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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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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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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.

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