Southampton Football Club's first black player Alf Charles commemorated
- Published
A plaque has been unveiled commemorating Southampton Football Club's first black player.
Alf Charles joined the club in 1937, scoring two goals in a career cut short by injury.
His plaque in the Cultural Quarter in Guildhall Square joins existing plaques for Joe Harriott, Craig David, and The Windrush Generation.
Don John, the organiser of the event, said it was proof of how diverse Southampton's history was.
Club ambassador and former Saints left-back Franny Benali, who helped unveil the plaque at sports pub The Painted Wagon, called Charles a "trailblazer".
He said recognising his contribution to the club was "crucial", and that as a player he was "setting that trend and paving the way for many others to follow those footsteps".
Another former Southampton FC player, Reuben Agboola, said: "We never really knew of it when I was playing... up until recently he was another who escaped through the net."
Mr John, who is also the founder of Black History Month South, said: "With the kind of issues we now have in football, it seems to me very, very important to know that there was this man in Southampton at a time when there weren't that many black people... [who] clearly still succeeded as a footballer.
"We want to give hope to people, particular black people who are playing in a white environment - in Hampshire in particular - that they can still be successful and do what they want to do."
At the unveiling Hampshire Football Association also premiered a new animation, external featuring Charles in the guise of a caped superhero making a stand against racism.
Last year a plaque to Charles was installed at St Mary's Stadium, external.
Born in 1909 in Trinidad, when he signed for Southampton he became one of the earliest black players in English professional football.
He made one appearance in the Football League and played in five reserve games, scoring two goals. He died in 1977.
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