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STANLEY MATTHEWS – BLACK MAN WITH A WHITE FACE

Ebook
Selection of photos from Stans scrapbook
Links to popular Stanley Mathews videos at YouTube.

As the Championship playoff final finished. It was not hard to imagine a tear forming at the edge of the eye of the man who was the worlds greatest ambassador for the beautiful game, who over 70 years did indeed make the game beautiful for millions upon millions of us.

In the year of the tenth anniversary of the death of STANLEY MATTHEWS his two clubs will meet in the premiership for the first time – two clubs that the ‘wizard of dribble’ both served and inspired in his extraordinary 35-year career.

Since those halcyon days both clubs been through some very dark times, Blackpool being relegated from the top flight in 1971 and Stoke City in 1985. With Stoke’s return in 2008, and now Blackpool’s, they will face each other once again in the top flight for the first time in 40 years.

And it’s the year of the World Cup - as we know, to be held in South Africa next month. But few inside or outside the game know that this was a place close to Matthews heart – a place he was a sporting influence in for more than a quarter of a century. In Soweto he was known as the Black Man With a White Face (the title of a book to be released to celebrate his involvement with the African Game and his personal campaign against racism and promotion of Black African players).

Written by Geoff Francis, with the help of Stan’s daughter Jean Gough, BLACK MAN WITH A WHITE FACE explores the role Stan had in African football over a number of decades.

His influence in Soweto is recognised by one of the worlds foremost statesmen, Archbishop Desmond Tutu... “on behalf of our people I want to pay a very, very warm tribute to him and to say that he would not have known just how incredibly significant what he did to our self-esteem,... it made a contribution to people not becoming anti-white because they were able to say there are white people who care about the plight of black people.”

From his daughterJean’s unique viewpoint we gain insights into Stan the Man. From his family to the Queen and Prince Philip, he was loved and admired, not only for his extraordinary skill, but also for his natural humility and openheartedness.

Stan was very patriotic and you can be sure that he would want his country to win the world cup. However if that should not be the case you can be certain that those eyes would have moistened again if his great friend Peles prediction that an African team would soon win the World Cup were to come true in 2010. It was Pele who said of his friend, Stan “ he was the man who taught us the way football should be played”