Michael Trebilcock (born 29 November 1944) is an English retired professional

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 ...

. He played primarily as a winger and is most famous for scoring twice in the 1966 FA Cup Final for Everton, becoming the first black player to score in an

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

. Trebilcock is described as a "black mixed heritage player" by sociologist Mark Christian, who notes that the label of first black Everton player is often wrongly given to

Cliff Marshall Cliff Marshall (4 November 1955 – 24 November 2021) was an English professional Association football, footballer. Marshall began his career at Everton F.C., Everton but found first-team opportunities limited. He joined the Miami Toros of the ...

, "due to rebilcock'sambiguous black mixed heritage".

Career

Trebilcock was born in

Gunnislake Gunnislake ( kw, Dowrgonna) is a large village in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in the Tamar Valley approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Plymouth Gunnislake is in the civil parish of Calstock and is close to C ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

. He played for non-league

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

before joining

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in December 1962. he scored 27 times in 71 league games for the Pilgrims, leading to a £23,000 move to Everton on 31 December 1965. He made his debut a few days later against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, but was injured and spent much of the rest of the season on the sidelines. In the meantime, Everton had been progressing through to the FA Cup final, where they would meet

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. Despite having only played four reserve games since his injury, Trebilcock was included in the squad and surprisingly picked ahead of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international centre-forward

Fred Pickering Frederick Pickering (19 January 1941 – 9 February 2019) was an English professional footballer. He played as a forward. Career Domestic career Pickering began his career with his hometown club, Blackburn Rovers, in 1959, signing professi ...

to play in the final. Wednesday took a 2–0 lead with goals from

Jim McCalliog James McCalliog (born 23 September 1946) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He played in the Football League for Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United, Southampton and Lincoln City, as well as in ...

and David Ford, but within five minutes of Ford's goal, Trebilcock had scored twice to level the scores. A goal from

Derek Temple Derek William Temple (born 13 November 1938) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League as a forward for Everton and Preston North End in the Football League. He was capped once for England. Temple was born in Liverpoo ...

sealed the win for Everton. Even after the cup final, he struggled to establish himself in the Everton side and in January 1968, after three goals in only 11 league games for Everton, he moved to

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 ...

for a fee of £40,000. He was a regular goalscorer at Portsmouth, netting 33 times in 109 league games, before a free transfer took him to

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in July 1972. He spent just one season at

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

, hitting ten goals in 24 league games, leaving in June 1973 to join Weymouth on a free transfer. In March 1974 he emigrated to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia where he played for Western Suburbs and won the NSW Rothmans Medal in 1974. Having got involved in coaching, he moved in the early 1990s up to Darwin, where a professional club has been established to compete in the Singapore national league. After less than two seasons the Darwin Cubs folded due to financial problems but he stayed in the area and took various jobs.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trebilcock, Mike 1944 births Living people English footballers Footballers from Cornwall Association football wingers Tavistock A.F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Everton F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players English Football League players English emigrants to Australia Expatriate soccer players in Australia Black British sportsmen FA Cup Final players