The Colour of Football - Steve Stacey

£12.00

Steve Stacey rose from kicking a ball in the gaslit streets of post-war Bristol to running out in the top flight of English football. Often the only black face in the team he was the first African-American to grace the professional English game.

This poignant, funny and at times deeply moving tale, takes you behind the scenes as a professional footballer working up through the ranks while at the same time searching for his roots.

Steve Stacey rose from kicking a ball in the gaslit streets of post-war Bristol to running out in the top flight of English football. Often the only black face in the team he was the first African-American to grace the professional English game.

This poignant, funny and at times deeply moving tale, takes you behind the scenes as a professional footballer working up through the ranks while at the same time searching for his roots.

The son of a GI from Kemper County, Mississippi, the killing fields of black America and a woman from Bristol, UK he was given the middle name Darrow, after a black rights advocate.

His 40-year ancestry search underpins his rise through the football leagues. It’s all here, the dressing room banter, the famous names, the injuries as Steve plied his trade with Bristol City, Wrexham, Ipswich, and Exeter then breaking more boundaries as one of the first black footballers in Australia playing for Floreat Athena in Perth.

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Gordon Taylor OBE, Chief Executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, said:

“People of all backgrounds, races, religions and cultures can come together through football. 

 “Steve Stacey is not one of the big stars. But as the son of a black American GI and a white English woman, he was a pioneer. Professional football is all about the Steve Stacey’s of this world. 

 “The PFA is proud to have helped Steve tell his story. It is one that will resonate with football lovers everywhere and is a great insight into what it was like to be a professional footballer in Steve’s time.” 

ISBN: 9 781909 446199
Pages: 272
Published: 06.09.2019