Lloyd Lindbergh "Lindy" Delapenha (5 May 1927 – 26 January 2017) was a Jamaican

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and sports journalist. He was the first Jamaican to play professional football in England. Between 1948 and 1960, he played league football for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

. Despite limited appearances for Portsmouth in the 1948/1949 and 1949/1950 seasons, he nevertheless played a part in the club’s two title-winning sides and with it became the first black player to win a First Division championship medal.

Playing career

Delapenha started playing competitive football at the age of 11 when he played for

Wolmer's Schools Wolmer's Schools in Kingston, Jamaica, consist of Wolmer's Pre-School, Wolmer's Preparatory School and two high schools: Wolmer's Trust High School For Girls and Wolmer's Trust High School for Boys. While acknowledged as separate institutions, ea ...

. He scored his first goal for Wolmer's against

St. George's College, Jamaica St. George's College is a State school, public Catholic school, Catholic secondary school, located in Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. The school was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1850. It was established by 21 Spanish Jesuits who had ...

in the

Manning Cup The Manning Cup Football Competition (also currently known as the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Gatorade/Digicel Manning Cup football competition for sponsorship reasons) is an annual football (soccer) contest among Secondary ...

competition. Delapenha then attended

Munro College Munro College is a boarding school for boys in St Elizabeth, Jamaica. It was founded in 1856 as the Potsdam School (named for the city of Potsdam), a school for boys in St. Elizabeth as stipulated in the will of plantation owners Robert Hugh Mun ...

in Jamaica where he was a multi-sport athlete. As a schoolboy, Delapenha took part in 16 events over a one-and-a-half-day period in England. He then served with the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

in the Middle East following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. During his service, an English football scout saw him playing football for the British Army. This gained him a trial with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, but he did not sign for the club, and in April 1948 he joined

. There, he became the first Jamaican to play professional football in England. Although it is claimed he was the first non-white player to appear in the English

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

, he was actually predated by several other non-white players, including

Arthur Wharton Arthur Wharton (28 October 1865 – 12 December 1930) is widely considered to be the first black professional footballer in the world. Though not the first black player outright – the amateurs Robert Walker, of Queen's Park, and Scotland inte ...

, who played a First Division match for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

as far back as 1894–95. In April 1950, after a successful few years with Portsmouth, he transferred to

where his career took off. He played on the wing or inside-forward, and became Boro's leading scorer in the 1951–52, 1953–54 and 1955–56 seasons. In total he scored 93 league and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

goals in 270 appearances. He moved to

in June 1958, contributing 27 goals in 115 appearances over two years, before retiring from League football in 1960. Delapenha played non-league football,

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

and Burton Albion. He won the Southern League Cup in 1964 with Burton.

Later life

Having returned to Jamaica in 1964, Delapenha played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for a short time and represented Boys' Town at football, taking them from Division 3 up to Division 1. He also coached his alma mater,

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

and football in the mid 1960s. Soon after, he became director of sports at the

Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation The Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) was a public broadcasting company in Jamaica founded in 1959 by premier Norman Manley with the aim of emulating the success of other national broadcasting companies such as the BBC and CBC.Thomas, Pradip ...

. At the JBC, he had various roles including co-ordinating coverage of cricket, the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, and helped bring international football to Jamaica. He stayed there for 30 years before JBC was sold and his services were no longer required. He died on 26 January 2017 at the age of 89, after a stroke.Lindy Delapenha is dead
''Jamaica Observer''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delapenha, Lindy 1927 births 2017 deaths Jamaican footballers Burton Albion F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Expatriate footballers in England Association football forwards People from Spanish Town