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Thread | Does anyone remember...?
at 13:24 21 May 2024
Calvin Symonds played one game for the club, it was on 15th September 1955. Calvin is 92 now and still living on Bermuda where he was born in 1932. He was the first black player to represent the club. I was lucky enough to meet him recently, he's a lovely gentleman, and he still has fond memories of his time in Rochdale:
https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/blog/
I have recently updated his Wikipedia page and you can read about him there is you want to know more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Symonds
If anyone remembers seeing him play (unlikely) I would love to hear from you. |
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Reply | Tony Collins - First black manager in the Football League
at 20:02 16 Jan 2021
No problem.
Just as a general point, I've been on a number of forums over the past few years and this is probably the most civil, too often threads on other forums degenerate very quickly into name calling. When circumstance permit I look forward to visiting Spotland to watch a game.
Let me know when the plaque goes up!! |
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Reply | Tony Collins - First black manager in the Football League
at 17:20 14 Jan 2021
Thank you to those who have replied. To respond to the points made:
The previous thread was about your first black player, who turned out to be Calvin Symonds rather than Tony Collins. Calvin is alive and well (age 88) and recently sent New Year greetings from sunny Bermuda (see the 'black player' thread). Tony Collins is also still going strong at 94, so maybe there is something in the Rochdale air that encourages longevity!
As far as I know, Eddie Firmani was a white South African. I don't know who the un-named manager of Chester was but I would hazard a guess that he was also a white South African. Danny Bergara was also white and in any case was a manager long after Tony Collins.
I know not everyone is happy with stuff like Black Lives Matter, taking the knee and so on and I understand that, but I think this is about celebrating a Rochdale first. My particular beef is that there is a long history of Black people in Britain that isn't taught in schools and is mostly unknown. Britain was ruled by a Black man when it was part of the Roman Empire (Septimus Severus, who died in York in the year 211); there were black sailors at the Battle of Trafalgar and Black soldiers at the Battle of Waterloo, but no one ever talks about them.
Rochdale broke new ground when they appointed Tony in 1960, the Chairman at the time said: “we were aware that eyebrows might be raised because of his colour. But that makes no difference, and we sincerely hope that it will make no difference in his career as manager.” If you are interested you can read more on Tony here (including his comments on the 'Rooney rule'): https://footballs-black-pioneers.com/about/tony-collins-first-black-manager/
I don't think a plaque would be controversial (or rather, it shouldn't be) it is about celebrating someone who made a little piece of history at Rochdate in 1960. I don't think it would reflect negatively on other Rochdale managers before (e.g Harry Catterick, Jack Marshall etc) or since.
As I said in my first post, I don't have any contacts at the club and some of you might have. If you think some sort of commemorative plaque at the ground would be worth exploring then please raise it with the club.
Apologies for the long post, I wanted to explain why I think it's important but I understand 100% that others may feel differently. |
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Thread | Tony Collins - First black manager in the Football League
at 16:48 13 Jan 2021
I have had a quick look at the index and can't see a previous thread about this, apologies if there is one.
September was the 60th anniversary of Tony Collins taking over as (player) manager at Spotland, in doing so he became the first black manager of any club in the Football League. Various newspapers and people like Sky Sports ran features about it..
In these days when there is much talk of statues and plaques and such like I did wonder if there would be any appetite for having some sort of commemorative plaque at the ground? If anyone thinks it's worth pursuing the idea, does anyone on here have contacts with people at the club who might take the suggestion forward?
Appointing a black manager was a pretty bold decision by the chairman at the time and of course Tony served for a good number of seasons and led the club to the League Cup final in 1962. It would be nice if his contribution could be honoured in some way
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Reply | Rochdale's first Black player
at 22:18 3 Jan 2021
You aren't alone in that. In fact the first black professional footballer was Arthur Wharton who played FA Cup games for Preston North End in 1886 and there has been at least one black player in the Football League every decade since then. |
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Reply | Rochdale's first Black player
at 21:33 19 Sep 2020
Hi, I raised this topic ages ago and received several very helpful responses - thank you to those who contributed. What started out as a fun exercise has turned into a book 'Football's Black Pioneers', available from all good bookshops as they say. It tells the story of the first black player at each League club.
I recently spoke to Calvin Symonds at his home in Bermuda by skype, he is 88 now but still very much fit and well. He has fond memories of his time with Rochdale and is pleased that some fans remember him. His daughter told me 'he hasn't stopped smiling since he heard about the book.' I know he only played one first team game but he recalls playing in the reserves against Bobby Charlton and other Busby Babes. This was the season before Charlton broke through into the 1st team at United so the story does check out.
Cheers and good luck for the season ahead. |
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Reply | Rochdale's first Black player
at 17:27 30 Jan 2017
PS I meant to congratulate you on a lively forum, I've enjoyed dipping into some of the threads, the debate seems to be more civilised than most I've seen. Good luck for the rest of the season. |
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Reply | Rochdale's first Black player
at 14:40 30 Jan 2017
Thanks for drawing Calvin Symonds to my notice. The implication is that he only played one game, away to Barrow, but I've got hold of his auto biography and he says 'I was in and out of the first team' (1954/5) and he says he played three games at the start of the 1955/6 season (although these may or may not have been for the first team). He went back to Bermuda in November 1955 after his contract was terminated 'by mutual agreement'. He'd had a couple of operations on his knee and didn't fully recover.
He clearly has fond memories of his time at the club 'I enjoyed every moment of my English experience'.
Can anyone help provide a definitive record of how many appearances he made? |
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Thread | Rochdale's first Black player
at 11:44 12 Jan 2017
Hi, I'm doing some research into the first Black footballers at various league clubs. I believe Rochdale's first was Tony Collins in 1959/60. Does anyone disagree with that?
Of course he went on to be manager, probably the first Black manager in the football league, and took you to the League Cup Final.
Do any older supporters have memories of him either as a player or manager? Did anyone on here actually meet him and, if so, what was he like?
Some of you may know a book was recently published about him, how the game has changed since his playing days!
Thanks. |
| | dg1937
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