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Jack Leslie: The first black player to be called up by England
(Right) Matt Tiller at Home Park
[Greg Foxsmith]
IN 133 years, no Plymouth Argyle footballer has ever played for the England national team but in October 1925, their inside-left Jack Leslie was called into the office of his manager Bob Jack. “I’ve got great news for you. You’ve been picked for England.”
Speaking to Brian Woolnough in 1978, Leslie recalled: “Everybody in the club knew about it. The town was full of it. All them days ago it was quite a thing for a little club like Plymouth to have a man called up for England. I was proud — but then I was proud just to be a paid footballer.”
Born in 1901, the son of a gas fitter’s labourer from Jamaica and a tailoress from Islington, John Francis Leslie grew up in Canning Town and began playing for Barking Town in the London League.
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