Breaking the mould in football

Ces was one of the early victims of racial abuse on the pitch

Former Bradford City player Cyril 'Ces' Podd helped pave the way for black and Asian sportsmen back in the 1970s.

As one of the first black players to establish himself in league football, his career at Valley Parade spanned 14 years.

He made a club record of 502 league appearances.

It all began when he arrived in Yorkshire from the Caribbean when he was just nine years-old.

At the age of 16 he began playing for a Leeds pub team, for the church school team and his local youth club.

He made his debut for Bradford City in 1971 against Chesterfield and he was named Man of the Match by one newspaper.

However, Ces was not ready for the amount of racial abuse that he received from fans. Name-calling, spitting and having bananas thrown at him were all part of his experience.

There were things you don't like to remember, but they were there Ces Podd, former Bradford City star

In 1980 he was the first black footballer ever to be granted a testimonial by the Football Association.

The match attracted a then record attendance, and after writing to a number of managers in the league he put together an all black team for the match.

Today Ces is a coach with St.Kitts and Nevis, but he is still famously remembered as one of the first British black players. He helped to break down stereotypes that black players could not compete at the top level.

Racial taunts

Ces says he can still remember how difficult it was for him: "I can remember when I was at school, I was the only black kid. Obviously you're going to get taunts and end up in fights that you don't intend to get involved in.

He said: "In those days, in the late '60s when I went to school there weren't that many black kids, so you were open to all sorts of abuse. It continued when I started playing football.

"I was actually offered a trial at Wolverhampton Wanderers and went all the way down and remember arriving there and there was a group of something like 28 or 30 kids and they picked two teams. I wasn't chosen to be in either of the teams.

"At that time there weren't many black players in the league. There was this stigma that black people couldn't deal with the weather. I wasn't the biggest of kids, and I got there and I thought, 'I've come all this way, at least take a look at me'. It didn't happen.

"I went home and told my mum I wasn't going back. The same thing happen when I was spotted by a Manchester United scout, but that didn't get anywhere. I didn't get a game."

It was while studying at Bradford College of Art, playing football in between his lessons, that he got his break.

Total focus

Even though he was now in a professional league, the abuse didn't stop.

He remembers: "I used to get chants shouted. To be honest it didn't really bother me as much as it probably should have. I was totally focused. From the time I was a kid I knew I had to work extra hard if I was going to be successful, particularly in sport, because it was that competitive.

"I realised I was the odd one out because most black people in those days played cricket, so I had to make a showing and make sure whatever I did, I was better than everybody there.

"The chants were there. I got the normal monkey chants and in one game I had a banana thrown at me. In another game at Crewe, someone spat at me.

"There were things you don't like to remember, but they were there.

"My dad came to almost every game. My mum came to one, heard the racist abuse, and didn't come back. She wasn't impressed.

Ces acknowledges that football has come a long way since then, but believes racism still exists in the sport even today. He says: "When you look back at the things you had to put up with back then, it's nothing near what it used to be.

"There is a problem and there always will be. The Kick Racism out of Football campaign is getting the message across, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done."