It's 20 years to the day that Laurie Cunningham died in a car crash in Madird.
Laurie joined West Bromwich Albion Football Club in 1977. Laurie broke a lot of round as a player and a man. 30 years ago it was are for black players to be playing professional football and racist abuse from the terraces was shocking (a bit like being in Spain or Eastern Europe nowadays). So, Albion had three black players in the shape of Cunningham, Cyril Regis and Brendon Batson this was unheard of. It coincided with a period of time where Albion were one of the best footballing teams in Europe.
Laurie was the first black player to represent England at any level, and also the first to represent them in a competitive international.
His skills as an Albion player got lots of attention and in 1979 he was the first English player to sign for Real Madrid for £995k.
Desipte early success in Madrid he didn't quite recapture the form that made him one of Albion's greatest ever footballer and he had a bit of a Journeyman career, but was looking forward to facing Madrid in the Spanish topflight for local rivals Rayo Vallecano; a club he had just helped gain promotion.
Still, for those of us who saw him play, he will live long in the memories, and twenty years on his magic is missed.
A couple of years ago I showed the video below on this blog, and you can see how great a player Laurie Cunningham was. you will also notice the aforementioned racism from the crowd.
And the strangest thing is when walking into work this morning I was thinking about a close friend who died in a car crash less than 2 years after Laurie (before I realised it was the anniversary of Laurie's death.)
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