Walter Tull

[Tactical Genius]

A story of his life is on BBC4 now.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Walter Tull

who is he (pardon my ignorance)

[Tactical Genius]

Walter Tull

The first black outfield proffessional footballer (Spurs 1909). The first black officer in the british Army.

Google, it, an interesting story and it seems a remarkable man. The Jackie Robinson of the UK.

[Levin]

Walter Tull

The documentary beforehand was really good as well.

[Mighty Mudhsuden]

Walter Tull

We have a memorial to him at our ground. It says:

Through his actions, Tull ridiculed the barriers of ignorance that tried to deny people of colour equality with their contemporaries. His life stands testament to a determination to confront those people and those obstacles that sought to diminish him and the world in which he lived. It reveals a man, though rendered breathless in his prime, whose strong heart still beats loudly.

[AMMS]

Walter Tull

Walter Tull was due to join Rangers at the end of the war, his brother lived in Glasgow then.
The Rangers Supporters Trust played a challenge match against the Spurs Supporters Trust a couple of years ago prior to a pre-season friendly between the clubs and the Walter Tull Trophy was presented to the winners, I think the idea was to play for the trophy each year but I don't know if that has happened. There is also a Rangers Supporters Club named after Walter Tull in the east end of Glasgow.

[Alderman Barnes]

Walter Tull

One of Germany's most famous early players was Tull Harder, a big, bustling forward who played for HSV in the 1920s. His real name was Otto, but aquired his nickname in 1912 after his team at the time, Braunschweig, played Spurs in a friendly, on account of having a similar brick shithouse physique to Walter Tull.

After his playing career ended, however, Harder joined the NSDAP and later became an officer in the SS and concentration camp guard. After the war, he was imprisoned for war crimes and died, unrepentant, in 1956.

[beak]

Walter Tull

I saw the documentary beforehand, but collapsed into bed after about fifteen minutes of "Tull's War".

Tull seemed an absolute stand up gent; I felt quite ashamed that I'd heard of him more for his footballing significance, than his military exploits.

[G-Man]

Walter Tull

I didn't know that this is how Harder got his moniker, AB.

[Alderman Barnes]

Walter Tull

Yeah, it's definitely one for the Alanis Morissette file, isn't it?

[blameless]

Walter Tull

Tull seemed an absolute stand up gent; I felt quite ashamed that I'd heard of him more for his footballing significance, than his military exploits.

Aye. Whenever Tull's name is mentioned, it's usually as one of the main three pioneering black players in the British game (the others being Arthur Wharton and Andrew Watson) - I had no idea he was such a heroic figure in the army.

[shadsworth cloud]

Walter Tull

One of Germany's most famous early players was Tull Harder, a big, bustling forward who played for HSV in the 1920s. His real name was Otto, but aquired his nickname in 1912 after his team at the time, Braunschweig, played Spurs in a friendly, on account of having a similar brick shithouse physique to Walter Tull.

After his playing career ended, however, Harder joined the NSDAP and later became an officer in the SS and concentration camp guard. After the war, he was imprisoned for war crimes and died, unrepentant, in 1956.

yes, i was recently at the HSV museum and they have a section of "all-time HSV heroes (or something similar)" and they made a very distinct point of saying that although as a player he was clearly a hero, he cannot be included because of his post-career activities.
at the same time they had an exhibition of "football under the swastika", into which Tull (the german one of course) would have fitted quite neatly