Peace and Love

I bloody love football but people are going out of their way to ruin it for me. On Sunday night the BBC broadcast 'United'. Apart from a couple of glaring errors (Edwards didn't play in the game Charlton made his debut in) it was a moving, poignant piece of television. Twitter was awash with praise for the show itself and even non-United fans paid their respects to the lost.

The following day, the 25th of April to be precise, Darron Gibson followed some of his Manchester United team mates in creating a twitter account. Just two hours later it was shut down after Gibson received a colossal amount of abuse from other members of the twittersphere. I won't lie to you, Darron Gibson isn't my favourite player either. It doesn't seem right however, to heap abuse upon somebody because you simply don't like the cut of their jib. Criticise a player by all means. Criticism can be constructive and I find the over analysis is half the attraction of football. The mindless abuse directed at Gibson was just plain unpleasant. Unsurprisingly, some of the named and shamed claim to be Manchester United fans.

We support someones local club

Confession time. I'm not from Manchester but I do support Manchester United. "Golly gosh!" I hear you cry, "A Manchester United fan who isn't from Manchester?" Unbelievable isn't it. Neither my Mother or Father are from Manchester either. Nor their parents. I haven't even bothered to invent some tenuous link via my great great great uncle's dog. And here's the real shocker: I could care less about where someone is from in relation to the team they support. I still consider myself a United fan first and foremost. Coming from the South West but supporting a Northern team has been a bone of contention since the day I decided I wanted to be Ryan Giggs when I grew up. Does choosing another team over your hometown club really matter anymore? People move about the world more freely and Sky Sports and the Internet mean there's much more access to the Premier League. It's no wonder the Premiership is the worlds most watched association football league when you think about it.

That said, the point of this post isn't for me to come out of the 'glory hunter' closet. It's to express my utter disappointment in my fellow 'fans'. The likes of Iain Macintosh and Dave Hartrick have expressed much better then I ever could why the moronic taunts about Munich, Hillsborough and Istanbul are totally unacceptable. However, not everyone seems to understand that such chants are not acceptable. The day after 'United' aired, the same old 'Munich' taunts were heard at Manchester City vs Blackburn. It's not just limited to Manchester United. Every time most clubs get within a sniff of Liverpool Heysel and Hillsborough are rubbed in their faces and even after a show of respect as both sets of Old Firm fans remembered those who lost their lives in the Ibrox tragedy, hostilities have resumed between Celtic and Rangers with Celtic manager Neil Lennon being targeted with a parcel bomb.

Let's be honest. Despite the Kick it Out campaign it's hard to ignore the persistent racist, homophobic and abusive chanting still heard all over the world. Most of the Football Clubs involved don't seem to be doing enough to stamp it out. They and everyone involved in football need to take the Copa Del Racism and run it over with the tolerance bus.

Let's hug it out.

Which brings me to my conclusion. I am pleading with the witless to stop watching football. You're really making it hard for me to enjoy. I figure that if you stick to 'The Only Way is Essex' I don't have to be associated with you. Also, if you stop going/watching/using it as an excuse for a tear up, then football will once again become something to be proud of. If football regains it's pride then it can get back to what it's really about: friendly competition. No more hate. Just peace and love. Trust me, it's the way forward.

Unsung FC - 'They Must Have Forgotten' - Jack Leslie

Unsung FC is a new feature designed to bring attention to the great men and women who have changed the game of football but perhaps don't get the recognition they deserve. First up is Jack Leslie.

In 1885, Arthur Wharton became the first player of African decent to play Association Football in England and the first black professional player in the world. An all-round sportsmen, Wharton was a keen cyclist, cricketer and sprinter, setting a world record of 10 seconds for a 100 yard sprint in 1886. Originally playing for Darlington he later signed for Preston North End. While a part of the famous 'Invincibles' side of the 1800's, Wharton left before winning any honours to concentrate on his running.

In 1978, Viv Anderson became the first black player to earn an England cap. Winner of two European Cups with Nottingham Forest, Anderson was called up by then England manager Ron Greenwood who stated: "Yellow, purple or black - if they're good enough, I'll pick them." Sandwiched between these to pioneers of football in England is Jack Leslie.

Real pioneers rock a moustache - Viv Anderson and the late Arthur Wharton

Jack Leslie was born in Canning Town, London on the 17th of August 1901. Born to a Jamaican father, Leslie started his football career with his local side Barking Town. In 1921 the inside left signed for Plymouth Argyle but at the time you could count the number of black professional players on one hand. As a result of this and attitudes of the time Leslie was subjected to unforgivable racial abuse. He later recalled - "I used to get a lot of abuse in matches. 'Here darkie, I'm gonna break your leg,' they'd shout. There was nothing wicked about it - they were just trying to get under my skin." Despite this Leslie had an incredible career for the Pilgrims; he made a total of 401 appearances for the club scoring 136 goals. During his time with the club Argyle finished runners up in the Football League Third Division South, 6 times (1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27), eventually winning it in the 1929-30 season. Leslie and Plymouth would also play against the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal, the latter of which was a fourth round FA Cup tie in January 1932. The game drew a record crowd of 65,386 to Highbury and Leslie scored Argyles second goal in a 4-2 defeat to Herbert Chapman's famous side. Between 1927 and 1929 Leslie held the record for most league goals scored (35), but it appeared that the best was to come.

During the 1930's legendary Argyle manager Bob Jack informed Leslie that he had received the call to play for his country. In an interview with the Daily Mail in 1978 Leslie told them - "One day, a Tuesday, as I remember it, the manager calls me in. 'Johnnie' he says, 'I've got great news for you. You've been picked for England.' It was quite a thing for a little club like Plymouth to have a man called up. Then the papers came out a day or so later and Billy Walker of Aston Villa was in the team, not me."

The reason for his exclusion came from FA officials who claimed that they had not known Leslie to be 'a man of colour'. Later, Leslie surmised - "They found out I was a darkie and I suppose that was like finding out I was foreign." His daughter, Evelyn, told the BBC of her fathers disappointment - "It would have been the icing on the cake, but it was taken away from him. He had a lot of disappointments because of his colour."

Not long after the invitation was withdrawn Leslie famously told journalist Brian Woolnough: "They must have forgot I was a coloured boy."

Jack Leslie retired from professional football in 1934. He later went on to be a member of the backroom staff at his local club: West Ham United. He passed away in 1988 but will live long in the memory of not only Plymouth Argyle fans, but football fans everywhere.

Jack Leslie