Skip to main content

Men’s football The ballad of Jack Leslie

Musician Matt Tiller speaks to Asif Burhan about his campaign and fundraising efforts to erect a statue outside of Home Park of Jack Leslie, the Plymouth striker who should have been England’s first black player

A FAN-DRIVEN campaign raised more than £100,000 in just six weeks, to fund the commission of a statue outside Home Park in Plymouth to honour the first black male footballer picked to play for England.

Last December, the Morning Star ran a piece celebrating the life of forgotten Plymouth Argyle striker Jack Leslie who was chosen to start for the England national team against Ireland in October 1925, only to have his place revoked once The FA’s international selection committee realised that Leslie, the son of a Jamaican gas fitter labourer, was black.

Matt Tiller, a musician, comedian, writer and television comedy producer, started the campaign to honour Leslie alongside fellow Plymouth fan Greg Foxsmith. 

Tiller admitted that “when I heard Jack’s story last year I was at first ashamed that I didn’t know this incredible piece of football history and then moved to write a song which my small, but loyal fanbase seems to love. That includes fellow Plymouth Argyle fan Greg Foxsmith, and together we resolved to celebrate this pioneering player’s achievements and raise funds to build a statue.”

Tiller and Foxsmith launched a crowdfunder campaign on July 1, initially generating huge nationwide publicity. 

“Both of us have run projects,” explained Tiller. “Greg is quite an experienced campaigner and lawyer. My day job? I’m a TV producer. We didn’t really know what we were doing until we started but we’ve just run with it.”

MPs like Jeremy Corbyn, Caroline Lucas and Emily Thornberry have supported the duo’s fundraising efforts on their social media accounts as well as celebrities such as Arabella Weir, Josh Widdicombe and Gary Lineker. 

Donated artwork and signed shirts have been auctioned and Tiller, who has won critical acclaim performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, even released a single “The Ballad of Jack Leslie,” a modern folk song which tells the story of Leslie’s career, to help raise funds.

“It has been a cumulative effort,” he said, “with more and more people coming on board. Celebrities with big Twitter followings helped massively, you see it in the donations. 

“At the start, having the support of Plymouth Argyle was pretty crucial, it really galvanised the ‘Green Army’ and all the organisations around it — fans’ trusts and internet forums. Lots of organisations came together to fundraise or donated big amounts. Also, the funding from Plymouth Council was pretty massive.

“What has been really striking with the national coverage is that the story has resonated beyond Plymouth which is fantastic. We’ve had support from people who aren’t football fans, people from different clubs, not just those that he was associated with, but from further afield too. It’s brilliant to see that.

“One of the great things with the campaign is seeing the memories of Jack that come through. You see messages on the crowdfunder, like: ‘I’m posting this on behalf of my grandad in his 90s who remembers Jack as a great player.’ 

“The president of Barking FC wrote a message on social media saying: “My late father told me that Jack was the greatest player he has ever seen play for Barking in his 60 years-plus of watching the Blues.’ The positivity has been amazing.”

The campaign has also had the backing of The FA but they stopped short of apologising for refusing to play Leslie in 1925. 

FA Chairman Greg Dyke said: “Stories like this are incredibly sad. Discrimination in the game, in any form or from any time period, is unacceptable. 

“We must always remember pioneers like Jack Leslie and be thankful that football is in a very different place today. We are very pleased to support this campaign which will hopefully ensure that Jack’s career is appropriately recognised.”

Before he died in 1988, Leslie ended up working at Upton Park for 15 years, cleaning the boots of West Ham United players who were oblivious to his previous goalscoring exploits. 

Supporting the campaign, Sir Trevor Brooking said: “The incredible thing was that none of us — me, Geoff Hurst or Bobby Moore included — knew he was a player! Jack never mentioned it; that was how humble he was. 

“I was amazed when I read about the campaign and heard about Jack’s history in the game. I just wish he’d told us at the time, but that was Jack and I’m only too delighted to support the campaign for a statue to be erected at Home Park in his honour.”

Former footballer Clyde Best, who played for West Ham for seven seasons from 1969, was also unaware that Leslie had played professionally and had suffered the same prejudice he was dealing with but over 45 years earlier. 

“We would call him Uncle Jack and go and pick up our boots from him when we had away trips or brought him in after a home game and he would look after everything for us. 

“At the time I played it was tough, but finding out what Jack had to go through, I’m sure it was a lot harder. He would have been by himself, just like I was by myself and it makes you a different individual when you have to face that. I’m just glad that people have joined together to get something that he richly deserves, a statue.”

The bronze statue of Jack Leslie is likely to stand close to the Mayflower Grandstand of Home Park. Tiller, who plans to use any surplus funds raised from the crowdfunder to finance education work around the project, hopes “there’s more to come beyond the campaign.”

Leslie’s granddaughter Lyn Davies said: “We are delighted that Jack’s story is finally getting the attention it deserves and Matt’s song about granddad is wonderful. It had me in tears thinking about him, the injustice that happened but also how he carried on with such grace and humility.”

OWNED BY OUR READERS

We're a reader-owned co-operative, which means you can become part of the paper too by buying shares in the People’s Press Printing Society.

 

 

Become a supporter

Fighting fund

You've Raised:£ 13,288
We need:£ 4,712
3 Days remaining
Donate today