How Arsenal became woven into Black identity and culture

Arsenal’s Black connection continued to grow under Arsene Wenger, another milestone coming in September 2002, when they became the first English club to field nine Black players in a game.

An Arsenal team containing Lauren, Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Sol Campbell, Gilberto Silva, Patrick Vieira, Sylvain Wiltord, Nwankwo Kanu and Henry, as well as David Seaman and Pascal Cygan, subjected Leeds to a 4-1 thrashing that day at Elland Road.

Nwonka points out that, as with the growth of Black Arsenal more broadly, the make-up of the side that day felt completely organic.

“Arsene Wenger didn’t pick nine Black players to make a statement,” he says. “Those were just the best players at his disposal.

“People often ask me if I think Arsenal, as a club, cultivate this kind of Black identity and I always say not really. Of course, they recognise it now and they do things to harness it…”

Nwonka uses the example of this season’s black, red and green away kit, made by adidas and designed by Foday Dumbuya, the founder of menswear brand Labrum, which is intended as a tribute to African icons such as Kanu who helped cultivate the club’s large African fanbase.

“But Black Arsenal has always been about how Black people move to Arsenal, rather than Arsenal moving to Black people,” continues Nwonka. “I think we often flip and confuse it.

“If anything, I would like them to not package it so much. That is probably oxymoronic given I’ve done the book, but the point I make is that it doesn’t need to be hyper-marketed or celebrated because it is going to happen anyway, regardless of whether you make Jamaica away shirts or Arsenal Africa shirts.

“I think the Black connection is something you need to acknowledge and appreciate, but it’s also something you can give space to because it’s always going to be there, to the point where you don’t even really notice it.

“When you go to the Emirates Stadium as a Black person, you’re not consciously aware that you’re in a stadium with a lot of Black people who you wouldn’t normally see at games or sporting events elsewhere.

“It’s just what it is now and that’s the beauty of it.”

Black Arsenal makes no claim that Arsenal are uniquely responsible for driving social integration in English football, or that they are a perfect institution when it comes to the issues of race and representation.

The club’s women’s team have a history of fielding Black players, including Alex Scott, Anita Asante and Rachel Yankey, but there was outcry last year following the publication of a squad photo which showed a lack of Black or ethnic minority players or staff, an issue Arsenal acknowledged at the time.

“I don’t think that was a consequence of any malpractice or wrongdoing on Arsenal’s part, in terms of the playing staff,” says Nwonka.

“But I think the reason it stood out is because, as a society, and given the club’s history, we expect more from Arsenal.

“I think that is something that should be embraced, and I think Paul Davis makes an excellent point when he talks about the next phase of Black Arsenal, in his mind, which refers to the things we can’t see, so the infrastructure, the boardroom, those in stakeholder positions.”

It is a reminder of the work still to do, at Arsenal and beyond.

For now, though, it is worth celebrating the progress already driven by the club, and by the long line of players who have helped to forge its unique Black connection, from Batson, Davis, Rocastle and Thomas, to Campbell, Wright, Henry and Saka.

Black Arsenal, edited by Clive Nwonka and Matthew Harle, is out now from W&N