Paul Canoville - anyone remember him

[LanguedocFox]

I picked up this on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23811929.

 

I think I saw him once, but I can't be sure, but his story sounds astonishing and really inspirational. I had a look at his own website, which gives a bit more detail, and I'm definitely going to put in for a copy of his autobiography for Christmas.

 

Does anyone else remember him playing? We played Chelsea a few times in the early 80s.

[Head Honcho]

11 kids by 10 mothers is not what I'd call inspirational!

[Guest MattP]

11 kids by 10 mothers is not what I'd call inspirational!

 

Glad to see he is disproving the stereotypes.

[MrsJohnMurphy]

I think we tend to forget these days but Chelsea fans really were scum in the late 70s into the 80s.

[OzFox]

I picked up this on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23811929.

 

I think I saw him once, but I can't be sure, but his story sounds astonishing and really inspirational. I had a look at his own website, which gives a bit more detail, and I'm definitely going to put in for a copy of his autobiography for Christmas.

 

Does anyone else remember him playing? We played Chelsea a few times in the early 80s.

 

Yeah I went to Chelsea a lot in those days so saw him play. Surprised to hear he was their first black player, but not in the least surprised to hear he copped racist abuse. I sometimes went with a black school friend of mine who supported Chelsea. Clearly remember him reaching to buy a fanzine of some sort outside the ground, and the seller pulling it away saying "This is a white man's paper". My friend just laughed it off. Makes me cringe thinking about it now but sadly that sort of thing was fairly commonplace.  

[Guest Bilo]

I do seem to remember the Chelsea fans liked a bit of 'town full of pakis'

 

I'm sure I read somewhere their racism was a bit of a factor in the hooligans' rivalry off the pitch, as the Baby Squad had a few black and Asian members within it. 

 

There were ructions between the Headhunters and Birmingham's Zulus for the same reason. It's certainly not unfair to say that Chelsea fans were utter scum back in the 1970s and 1980s.