Mural for Liverpool FC's first black player unveiled

A mural of Liverpool Football Club's first black player Howard Gayle has been unveiled in the city.

The 66-year-old was born in Toxteth and signed a professional contract with the club in 1977.

He became a role model following his standout performance for the Reds in a European Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich in 1981 and due to his activism.

Mr Gayle said he hoped the mural, on Upper Warwick Street in Toxteth, would showcase the unity in the area.

"There are more different cultures based here than anywhere in the North West and we get on with each other," he said.

"There are a lot of untold stories of people who work within the community and contribute to it and that’s why, at the moment, it’s a safe place to live and it’s a safe place to be.

"There’s so much going on here and the community is united, but people who don’t live here don’t really see it."

Mr Gayle was the youngest of four siblings, born after his father settled in the area from Sierra Leone after World War Two and met his Ghanaian wife in Liverpool.

Featuring in the second leg of the 1981 European Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich, Mr Gayle later went on to represent the likes of Birmingham City, Sunderland, Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers.

He said getting the opportunity to play for his boyhood club was a "great feeling" for him and his family.

"It was brilliant and even more so when I came home and I saw the joy and the happiness that it had brought to people from our area, from our community.

"For the first time in a long time the community was being recognised for something positive."

Throughout his playing career, he was subjected to racial abuse and has since become one of the country’s most dedicated activists, working to see racism eradicated from the game.

"I’ve always been outspoken when things are wrong or unjust. That’s just something that goes with being a scouser," he said.

"We will challenge the things that are wrong, we will challenge the things that are set up to benefit us but end up hindering us.

"We’ve been on the end of injustice for a more than thousand years now, it’s not something that just surfaced last week."

The mural is the second in a series of works commissioned by local charity Mandela8 and is painted by local artist John Culshaw.

Sonia Bassey MBE, Chair of Mandela8 said the mural, which was a collaboration with Riverside Foundation, is of "someone who not only made history but someone who now uses their position to help others".

"It’s important for us as well that Howard is recognised as a role model in this community," she said.

"He comes from a long line of activists in this community, he’s done a lot to stand up to racism in this city.

"He’s done a lot of work with young people to change their mindsets to make sure they are empowered and skilled to believe they can go on to do great things and that’s really important to us in our community.

"We follow in Howard’s footsteps, not with football but in the sense of the activism he’s represented in this city for many, many years."

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