Doing the 92 is Daniel Storey’s odyssey to every English football league club in a single season. The best way to follow his journey is by subscribing here.
‘Arsenal and After’
It was always Arsenal for Paul Davis. He went to watch Chelsea once at Stamford Bridge with his friend and their father, but it was a scary place for a black boy to attend football matches. The National Front distributed flyers outside the ground and groups terrorised black people; he didn’t feel safe. Then Charlie George scored the winner for Arsenal in the 1971 FA Cup final and that was that.
Paul’s mother, Ruby, had arrived in England from Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation. He grew up with her and his sister on a council estate in Stockwell, south London and, by his own admission, wouldn’t have had the money to go and watch games if he wanted to. The closest big clubs were Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Fulham. He always dreamt of Arsenal.
Davis captained his school team and was scouted by Fulham. At the time, kids could train with multiple clubs if logistics allowed. When he was 13 Arsenal spotted him and invited him down to Highbury. As Paul says himself: “That’s where everything began for me.”
On 28 September 2002, Arsenal became the first English team to field nine black players in a competitive game. It is an arbitrary figure, but a symbolic one. Earlier that same year, a study calculated that Arsenal had more non-white supporters than any other Premier League club.
These two things are inextricably linked. Arsenal was the London club that first – and most effectively – engaged the black community, creating a legacy that perseveres. If you want to explore that legacy, its origins and its development, you have to speak to Paul Davis.
Back then, Arsenal’s youngest academy players would train in a gym at the back of Highbury. Davis would get the underground from Stockwell, for which the club would reimburse him. As a black child on his own, that journey would be daunting. Highbury, the place he’d longed to go to, was not.
“I remember being made to feel very welcome there, immediately,” says Davis. “I felt at home, which clearly wasn’t the case everywhere in society back then. There was one coach, Alf Fields, who took me under his wing and just made me feel extra special. He made sure that I got my travel expenses and that my kit was all sorted.
“There were no other black players and you tend to seek out people, at that age, who are like you. I did know people from the district teams, but that’s it. But I always felt comfortable in that climate. The club seemed to take care of all of us, but for me that was significant. I didn’t feel any insecurities going into the club at that age.”
Standing on the shoulders of giants
Davis was not the first black player to appear for Arsenal. Brendon Batson made a handful of appearances before leaving for West Bromwich Albion, where he made his name and fame. Shortly after Davis, Chrissy Whyte and Raphael Meade came through Arsenal’s academy but they too would eventually leave for regular first-team starts.
Davis was different because he progressed through the academy, got into the first team and stayed there. He came through in the 1970s, was a mainstay of the 1980s and stayed until the mid-1990s. He made his debut in a north London derby under Terry Neill and left the club a year before Arsene Wenger arrived. He won every domestic trophy available and a European Cup too.
He was also often the only black face in the dressing room, or on the pitch. He dealt with wretched, abysmal racist abuse from the terraces at a time when the lack of protection from governing bodies was disgraceful. At a time when racist comedy was commonplace across the media, he challenged Arsenal teammates once when they repeated it, explained why it was hurtful and never heard it again. Davis was popular and a friend and they cared.
Davis was a fine football player, but he was also a giant on whose shoulders others could stand tall. He began a conveyor belt of black talent at Arsenal: Davis, Michael Thomas, David Rocastle, Kevin Campbell, Ian Wright. In 1991, Arsenal played Leicester City in the League Cup and all five of those players were in the team. That was a big deal even as late as 1991.
Wright became the poster boy of black excellence in the 1990s because he was arguably the best finisher in English football at the time. But, to those who identified with him, it was more about how Wright handled himself. He was pure, unadulterated Ian Wright.
After an age where black people felt an onus to fit in predominantly white corners of society, here was a bloke with a gold tooth and a strut whose entire attitude said “this is who I am and I am changing for nobody”. Wright received racist hatred (albeit less than Davis had faced), most notably at Millwall. He rose above it by making them look like desperate fools.
But Wright’s ability to be himself was underpinned by the conveyor belt that began with Davis. In his excellent book, Arsenal and After, Davis details how, at the time, he was not aware of the extent to which his own career cut a path for other black footballers to follow. When the enormity of that legacy sank in post-retirement, he described it as a greater satisfaction than winning any trophy.
