1925 | Jack Leslie | Plymouth Argyle | Lacey’s Chewing Gum & Chewing Wax Football | 1st Black player to be picked to play for England | SGC Grade 2 Pop 1 Rookie Card

Jack Leslie, footballer and black pioneer.

Card Population: Only 5 Jack Leslie graded cards exist globally and this is highest graded example of this specific variant.

Year: 1925

Trade Brand:  LACEY'S CHEWING GUM - CHEWING WAX & CHEWING GUM BACK

Collection:  

Card No: 19

Player / Subject: Jack Lesie 

Certificate of authenticity: SGC graded and authenticated.

For soccer / football cards 

Club featured on card: Plymouth Argyle

Player position: Inside left.

Player record:

Other notable history: 

A black pioneer in football ( soccer ). Jack Leslie should have been England’s first black player but when the selectors discovered his heritage, his name would never appear on the team sheet.

Jack was an outstanding player who joined Plymouth Argyle from Barking in 1921 and scored 137 goals in a long and illustrious career which ended in 1934.

Leslie was picked for the England national team to face Ireland in 1925 and was told by his manager that he’d been called up. His name was on the published team sheets in many newspapers but after this selection, his name mysteriously disappeared from the team sheet, seemingly because of the colour of his skin.

Leslie was the only black professional player in England during his time with Plymouth Argyle. Leslie enjoyed a 14–season spell with Argyle, having joined the club from Barking Town in 1921. A creator and scorer of goals, his partnership with outside left Black has gone down in history as one of the very best. Leslie played alongside Black 327 times, with the duo scoring 319 goals between them in all competitions, with Leslie contributing 137 of them.

It took until 1978 for England to select Viv Anderson as the first black player to play for the senior team.

Leslie was posthumously awarded his England cap in 2022, 97 years after he earned it.

This card is a very unique and collectable piece of cultural and football history. A certain museum piece.

See https://jackleslie.co.uk/jack/ for mote information on The Jack Leslie campaign 

Condition: SGC grade 2 - good .

Copyright: the photo is owned by Belta Cards unless Image licensing is available. 

*** October 2024 - Black History Month ***