News

Viv Anderson in the news.

In 1978, Anderson made history and faced adversity as the first Black footballer to play for England. It was just one triumph in a career packed full of them

Anderson was Sir Alex Ferguson’s first ever signing as Manchester United boss and earned plaudits for his hard-line, effective approach to defending.

He was the first ever black man to play in a full international for England and made 30 caps, travelling for both the Spain and Mexico World Cups in the 1980s. A massively underrated player who was unfortunate not to feature more regularly.

For nearly three decades, Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday shared a unique quirk of English knockout football. Never before or since had the same sides contested the League Cup and FA Cup finals in one campaign, as they did in 1992/93, until Liverpool and Chelsea repeated the feat this year.

The duo are still in a bracket of their own. After Arsenal prevailed 2-1 in the 1993 League Cup final, the rematch ended 1-1. That meant an FA Cup final replay, the last of its kind, which the Gunners also edged 2-1. As such, the pair remain the only clubs to play one another in three major Wembley finals in a season.

Viv Anderson’s first international game was one of the most important moments in English football history. That’s because on 29 November 1978 – 40 years ago – he became the first ever black footballer to play for England’s national team. Watch Viv look back on his football career with his three young children – Ruby, Freddie and Charlie. 
Playon Pro has been created to help former professionals earn a living, make friends and find new opportunities in the difficult years after retirement. In May a team of former professional footballers set off to take part in the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens. All had played in the English top flight, with David James, Des Walker, Phil Babb, Mikaël Silvestre and Colin Hendry among their number.
As the most recent Dollarsandart commission, art that tells a story there’s a bit more to it, plus it’s not just ‘any old footy top’ it’s the 1978 / 1979 one that was worn at the height of the success of Nottingham Forest.​

London xx – Prominent rugby and football players have urged sports fans to take part in the world’s largest-ever study into the link between dementia and sport. The ‘Sporting Mindset’ campaign, launched by dementia-detection app Mindset4Dementia, is inviting Britons to use the app and ‘lend their brain’ by contributing vital data from the comfort of their own homes. It aims to raise awareness and turbocharge insight into the relationship between concussion and brain disease.