Even this undersells Davis’ influence. That he was the only black face in the dressing room could not escape him. As he says, even if he had forgotten it for a second then an opposition supporter would soon be along to remind him. But that psychology created a determination to make life easier for those who followed in his footsteps.
“My experience reinforced to me that, if and when there were other people of colour around me, I had to support them and make sure that they got the best out of themselves and were not affected by anything that might be said or done,” Davis says.
“I made a conscious effort to help them believe that they were capable enough, strong enough and could achieve everything they wanted to, even if people were trying to make things difficult for them. That was always my mindset.
“David [Rocastle] and Michael [Thomas] were two of the younger academy players when I was in the first team and they were south London boys as well. I’d heard their names being mentioned and I kept an eye out for their progress. Then, when they came into that first-team environment, I had my duty to look after them and help them to fulfil their potential.
“I feel incredibly good about what those players achieved, even now. And proud too if I had a small part to play in it. But it was part of who you were at the time as a black person. You felt incumbent to help others to cope and flourish. It wasn’t even a conscious decision.
“I think it’s a big part of our black culture, that you have people who have been able to break into establishments or organisations and do well, and that those people then allow for others to find it a little bit easier behind them.”
The power of organic
The cultural impact of those pillars of the Arsenal team is obvious: Davis, Rocastle, Thomas, Campbell and Wright were inspirations. As Davis says with a smile, black people were supporting them and supporting Arsenal, rooting for them because they were having their own struggles: “Maybe they saw us as a reason for hope.”
This is the crucial aspect of the creation of “Black Arsenal”: it came organically. In his book of the same name, released last year, professor Clive Nwonka – an expert on black British film and culture, pondered eloquently on what the term “Black Arsenal” really meant.
“I think it’s important to know that this multicultural feeling isn’t something that Arsenal actually deliberately and consciously created,” Nwonka told The i Paper. “Through the work I’ve done with the club, they’ve come to realise that it’s something that was always innately there, that it wasn’t packaged by them or sometimes fully recognised by them.”
That natural affinity is key because it is far stronger than anything manufactured. Arsenal did not bring black players through the academy and into the team to attract supporters of colour; that would not have worked. Arsenal did not deliberately campaign for black supporters having developed the players; that would not have worked either.
“It happened entirely organically,” says Davis. “I’ve seen how it works and how it has evolved and it is beautiful. I’m so proud when I watch a game on TV from the Emirates and the camera pans to the stands and there are so many different faces and different cultures. That’s such a powerful thing for me personally. It’s a support that represents the middle of north London.”
That culture is in part maintained by the continued conveyor belt of young black talent through Arsenal’s academy. Highbury became the Emirates Stadium and the gym at the back of the stand became Hale End. As with Davis in Stockwell, it attracts talent from across London. Bukayo Saka is the latest poster boy, born in Ealing in west London but signed by Arsenal at seven.
On the day I visit the Emirates for the Doing the 92 matchday, they dismantle Manchester City with Saka injured. Arsenal’s third and fifth goals are scored by Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri. When youth academy graduates succeed, it hits different to supporters. One of the indirect results of transfer mania and the globalisation of footballers is the generation of “one of our own” culture. On that Sunday, the Emirates sings those words to both players.
“I understand what ‘Black Arsenal’ means now,” said Ian Wright at the launch of Nwonka’s book. “We have the players, the fanbase, we have the history of Black players from all over the world and we have a deep connection with London. And the next generation is led by Bukayo Saka. It’s not about passing the baton, but connecting two very, very distinct generations.
“There is my generation of ‘Black Arsenal’. And here is a new one. Saka, he’s now the star boy. I’m just pleased that when you go through our history, Brendon Batson, Paul Davis, Chris Whyte, Rocky [Rocastle], Mickey [Thomas], me, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, there’s always somebody there who’s championing us.”
Nwaneri was born in Enfield. Lewis-Skelly was born in Islington. There is now a phenomenally rich seam of black academy talent coming through Hale End, to the extent that it is easy to take it for granted as a given. It is woven into the fabric of Arsenal.
