More than a month
The origins of ‘Black History Month’ (BHM) stem from the United States, where historian Carter G. Woodson established an annual celebration. It was launched in February 1926, as a week-long event to honour the achievements of black people. BHM was formally recognised in 1976 by the US Government. The UK’s first BHM was launched in October 1987 by Ansel Wong CBE and Linda Bellos OBE. They were aware that the achievements of black people were not being highlighted to black British children.
The UK’s theme this year is “Reclaiming Narratives”. It’s described as a shift towards correcting inaccuracies and telling untold stories of black history. Hence, this article ‘reclaims the narratives’ of two elite footballers. Both are biracial, but their physical appearance can leave fans unaware of their black ancestry. The term ‘white passing’ originates from America and describes someone that hides their black ancestry. Cole Palmer and Ashleigh Plumptre are the opposite of this, as they embrace their black heritage vocally and visibly. This article celebrates both as important sporting figures in UK black history.
Cole Palmer
He’s the most talked about footballer in England at present. As a boy Cole Palmer was a Manchester United fan, and used to hide United’s garments under his Manchester City training kit. He grew up in South Manchester and is biracial, of British and Caribbean descent. His paternal grandfather is called Sterry Cole. Sterry is black and he emigrated from St. Kitts and Nevis to England in 1960 to join his parents. 63 years later, Chelsea signed Sterry’s Grandson from Manchester City for £40 million. A call-up to the Three Lions squad soon followed for Cole Palmer, and he made his England debut at Wembley in November 2023.
This year Palmer scored the Premier League’s fastest ‘perfect’ hat-trick. Last month he became the first player to score four Premier League goals ‘in the first half’. This month he was named England’s ‘Player of the Year’. He shows his pride for his Caribbean heritage by wearing the flag of St Kitts and Nevis on his match boots. He’s also developing his relationship with his Caribbean based family and the people of St Kitts and Nevis. So while Palmer appears to descend from one race, he is ensuring that his narrative includes his black history.
Ashleigh Plumptre
Ashleigh Plumptre joined Leicester City’s academy at just 8 years-old. Like Palmer she is left footed, glides with the ball at pace and also has a black paternal grandfather. Her grandad ‘Harry Plumptre’ was born in Nigeria and descends from Nigeria's Yorubu tribe. She developed as a young player in the Leicester, Birmingham and Derby academies where her talent was spotted by the Lionesses. She accumulated 30 caps and scored 10 goals for England’s youth teams. On her Women's Super League debut for Notts County, she set a new club youngest player record aged 16 and 108 days.
In 2016 Plumptre embarked on a scholarship at the University of Southern California where she graduated in Human Biology. Upon her return to England, she re-joined Leicester City Women and helped them to promotion in 2021. She excelled in the Women’s Super League before switching allegiance to play represent Nigeria. One of the reasons for her choice were the negative racial experiences her younger sister had at school. Plumptre wanted to learn more about her African culture to pass onto her sister. She won her first cap for the Super Falcons in 2022 and started all four matches at the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup. Her reclaimed narrative is another important story to tell.
Reclaiming Narratives
The narratives reclaimed by Cole Palmer and Ashleigh Plumptre illustrate how black history is fully entwined with white history. When considering the ancestry of other elite sporting figures there are many more narratives to reclaim. Footballers such as Curtis Jones of Liverpool, Kieran Trippier of Newcastle and England legend Kerry Davis present us with an opportunity to educate society, and to rewrite incomplete racial narratives.
By Richard Flash
Richard Flash is a senior lecturer in football and sport business management. He has 30 years of industry experience from playing professional sport, managing sport businesses and higher education leadership.
Upon leaving school he joined Manchester United and competed with David Beckham, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes. He holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Edge Hill University) and a first class Master’s degree in Business Administration (Birmingham University).
Between 2011 to 2016 Richard was an integral figure in the growth and development of UCFB. He led the academic opening of the Wembley campus in 2014. His research focuses on the racisms faced by the Premier League’s Black footballers, and he is a consultant to the anti-racism charity Show Racism the Red Card.
