you didn’t necessarily need to be at a big club in order to get a call up ?

But it really would be nice to know how far in advance of the match this teamsheet that the Trusts refer to, had been drawn up ? Might it even have been compiled as far back as September, for a game not due to be played until the latter part of October ?

"I did hear that The FA had come to have another look at me” confesses Leslie. And with the game not due to take place until 24th October, there would have been time to have another look at several of the players, including Billy Walker of Aston Villa.

Perhaps Walker played out of his skin, when he was watched again, while the F.A scout who came to Home Park got served a dodgy Dewdney’s pasty, and witnessed Leslie have a stinker of a game.

As rjdgull shows us, by way of video, by Tuesday 6th October, The Nottingham Journal updates readers with the latest on plans for the game against Ireland, with Leslie joining Nuttall of Bolton as one of the intended substitutes. Demoted from starter to substitute by now, or was that ‘team sheet’ never more than a figment of a Left Wing activist’s 21st century imagination ?

But either way, nothing's set in stone, and more can change as there’s another two and a half weeks to go before the match, and possibly a further two league matches to get through.

Saturday 10th October, and Huddersfield left back Sam Wadsworth dislocates his elbow, and has to drop out. So it’s back to the selection committee. Do you re-jig things and promote either Leslie or Nuttall to the starting eleven ? No, you bring in a specialist left back to replace the crocked left back. And so Newcastle’s 35 year old left back Francis Hudspeth is brought in, his defensive skills overriding the lack of diversity he’ll add to the team.

So just what was the state of that squad in the last weeks before they made tracks for Ireland ? How can we be sure that a couple of key defenders weren’t carrying knocks and already warning they couldn’t guarantee they’d last 90 minutes, let alone guide new cap Hudspeth through his first international ? Maybe by the time we were heading for October 24th it was a couple of defenders that were most needed as back up substitutes, and not free scoring Leslie, or Nuttall of Bolton ? To what extent did the selection committee have to return to the drawing board to reconfigure the squad for Ireland due to the usual footballing reasons ?

As we haven’t the foggiest, and because this is 2020, there’s only one conclusion to be drawn of course, and consequently ‘RACISM !!!’ is being shouted from the rooftops, as the incontrovertible explanation for Jack Leslie being at Home Park and scoring two goals for Argyle as they defeated Bournemouth, on the same afternoon as England were drawing 0-0 in Belfast.

Hopefully Jack’s statue can be quickly agreed upon, so that it doesn’t become a distraction from the fight to force the racially offensive name of Exeter ‘Chiefs’ to be changed as soon as possible. We seem to be engulfed in current or historic racism wherever we look in Devon presently, and there’s no nipping up to Bristol to escape from it. Let’s hope for better times soon.

We will never know the whole truth, but the British Newspaper Archive means we can very easily see what was and was not reported in the press.

The England team and reserves were announced in the papers on Tuesday 6 October.

There were quite a few changes to team and reserves before the game on Saturday 24 October. All very carefully explained in the press except for the absence of Leslie which was only "explained" by the FA claiming that his selection never happened when it clearly did.

Left-back changed twice. Sam Wadsworth broke his arm. He was replaced by Horace Cope who suffered a knee ligament injury and was replaced by Frank Hudspeth.

Bolton withdrew one reserve Harry Nuttall claiming he was injured. They then tried to pick him for a league game but the FA stopped them from doing so. He was replaced by Alf Baker of Arsenal - a wing-half for a wing-half.

The Athletic News of October 19 lists Stan Earle as travelling reserve instead of Leslie with no explanation given. Earle, born just down the road from Leslie in Stratford, was an inside forward so like for like.

I love Jon's irony banging on about Rugby Union being a 'silly game' and then starts waxing lyrical about cricket. Nothing is sillier than cricket!