David Busby: Proud To Be Albion

Main Club Sponsor

TICKETS

SHOP

Albion’s first black player will be passing on his experiences to club's young players.

Charlie Hanson

2021-10-29T05:00:00Z

David Busby was Albion's first black player, making his debut in October 1973.

Players in Albion's academy will get to tap into the experiences of Albion’s first ever black player David Busby.

Having made his Albion debut at the age of 17 in 1973, Busby went onto play for Worthing, Blackpool and Barrow, experiencing terrible racist abuse throughout his career.

He will be sharing what it was like being a black player during that era with academy players on Friday.

Speaking to the club last year, Busby said, “You get frustrated and you have to hold yourself back because there were quite a few times where I could have quite happily just walked off the pitch.

David Busby made his Albion debut in 1973.

“But you don’t. You were told ‘you’ve got to turn the other cheek’ but when you are 16 how do you not let it bother you when someone is using the n-word and calling you racist names?

“You had to give a bit back but there would be times a player would come up to me and whisper something racist in my ear during a game and I would want to fight them there and then.

“A few of my team-mates would back me up, but when you’re there by yourself it’s different.”

Albion’s head of education Nathan Marshall hopes Busby’s experiences can provide a lesson for how difficult a time it was for black players.

Albion’s head of education Nathan Marshall hopes Albion's young players can learn a lot from David Busby's experiences.

“After the boys gave a terrific presentation to staff surrounding Albion’s trailblazers last December, to not spend time with a person they have researched and gain first-hand information would be real shame, so we’re really grateful to David for giving up his time.

“Often we learn about historical events through reading books and watching programmes. Having the opportunity to interact face to face and ask personal questions is invaluable.

“I think the boys will gain a sense of appreciation of how hard it was for black players coming through at the time. Resilience and a laser focus on an aspiration was needed for black players to play, these were incredibly strong individuals.

“Also, I am sure David will be able to paint a picture of how different his surroundings were as a young player, giving these boys a good understanding that training and games wasn’t always at the wonderful American Express Elite Training Centre, nor at the Amex.

“In terms of the progress made for black people within the game we stand on the shoulders of giants and David is one of those. They paved the way for many people like myself to want and to be able to be involved in football.”

While football has changed significantly in the 48 years since Busby’s debut, the abuse he suffered will come as no shock to the academy players, according to Marshall.

“The young players are aware of the racist abuse players receive online today. It is not only online, our players would have witnessed members of the England national team get racist abuse last month against Hungary on national TV. Understanding the roots of the issue is paramount in the players’ education.”