Walter Tull
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Walter Tull (1888-1918) was the second black football player to play for a first division professional club in England and the first ever black infantry officer in the British Army.
Walter Tull was born in Folkestone, the son of a local woman and a carpenter who had emigrated from Barbados. He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909 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. He made some more first team appearances before being sold to Northampton Town in 1910 where he made 110 first team appearances for the club. When war broke out Tull enlisted in the army. 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 the famous footballer's pals battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, 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, and was mentioned in dispatches. He returned to northern France in 1918, and was killed in action leading an assault on German lines near the village of Favreuil in the Pas De Calais.
The first black football player to play professionally was Arthur Wharton, a goalkeeper for Rotherham United F.C. in 1889 whilst Andrew Watson, an amateur, is credited as the earliest black international football player, winning his first cap for Scotland in 1881.
Plans are under way to make a film about the life of Walter Tull. [1][2]