Arsenal 5-1 Manchester City (Sunday, 2 February)
- Game no.: 64/92
- Miles: 234
- Cumulative miles: 10,992
- Total goals seen: 188
- The one thing I’ll remember in May: The last 20 minutes. I’ve not seen a team taunt and punish Manchester City in exactly that way since Leicester in the 5-2.
Reaching out
If Arsenal did not engineer the engagement of the black community in the local area, they understood that there was a need to harness and maintain the connection. This history can be broken down into two distinct sections: organic growth and then the acceptance from the club that growth came with responsibility. Once you generate a supporter, you have a chance to create a familial seam. Football loyalty gets passed through generations and, here, across communities.
“The relationship between Arsenal and black British identity is deep and distinctive. It continues to shape who we are,” Freddie Hudson, head of Arsenal in the Community tells me.
“Through the years we’ve nurtured the special relationship with our black community through our community initiatives and programmes. For almost 20 years we’ve been delivering black history workshops in local schools in partnership with some of our former players including Brendon Batson, Chris Whyte and Paul Davis.
“Over the years we’ve delivered projects supporting our black community with some of the inequalities faced due to structural and institutional issues, as well as regular anti-racism workshops.
“These are just some of the ways in which we drive belonging and keep our communities connected 365 days a year. We’re forever grateful to all those who are part of this journey, and for lifting our local community here in Islington and around the world in a way that transcends football.”
There are two salient points to make here. The first is that you can’t bullshit people for long and get away with it. This is the 40th anniversary year of Arsenal in the Community, a cause for deserved celebration and a reason to reinforce why this stuff matters so much. You don’t preserve the trust of the people you serve for that long without authenticity.
Also, that authenticity can never, will never, come through corporate slogans and brand partnerships, at least not if they become the driving force.
As Nwonka says: “’Black Arsenal’ is so high profile it needs precious curatorship, we have to be careful how we manage it, discuss it, how we parade it and circulate it. It doesn’t need big brands to come in and do a shirt. It shouldn’t be to produce something for black culture. It is how you deal with black people or black identity, which is more significant.”
Arsenal were proud to support Nwonka with his launch of Black Arsenal. At the event held at the Emirates Stadium, Davis was part of a panel that discussed the establishment of Arsenal as a symbol of multicultural unity. It is fitting that Davis was there and a tragedy that he also spoke eloquently on the loss of his friend Campbell.
Arsenal have delivered a series of projects supporting those in the black community to deal with structural and institutional inequalities, including hosting a therapist working on the Young Black Men’s mental health outreach programme. They help run – and host – a scheme that invites local dads into the club to discuss mental health and wellbeing. They helped fund the statue to commemorate black nurses at Whittington Hospital as part of the Windrush celebrations.
Most importantly of all, young kids in one of the most diverse areas of the UK are given access to community outreach football sessions in the form of Kicks and Positive Futures. As Hudson points out, these programmes are overrepresented in terms of ethnic diversity in comparison to the local population.
The next step
Davis is now a senior coach developer at the Football Association. As part of that role, he tells me, he is more than comfortable with being challenged. He doesn’t see the value in everybody having the same opinion because that stymies thought and creativity. Have everyone in a room from the same culture, with the same life experiences, and you increase the chances of them having the same opinion.
That can be the next stage of “Black Arsenal”: leaders. This club has done so much trailblazing work: black players, black supporters, black captains, black role models. Having that representation in the boardroom would be an appropriate way to recognise the club’s heritage and its continued support of its local communities. It’s something Davis agrees with.
“If you look at leaders within the club, we’re not at the same state as we are on the pitch,” he says. That is the next challenge, as a club. I believe that we all bring something different to a table, culturally and professionally. Let’s be clear: Arsenal have done brilliantly. These are positive challenges. And they are challenges to us all to be better.
“That’s where I would like to see the club move next. Hopefully we can move towards it, and hopefully football as a whole can too. There is so much talent out there that hasn’t been realised because people are afraid of accepting the challenge of welcoming different views. Let’s lead the way again.”
Daniel Storey has set himself the goal of visiting all 92 grounds across the Premier League and EFL this season. You can follow his progress via our interactive map and find every article (so far) here
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