jalovice: (fb: gebre)
nadezhda ([personal profile] jalovice) wrote in [community profile] football_bibas2012-07-18 01:57 am

omg my walter is so cool

so i looked up Walter Tull (the guy who they had that memorial to in the football racism documentary) and omg he's p amazing:



he was the 2nd non-white guy to play in the top-level in britain and the first black guy to play in latin america

his brother was the first ever non-white person to qualify as a dentist in britain!!!

he became an orphan when he was 7 after his dad died and his stepmom couldn't cope with 6 kids, so they ended up in an orphanage :c

his grandmother was a slave in barbados

he was amazing!!!! the newspapers said: "Tull's display on Saturday (against Manchester United) must have astounded everyone who saw it. Such perfect coolness, such judicious waiting for a fraction of a second in order to get a pass in not before a defender has worked to a false position, and such accuracy of strength in passing I have not seen for a long time. During the first half, Tull just compelled Curtis to play a good game, for the outside-right was plied with a series of passes that made it almost impossible for him to do anything other than well." and "[he has] a class superior to that shown by most of his colleagues"

he played for tottenham and was paid the highest wage of £4 per week! but was dropped to the reserves bc every time he played he got abuse from fans (so bad even the newspapers back then were like "dude naw" about it)

he then joined northampton town who were coached by herbert chapman who had been a player at stalybridge rovers when arthur wharton (britain's first top-level non-white player) was their goalkeeper!

despite being a midfielder, he once scored FOUR goals in one game :ooo

even tho he quickly became the fans' favourite player he still got really bad abuse from the opposition: "A section of the spectators made a cowardly attack upon him in language lower than Billingsgate... Let me tell these Bristol hooligans that Tull is so clean in mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play football whether they be amateur or professional. In point of ability, if not in actual achievement, Tull was the best on the field."

he had entered negotiations to transfer to glasgow rangers but then the war started so he immediately dropped his football career and enlisted (the 1st footballer from his team to do so)

he was the first infantry officer that wasn't white despite military law forbidding "any n#gro or person of colour" becoming an officer

he fought in the first and second battle of the somme AND messines AND ypres AND passchendaele, and he survived!!!

tho after the battle of the somme he caught trench fever (omg) and had to go back to britain briefly to recover

when he recovered he went back to fight and was sent to italy where he led his men in the battle of piave and was mentioned in official dispatches for his "gallantry and coolness under fire"

in 1918 he was transferred back to france and was killed in action trying to cross no man's land a few months before the end of the war. he was "killed instantaneously with a bullet through his head" :c

he was so popular that several of his men risked their lives trying to bring his body back to the british trenches despite being under machine-gun fire at the time

his body was never recovered and he was just 29 years old at the time of his death ;~;


also: Walter's War, a drama about the life of Walter Tull, starring O. T. Fagbenle and written by Kwame Kwei-Armah, was made by UK channel BBC4 and screened on 9 November 2008 as part of the BBC's Ninety Years of Remembrance season. It drew 406,000 viewers and was the third most watched program on BBC4 during the week ending 9 November 2008.

i looked for this online but couldn't find it. if someone does find it we are watching it y/y?
shakingpaper: (Default)

[personal profile] shakingpaper 2012-07-18 12:59 pm (UTC)(link)
omg can i go back in time and marry the guy or stan for him or smth
i'll even wear my pants that high (yes i will wear pants, if he can be one of the first black players i can wear pants lol)


i checked and i think it's on youtube? i think this is it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi_qvH841qE
andata: (Default)

[personal profile] andata 2012-07-18 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
actual superhero walter tull :O
no, seriously, what an amazing man!
Edited 2012-07-18 14:48 (UTC)