In 2025, Black players make up over 40 percent of footballers thrilling supporters with their performances in the English Premier League.
Fifty years ago, though, things were very different, with very few Black players representing clubs in the old First Division.
The arrival of families from Commonwealth nations in the years following the Second World War included many from the Caribbean and Africa and the population of England was becoming more ethnically diverse.
However, it took top-level football time to reflect this growing diversity, and by 1975 a Black player had still not represented England at senior level.
West Ham United’s John Charles became the first Black player to represent England at any level when he featured for the U18s in Israel in 1962. The following year, 1963, he became the first Black player to represent the Club in the First Division and captained the Hammers to FA Youth Cup glory, becoming the first Black player to lift the trophy.
Charles was an exception, though, and Black players remained few and far between through the 1960s - a decade when a series of new laws called the Commonwealth Immigrants Act restricted the entry of many Black immigrants into Britain.
Racism and prejudice were widespread, and football stadiums were uncomfortable places to be for Black players and supporters alike.
As a Club, West Ham United was a rare welcoming environment for young Black footballers eager to follow their dreams and become professionals.
Charles played 142 times in Claret and Blue between 1962-70, and was joined in the first team by Bermuda-born centre-forward Clyde Best, who signed in 1969, and followed by his younger son Clive, who played 15 games between 1972-73, and Nigerian teenager Ade Coker, who scored on his debut against Crystal Palace in October 1971.
When Best, the younger Charles and Coker lined up to face Tottenham Hotspur on 1 April 1972, West Ham became the first English top-flight team to field three Black players in the same team.
Writing in the Daily Mirror at the time, captain Bobby Moore said: “The East End of London has been one of the most exciting places in the world for centuries. It’s cosmopolitan and has a welcome hand for most people… Today there’s a flourishing coloured (the term was considered acceptable at the time but is now outdated and unacceptable) population as well and on Saturdays some of the faces are on the terraces. That’s the way West Ham is.”
The Academy of Football signed four Black players in 1972 and although none of the quartet played first-team football for West Ham, all four played their role in the Club’s history.
Chester Brown was born in Hackney and attended Monega Primary School in Forest Gate before his outstanding talent saw him capped by Newham, London and Essex Schools at several levels.
Brown joined the Academy in 1972, appeared in the South East Counties League, signed as an apprentice in 1973 and played for the reserves until his release in October 1974. He went on to play non-league football.
One of Brown’s London Schools teammates was Nigerian forward Manny Egbuniwe, who scored while playing alongside Brown, future Manchester United, Chelsea and England midfielder Ray Wilkins and future Fulham midfielder and England assistant manager Ray Lewington in a 2-0 win over Liverpool Schools at Anfield in October 1971.
Egbuniwe moved to England with his parents and attended Edith Cavell Secondary School in Hackney. He played for Hackney and Middlesex Boys before signing for West Ham as an apprentice in 1972. He too was released in October 1974.
Less information is known about the career of Tyrone James, who played in the South East Counties League for the youth team between 1972-74.
The 1974/75 season is synonymous with West Ham’s men’s team winning the FA Cup for the second time in the Club’s history, defeating Moore’s Fulham 2-0 at Wembley Stadium in the final.
Less well known, however, is that the Hammers’ Under-18s reached the FA Youth Cup final for the fourth time, having previously done so in 1957, 1961 and in 1963, when Charles captained his team to a thrilling 6-5 aggregate victory over Liverpool.
Perhaps it should be no surprise that the young Irons’ achievement is little known when you consider the FA’s own website lists the 1975 final as ‘Everton 5-0 Ipswich Town’, despite the fact Everton were knocked out in the fifth round by Huddersfield!
The aforementioned John and Clive Charles, Coker and Brown had all scored in previous editions of the FA Youth Cup. Coker smashed in nine goals in five ties in 1970/71, while Brown scored against Crystal Palace in 1972/73 and Tottenham Hotspur in 1973/74.
A fourth Black player then played a big part in West Ham’s run to the 1975 FA Youth Cup final - John Domfe.
Domfe had also hit the net against Crystal Palace in January 1973 and he was still young enough to play in the Youth Cup when West Ham kicked-off their 1974/75 challenge with a 3-1 second-round win at Charlton Athletic in December 1974.
Born in Ghana, Domfe moved to England as a boy and attended Thomas More Catholic School in Purley in south London. He played for Croydon Schools before signing for West Ham as an apprentice.
Domfe lined up alongside the likes of Alvin Martin, Geoff Pike, Paul Brush and Alan Curbishley as Watford, Liverpool, Chelsea and Middlesbrough were all beaten to set up a two-legged final with Ipswich.
While the first team had proved too strong for Bobby Robson’s Ipswich in the FA Cup semi-finals, where Alan Taylor’s replay double secure a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on 9 April, the Tractor Boys’ youth team led by future Ipswich legend John Wark gained some small semblance of revenge less than two weeks later.
Again, Domfe was in the starting XI named by coaches Bill Lansdowne, Ronnie Boyce and Tony Carr for the first leg played in front of 10,227 supporters at the Boleyn Ground on Monday 21 April 1975.
Goals from England youth internationals Keith Bertschin and David Geddis and Scottish winger Tommy O’Neill ruined the Hammers’ night, however, with Terry Sharpe’s consolation giving them only a slim chance to turn things round at Portman Road.
Domfe started the second leg nine nights later, but O’Neill and Bertschin again found the net to complete a 5-1 aggregate win and leave the young Hammers empty-handed.
The defender, who went on to play non-league football and was assistant manager at Croydon FC, may not have been an FA Youth Cup winner, but he was part of an outstanding young West Ham team.
Fifty years on, his achievements, and those of the other Black players mentioned in this story, have paved the way for hundreds and thousands more to follow them in the decades that followed.
*Don't miss our exclusive interview with 1975 FA Youth Cup finalist John Domfe on Thursday 9 October.
