Change language
Actions
Displays
Remove from selection
Add to selection
Abstract

He was the Stroud Green boy who became the first black footballer to play for England in a competitive international match and the first Briton to play for Real Madrid.

But despite his groundbreaking career in which he paved the way for ­other black players while battling vicious racism on and off the pitch, the ­story of dazzling winger Laurie Cunningham is not as well known as he should be.

But this week Mr Cunningham, who died in a car crash in Spain aged just 33, was honoured with a blue English Heritage plaque at his childhood home in Lancaster Road. It was where he lived when he was first spotted by a Leyton Orient scout before making his professional footballing debut with the team in 1974.

He becomes only the second footballer ever to be awarded a blue plaque after England’s World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore.

The unveiling was the result of a six-year campaign by the Leyton ­Orient Supporters’ Club.

Steve Jenkins, its deputy chairman, said: “Laurie achieved a lot in the short time he was on this earth. He broke down barriers when prejudice was very hard, he had to put up with so much and never fought back physically and fought back on the pitch. He was a gentle­man and is very fondly remembered.”

Sunday Times sports picture editor Dermot Kavanagh, who is working on a biography of the footballer, added: “Laurie Cunningham was a great Londoner. He was a real pioneer, a groundbreaker for black youngsters in football. He was one of the first to go to Spain and at that age, when the country was coming out of 40 years of Franco rule he went through quite a lot of racism, but he wore it very lightly and when he was on song he played brilliantly. He was really at the front of it, not just the verbal abuse but also bore a lot of the physical side of it on the pitch.

“It seems his name has sort of fallen through the cracks of the public consciousness but I think it’s important he is remembered.”

Mr Kavanagh’s book, Different Class: Fashion, Football and Funk, The Story of Laurie Cunningham, begins in the mid-1950s when Mr Cunningham’s parents arrived from Jamaica and settled in Stroud Green, then one of the poorest areas in the country.

But as a boy he loved to dance and grew into an exceptional athlete. A ­quiet and self-contained teenager who took care to dress well, he found expression in the fledgling soul scene that emerged out of pub back rooms and Soho dives.

Mr Cunningham played for Highgate North Hill, a remarkable youth team set up by a social worker which won the Regent’s Park League, before joining the Orient.

He later joined West Bromwich Albion, where, under manager Johnny Giles, he teamed up with another black player, Cyrille Regis, who unveiled the plaque at the ceremony on Wednesday. The two men became close friends.

The ceremony was also attended by members of the player’s family, including his mother Mavis, Tottenham legend Garth Crooks, and the anti-racism campaign group Kick it Out and members of the Leyton Orient Supporters’ Club.

The awarding of the plaque to Mr Cunningham is part of a drive by English Heritage to honour more black and Asian nominees.

Mr Kavanagh is appealing for fans to help publish his story by making pledges, from £10, to support the book on funding website Unbound.