Soccer Thoughts

Topic 1: Blacks and the English National Team

In 1978, Viv Anderson (pictured) became for first black player to suit up for the English National Team. (That's 31 years after Jackie Robinson and 32 after the NFL's integration.) That's mad slow for a country that likes to brag about abolishing slavery first. In 2001, England's Football Association (F.A.) issued a public statement, admitting that "it could have done more to combat the racism black football players faced as they sought to make their mark in the game over the past few decades." This a surprising statement for the FA, an organization famous for never accepting blame for anything, including for the recent downturn in the National Team's fortunes.

Last year England set a new standard in letting down the hopes of a nation when they failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 tournament. After which, aside from the players themselves, the biggest target for angry fans was the FA. Supporters complained that the association had not done enough to develop homegrown talent, also blaming the lack of transfer regulations in the English Premier League that allowing the influx of international players to push perfectly good English players out of top flight squads. That argument has a lot of holes. For one, the international influence is the reason the EPL is top-flight in the first place and arguably the best league in the world. Two, by all youth team indications, lack of available talent--particularly young talent-- is far from a crisis in England at the moment. The under-21 is currently one of the best in the world and almost boasts enough EPL starters and near-starters to field its own squad.

This all makes me question what football heads fully mean when they refer to "English" players. It's not a big leap to suggest that color is somewhere in the subtext. I'm a little bit obsessed of late with the new crop of young English talent, particularly the under-21 team, and frankly the biggest reason for this is that a pleasantly alarming number of them are black. In fact, of the players under 23 who've had and are expected to have the largest impact on the English National Team, present and future, I'd argue that the majority of them are black. The under-21 team, a serious contender to win it all in the upcoming U-21 World Cup, has no less than 10 black players either currently on the roster or in the mix of possible candidates.

From top to bottom, in the youth and senior national team ranks, at nearly every position, there's a promising young black player who could challenge for a starting spot over the course of the next 2 to 4 years. And several of them are still young enough for under-21 duty-- chiefly faster-than-lightning teen phenom Theo Walcott (think Tony Parker with an extra 70 yards of field to work with), Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor, stonecold central Manchester City defender Micah Richards, and another speedy winger, Tottenham's Aaron Lennon. (All three start for their respective club teams). After those, the next most likely to bust are big, silky Tottenham midfielder Tom Huddlestone and Manchester United's next big thing (on loan to Tottenham) Fraizer Campbell, the barely legal total-package forward, whose name awesomely sounds like a heavyweight title fight. Add to that the quiver of slightly older players who are starting get National team shine-- the likes of Ledley King (the next likely heir to the central defender throne, post-Rio Ferdinand), Jermaine Jenas, Joleon Lescott (defender who can't stop scoring goals), Shaun Wright-Phillips (son of former great Ian Wright), and newly noticed right back Glen Johnson. And of course that doesn't include current stalwarts like Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, and newly reinstated no. 1 goalkeeper David James, who still have some years left.

[England Under-21 Squad]

That's a long roll call, and I won't pretend that any of that means anything to those more concerned with names like Tebow and Bradford. But, what it all boils down to is that, in the next five years, if a manager so desired, he could realistically field an internationally competitive, merit-warranted, all-black starting 11. I'm super interested to see what happens. The FA has talked a big game since their 2001 statement of guilt, and has been one of the leading public proponents of the anti-racism campaign in world football. But, words are just words, and racism is still magically and silently pervasive. Partly because of how blatantly they (namely former manager Glenn Hoddle) robbed my man Andy Cole back in the '90s (for which I blame this) and partly due to the fact that soccer managers are increasingly susceptible to top-brass pressure as they have about as much job security as stock brokers these days, I just have the distinct feeling that as the prospect of a field populated by more and more dark faces gets closer, scrutiny of black players' performance will get tighter and many won't get their fair shake.

It all sounds a little conspiratorial, but the notion is not without supporting evidence. As recently as January of 2004, the Guardian's Vivek Chaundhary reported that an unnamed former manager (popular speculation says it was Graham Taylor) “alleged that during his tenure he was told by senior FA officials not to pick too many black players," claiming "that he was called into an office where two senior FA officials were present and they told him that his England team should be made up of predominantly white footballers.” I've been suspicious of such quota-mandering since forever; that's just how I am. But, even I was taken aback at the brazenness of what that suggests.

That being said, England clearly fields the most black players in Europe in international play, aside from France. But, the world soccer scene is changing. Every year more black players attract bigger transfer fees and end the year on the medium-to-shortlist for league, European, and World players of the year. Is England ready to be like France; field a team almost entirely of African descent? France's recent World Cup record and the recent spike in world-class football in Africa suggest that maybe they and a bunch of other teams should look into it. Regardless, I don't think that the FA should start patting their backs just yet. The real test of how colorblind they're willing be is coming soon.