Black Pioneers of English Football Quiz

Answer: Jack Leslie

Leslie was playing for Plymouth Argyle in the 1930s when he was informed by his manager, Bob Jack, that he had been selected to play for England. However, according to www.englandfootballonline.com, "He later received communication cancelling his call up to the England team, stating that they didn't realise he was a man of colour".

Answer: Viv Anderson

Anderson reached this milestone at the age of 22 when he was selected, by manager Ron Greenwood, as right-back for a home match against Czechoslovakia on November 29, 1978. Cunningham became the second black England player the following year against Wales. It was another three years before Regis and Hill became the third and fourth.

Answer: 935

As an indication of quite how extraordinary this figure is, it was another 9 years before Neil Webb, the 1000th England player to be capped, took the field in an international.

Answer: Luther Blissett

Blissett scored in the 44th minute of a match against Luxembourg on December 15, 1982. It was the first of three goals that Blissett scored in the match, the only goals that he managed in 14 appearances for his country. England eventually won the game 9-0 with Mark Chamberlain coming off the substitutes bench to score the 6th goal. John Barnes was the first to score an away goal in Brazil in 1984. Danny Wallace scored in his only appearance for England against Egypt in 1986.

Answer: Paul Ince

Ince was chosen by manager Graham Taylor to captain the side against the USA in the Foxboro Stadium, Massachusetts, on June 9, 1993. England lost the game 2-0. Ince went on to captain the side on a further 6 occasions with a record of 4 wins and 2 draws. Sol Campbell first captained the England team against Belgium in a friendly in Morocco on May 29, 1998. Neither Barnes or Parker were ever chosen to captain the side.

Answer: John Barnes

Barnes won a total of 79 caps before his retirement from the international scene in 1995, and scored 11 goals. More than 12 years after his final game, Barnes was still the highest capped and highest scoring black player in the history of England internationals.

Answer: Brian Deane

Whilst Walters and Thomas had more success at club level with more fashionable clubs, they made only 1 and 2 appearances for England respectively. Deane was capped 3 times between 1991 and 1992. Fashanu won his only 2 caps in 1989.

Answer: 28 May 2005 vs USA

Sol Campbell, David James, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, Wes Brown, Jermaine Jenas, and Kieran Richardson, all started the friendly game against the USA which England won 2-1. Kieran Richardson scored both of England's goals.
The first time that more than half of the players on the pitch were black was against Denmark in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. England had started the game Ashley Cole, Trevor Sinclair, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, and Emile Heskey. In the 49th minute, Kieron Dyer came on to take the compliment of black players to 6 until Heskey was withdrawn 20 minutes later.

Answer: Sol Campbell

Campbell scored the goal in the 24th minute of England's opening game of the 2002 World Cup against Sweden. The game ended 1-1 after Niclas Alexandersson equalised for Sweden in the second half. Rio Ferdinand and Emile Heskey both scored in the second round game against Denmark in the same tournament. John Barnes never scored in a World Cup Finals tournament although he did put the ball in the net against Belgium in 1990 only for the goal to be ruled out (incorrectly as it transpired) for offside.

Answer: Sven-Goran Eriksson

Whilst Taylor gave a greater percentage of his new caps to black players (12 from 29), Sven gave the most black players a chance with 16 new caps during his tenure. Hoddle gave a chance to just 3 new black players in his brief reign out of a total of only 10 new caps. Robson equalled Taylor's tally of 12 black players from a total of 64 new players chosen.