Leslie was picked to engage in for England in 1925, in accordance to the Countrywide Football Museum, but the contact-up was afterwards rescinded.
“There was a little bit of an uproar in the papers. Individuals in the town [Plymouth] ended up quite upset. No one particular ever informed me official like but that experienced to be the purpose me mum was English but me daddy was black as the ‘Ace of Spades.’
“There was not any other cause for having my cap absent.”
Were he to have performed internationally, Leslie, who experienced Jamaican parentage, would have been England’s very first black footballer.
Rather, it is Viv Anderson who attained that title in 1978 — more than 50 % a century right after Leslie was in line to make his debut.
Leslie passed away in 1988 owning scored 137 aims in 401 appearances for Argyle, which has just gained marketing to the third tier of English soccer, involving 1924 and 1931.
The campaign to construct the statue has so far elevated much more than £25,000 ($31,000) and is currently being supported by the English Football Association and Luke Pollard, Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.
“Jack Leslie really should have been the first black participant to show up in an England shirt but was dropped after picked mainly because of the colour of his pores and skin,” Pollard wrote on Twitter.
“I am backing the marketing campaign for a statue in #plymouth to remember a single of @Only1Argyle’s best gamers.”
The campaign hopes to area a statue outdoors Household Park, Plymouth Argyle’s dwelling stadium. If the fundraising target is exceeded an academic ingredient will be included to the marketing campaign.
“Stories like this are extremely sad,” explained FA Chairman Greg Clarke in a statement.
“Discrimination in the activity, in any sort or from any time period, is unacceptable. We need to generally remember pioneers like Jack Leslie and be thankful that football is in a incredibly different place now.
“We are extremely happy to assist this marketing campaign which will ideally assure that Jack’s job is correctly identified.
“We have manufactured huge strides in latest years to make sure that English soccer is much more assorted and inclusive. We can see by means of the illustration of gamers and staff across our countrywide enhancement and senior groups that English football has made fantastic development, but we know there is a lot more to be finished throughout the activity both of those on and off the pitch.
“We keep on being fully commited to eliminating discrimination from football and guaranteeing it is better reflective of the communities that view, support and love the match.”
A amount of well-known Black footballers have now been celebrated with statues in the British isles, together with former West Brom players Brendon Batson, Laurie Cunningham and Cyrille Regis.
There is also a independent statue to Cunningham, who died in a car accident in 1989 aged 33, in close proximity to the dwelling ground of Leyton Orient in London. Cunningham created his skilled debut for Orient.
