Viv Anderson to sell historic England football shirt

In 1978, Viv Anderson became the first black footballer to win a full England cap. With his shirt from that match fetching thousands of dollars at auction, he reflects on a career that saw him triumph on some of the biggest stages at a time when racism on the terraces left deep scars on the game and some of those who played it.

Its meaning may be difficult to see at first, as it has yellowed and become smeared with mud over the years.

It is the shirt with the Three Lions logo that England wore on a cold November evening when 90,000 fans watched defender Anderson take to the field at Wembley against Czechoslovakia and go down in history.

“I got a big round of applause,” the now 68-year-old recalled. “The crescendo of noise got louder and louder as we walked to the center circle.

“Of course I was very proud and felt privileged to be the first.”

In total, Anderson played 30 international matches in ten years and was part of four World Cup and European Championship selections.

However, achieving that milestone call was not easy.

At club level, like other non-white players of the time, he was regularly tackled by supporters.

“We’re talking about the 70s and early 80s. I wouldn’t say it was every week that I was confronted with everything, but it was a tough time for black footballers.

“It happened more often the further north you went, because you saw fewer black faces there than in the south.

“It was part of growing up. Not a fun part, but it was the times.

“What helped me a lot was that Brian Clough was my manager (at Nottingham Forest). He said, ‘You can play, I wouldn’t pick you if you couldn’t’.

“It was something I had to go through to be successful on the teams I was a part of.”

Laurie Cunningham, then at West Brom and later Real Madrid, was the first black player to play for the under-21 team, but it was Anderson who, in his own words, “broke the mould” by becoming a full international.

“There was talk in the papers about whether it would be Laurie or me, but there was absolutely no rivalry between us,” he explains.

“It was the one who got the nod first, good luck. It happened to be me.”

That night, Anderson’s father Audley was in the stands at Wembley. He had left Jamaica with his wife Myrtle in the 1950s. He was just one of an estimated half a million people who said goodbye to the Caribbean and were determined to make a new home in Britain.

He watched with joy as his son played a key role in the build-up to Steve Coppell’s decisive goal.

After a championship and two European Cup victories with Forest, Anderson’s career in the 1980s and 1990s saw notable spells at Arsenal, Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday, before a year as player-manager at Barnsley and a further seven years as assistant to Bryan Robson at Middlesbrough.

On October 1, his collection of over 100 shirts and medals will be auctioned.

With the price of sporting memorabilia continuing to rise, it is estimated to fetch around £150,000. The number 2 shirt from his debut international alone is valued at £50,000.

Although it had been on display at the People’s History Museum in Manchester for a number of years, most of the other items were ‘gathering dust’.

“I have three kids. One is getting married next year, one is 17 and wants to put a deposit on a house and one is 14, so it’s really for them,” says Anderson, who now lives in Manchester.

“I thought it was the right time. I’ve moved so many times, they ended up in boxes in my house and in my ex-wife’s house.

“The (debut) shirt was the catalyst. Then I was asked if I had anything else.

“When I went into the garage I found things that haven’t seen the light of day in 40 years. I might as well make the best of it and let the kids enjoy it.”

David Convery of Graham Budd Auctions says the provenance of the items is key to their value.

“That shirt, that cap and that tracksuit represent a special moment in English football history.

“It’s a bit older, but the fact that it’s from Viv herself makes it even more appealing.”

While Anderson is pleased that more than 100 black players have played for the national team since then, he is frustrated that few have made it into management or board positions.

“There’s still a lot to do,” he says. “People like me, Laurie, Brendon Batson and Cyrille Regis have broken down the barriers for players.

“There was always a myth that black players couldn’t play in the winter because it was too cold, or that they couldn’t do this or that. Now you go around the country and you probably see black faces at every club.

“But the management side is completely different and within the board I can only think of one person who has done that: Les Ferdinand (at QPR).

“I don’t know what can be done. You can have a rule to interview black and Asian candidates for every job, but if they always give it to a white person, then it’s not worth it.”

Regardless of these issues, Anderson’s legacy is assured, though he stresses that skin color alone should not define his achievements.

“People say what do you want your epitaph to be. It should be ‘he was a good footballer’, that’s all really.

“The dark side is sometimes discussed, but when people talk about the Nottingham Forest team I was part of, it’s because we were the best in Europe.”

As he takes one last look at his shirt, he realizes that he will forever bear the label of pioneer.

“I have to admit it was a great feeling to visit Wembley (for that first England game).

“It’s a piece of history, and I like that, but I don’t need physical things to remind me of it.

“I will have those memories and experiences as long as I stay healthy.”