Walter Tull

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Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 - 25 March 1918). Tull was the first black outfield player in the top division of the Football League, and the first black infantry officer in the British Army.

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[edit] Life

Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, the son of Bajan carpenter Daniel Tull and a local woman Alice Palmer. He begun his education in what is now Mundella Primary School[1]. Following the death of his parents he was brought up in an National Children's Home orphanage in Bethnal Green with his brother Edward. He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909,after a close season tour of Argentina and Uruguay, making him the first black professional footballer to play in Latin America.[citation needed] He made his debut for Tottenham in September 1909 at inside forward against Sunderland but only made seven first-team appearances before he was dropped to the reserves. This may have been due to the racial abuse he received from opposing fans particularly at Bristol City, whose supporters used language "lower than Billingsgate" according to a report at the time in the Football Star newspaper.[1] Further appearances in the first team were recorded before Tull was bought by Herbert Chapman's Northampton Town in October 1911 for a "substantial fee".[2] Tull made 110 first-team appearances for the club. When war broke out Tull enlisted in the army, in December 1914, the first Northampton town player to do so. It was reported in newspapers that Tull had signed to play for Rangers once the war was over.

During the First World War Tull served in both footballers' battalions of the Middlesex Regiment, 17th and 23rds, rising to the rank of sergeant and fighting in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. When Tull was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in May 1917 he became the first black combat officer in the British Army. Tull fought in Italy in 1917/18, and was mentioned in dispatches for leading a raiding party into enemy territory. For bringing his men back unharmed Tull was recommended for a Military Cross. He returned to northern France in 1918, and was killed in action on 25 March during the last German offensive of the First World War, near the village of Favreuil in the Pas De Calais. His body was never recovered despite the efforts of Private Billingham to return him while under fire. Walter Tull is remembered at The Arras Memorial, Bay 7, for those who have no known grave. He fought in six major battles; Ancre, November 1916 (first Battle of the Somme); Messines, June 1917; 3rd Ypres, July- August 1917(Passchendaele); Menin Road Bridge, September 1917; St.Quentin, March 1918(2nd Somme); Bapaume, March 1918(2nd Somme)

In the history of black footballers in Britain, Tull may be mentioned alongside Arthur Wharton, a goalkeeper for Rotherham United F.C. who became the first black professional in 1889, and Andrew Watson, an amateur, who is credited as the earliest black international football player, winning his first cap for Scotland in 1881.

[edit] Legacy

Plans are under way to make a film about the life of Walter Tull [2] [3][4] and campaigners are calling for a statue to be erected in his honour at Dover.[5]. To secure the posthumous award of Walter's Military Cross; a site for a symbolic physical representation of the contribution of Tull and other black soldiers to Britain's military history; and funding both for a screenplay dramatising the incredible life of this remarkable human being, and a stage play by Maya Productions, to tour regional and rural venues. Two films have been made for Teachers TV focusing on teaching about Walter Tull, and will be launched in May 2008.

In 2004, Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers contested the Walter Tull Memorial Cup. Rangers won the Cup after defeating Spurs 2-0 with goals from Dado Prso and Nacho Novo on the 28th of July. [3]

[edit] Memorial

On Sunday July 11, 1999 Northampton Town F.C unveiled a memorial to Walter in a dedicated Garden of Remembrance at Sixfields Stadium. The epitath inscribed there Through his actions, Tull ridiculed the barriers of ignorance that tried to deny people of colour equality with their contemporaries. His life stands testament to a determination to confront those people and those obstacles that sought to diminish him and the world in which he lived. It reveals a man,though rendered breathless in his prime, whose strong heart still beats loudly. The words were written by Phil Vasili author of Colouring Over the White Line:History Of Black Footballers in Britain.(ISBN 1-84018-296-2)

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/02/20/walter_tull_feature.shtml
  2. ^ Garland, Jon (2001), Racism and Anti-racism in Football, p32
  3. ^ "Rangers see off sorry Spurs", BBC Sport website, 28 July 2004. 

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