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Walter Tull
The Legend of Tull
England's top division is probably the most multi-cultural league in the world both in terms of its players and those who cheer them on from the sidelines. Despite the reported incidents of racism in Premier League games this season, the division as a whole reflects the attitude held by most people in the UK - that diversity is something that should be celebrated and everyone should be entitled to be treated the same, irrespective of race, religion, gender or sexuality.
Racism has largely been eradicated from English football as it has from British society, though to deny that racial prejudice still rears its ugly head on the terraces or on the streets would be untrue. The difference now compared even to 40 or 50 years ago is that racism is deemed unacceptable both by law and society. Education has played a major role in installing a tolerant and open-minded believe system and the integration of communities has also been key.
It all seems a far cry from little over century ago when Walter Tull signed for Tottenham Hotspur. As the first black footballer ever to play top-flight football, Walter's colour made him stand out and sadly, he was singled out for racist abuse too. This despite the fact he would go on to serve his country with great distinction during World War I.
Phil Vasili, author of Walter Tull, 1888-1918: Officer, Footballer: All the Guns in France Couldn't Wake Me tells Soccerphile of Walter's struggles for acceptance both in his football and military career.
Phil Vasili on Walter Tull
Walter's father was originally from Barbados and his mother was from a labouring, agricultural family in Kent. His father came to the UK in 1836 and Walter was born in 1888. The family was broken up involuntary and by the age of nine, he had lost both his mother and father. Walter and his brother were sent to an orphanage in Bethnal Green which, luckily for them, was probably the most progressive orphanage around at the time.
The children basically lived in a house on Bonner Road that formed part of the orphanage. Each house was formed around a surrogate family containing 15 other people.
Sport was an outlet for Walter to have fun, find release from the orphanage and express his emotions. He excelled at football and was spotted originally by Clapton FC, who were a leading non-league club at the time. There was not a great deal of difference in standards between league and non-league clubs at the time, as proven by Tottenham Hotspur who won the FA Cup as a non-league side in 1901.
In his first season at Clapton, having signed for them in October 1908, the side won the FA Amateur Cup, the London County Challenge Cup and the London Amateur Cup. Tull was never on the losing side for the Clapton first team. That brought about attention from Tottenham Hotspur who offered to take Tull on trial during their pre-season tour of South America. His first game for Spurs was against Everton in a friendly in Buenos Aires.
Tull did enough during pre-season to be selected to play for Spurs in their first-ever professional League match in the 1909-10 season. By all accounts, he did well in his opening matches and one major newspaper at the time described him as the best player on the field in one game. Spurs then played an away game at Bristol City in October and he came in for some horrific racist abuse. It was headlined in the newspaper, which was so rare for an incidence of racism to be reported back then, let alone be a headline story.
What had happened at Ashton Gate prompted the directors of the club to maybe ponder that Tull might be, through no fault of his own, bringing the club unwanted attention. He was dropped after that Bristol City game and never really regained his place in the first-team. Herbert Chapman, the famous former Arsenal manager, signed him for Northampton Town in 2011. Chapman had played alongside Arthur Wharton - who is widely acknowledged to be the first black professional football player in the world - and demonstrated he was open-minded and non-phased about the issues of signing a black player.
Walter played over 100 games for Northampton Town and was a popular figure. When war broke out in 1914, he was the first player at the club to sign up to the Footballers' Battalion. There are generally around 1000 members of a battalion and Tull was assigned battalion number F55 - which stood for 'footballer 55'.
There are numerous reasons one could speculate that Tull was so keen to sign up. It might have been the fact he could claim two wages, it could have been that he felt it was his moral duty as a Christian or he might have felt that he'd been well looked after by the authorities and football and this was his way of making a repayment if you like.
Before he was sent to France to fight, Walter was promoted three times and headed there as a Sergeant and Foreign Private. He was sent to a nasty part of the Western front where the trenches weren't very deep and there was a lot of action. On his 28th birthday he was sent back to the UK with shell shock. He returned to conflict in the Battle of the Somme. His heroics there saw him recommended for a commission, which was very usual firstly because he was black and there were no black officers and secondly because of his working class background.
Military law at the time said that Officers had to be of 'pure European decent', but the Ministry of Defence overlooked this, probably because they need good soldiers to become officers. There were other officers who had seen that he was an excellent soldier and pushed for him to be commissioned. He went on to distinguish himself as an officer and was the first black officer to lead white troops in to battle. He was to die at the second Battle of the Somme on March 25, 1918.
Tull was put forward to receive the prestigious Military Cross, but was denied this honour because the army had broken its own regulations, which forbade men of non-European descent from becoming officers. There are citations identical to that of Walter of officers who received their Military Cross. Of those who were 'brave under fire', which is what was written about Walter. It's a massive injustice that Walter was denied his medal too.
The Ministry of Defence set a precedent in 1916 that suited them because they need men from the ranks to become officers. I think they should set a precedent in Walter's favour by awarding him the Military Cross posthumously.
The full story of Walter Tull can be read in Walter Tull, 1888-1918: Officer, Footballer: All the Guns in France Couldn't Wake Me by Phil Vasili which costs £10 and is available from Amazon.
A petition set up by Northampton South MP Brian Binley to see Walter Tull awarded the Military Cross posthumously can be signed at www.ipetitions.com/petition/waltertull
For more information on efforts to 'Kick Racism out of Football' visit www.kickitout.org.
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