Tottenham trio urge for ex-player Walter Tull to be awarded Military Cross

Published on: 23 March 2018

Walter Tull, who played for Tottenham, was an officer in the army who died while fighting in World War I.

Tottenham Hotspur and England trio Danny Rose, Dele Alli and Kieran Trippier have backed calls for Walter Tull -- one of England's first black professional footballers -- to be awarded the Military Cross 100 years after his death.

David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, has written to U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Gavin Williamson, the Secretary of State for Defence, to ask for the honour to mark the centenary of Tull's death on Sunday.

Lammy's letter has been signed by more than 120 MPs from both sides of the House of Commons, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Tull, who played for Tottenham and Northampton Town, was Britain's first black army officer to command white troops. He died aged 29 when he was shot on the Battlefields of the Western Front during World War I.

Tull's father was born in Barbados, and Tull was orphaned aged nine following the death of his parents before he began his football career with Spurs. He is best remembered at Northampton, where he played more than 100 times, and there is a memorial to him outside Sixfields Stadium.

After joining the army in 1914, he rose to the rank of second lieutenant despite a military law saying commissioned men should be exclusively of European heritage. He was recommended for a Military Cross -- a medal for gallantry -- which he never received.

In the winter of 1917-18, he had led 26 men across a river on a night raid into enemy territory and returned them unharmed. He was shot fatally on March 25, 1918.

"I think now it is time to give Walter that Military Cross," Lammy told the BBC.

"His service on behalf of this country was immense. The records suggest great gallantry, great bravery and a kind of coolness. He saved people's lives, he fought incredibly hard, died young.

"I think he should be remembered, and the only reason he's not remembered is because at that time there was extraordinary prejudice towards even having a black man in our armed forces, and certainly towards that black man being a second lieutenant and leading other men.

"Walter's story can inspire a generation. I think giving him that Military Cross will reach young people all across this country and say a tremendous amount about the United Kingdom at this time."

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink laid a wreath in honour of Walter Tull at the Arras Memorial in France earlier this month.

Rose, Alli and Trippier, who are all of black and mixed-raced heritage, attended a workshop on Tull's life and heritage at St. George's Park, England's Derbyshire training base, this week, and Rose said it is a shame that Tull is not more widely known.

"When you're a school, you learn about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King," Rose said. "It's a shame that, growing up in England, I'd never heard of Walter and what he'd been through.

"It's a pretty emotional, moving story. I'm a bit embarrassed I hadn't heard of him before today. I'm going to do my research and find out as much as I can."

Alli said: "It was strange I hadn't heard about him before. Such an amazing story and all the things he had to overcome. It's an amazing achievement."

Northampton manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said: "He was a very strong-minded person. He was racially abused and had to overcome that. He saw the best in everybody. That's what he's given me. The toughness, the stubbornness but altogether the goodness."

Dan is ESPN FC's Tottenham correspondent. Follow him on Twitter: @Dan_KP.

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Source: espn.co.uk

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