Laurie Cunningham
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| Laurie Cunningham | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Laurence Paul Cunningham | |
| Date of birth | 8 March 1956 | |
| Place of birth | Archway, London, England | |
| Date of death | 15 July 1989 (aged 33) | |
| Place of death | Madrid, Spain | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1974–1977 1977–1979 1979–1983 1983 1983–1984 1984–1985 1985–1986 1986–1987 1987 1988 1988–1989 |
Leyton Orient West Bromwich Albion Real Madrid → Manchester United (loan) Sporting de Gijón Olympique Marseille Leicester City Rayo Vallecano Charleroi Wimbledon Rayo Vallecano |
75 (15) 86 (21) 44 (13) 5 (1) 30 (3) 30 (8) 15 (0) 37 (3) 1 (0) 6 (2) 19 (1) |
| National team | ||
| 1979–1981 | England | 6 (0) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Laurence Paul "Laurie" Cunningham (8 March 1956 – 15 July 1989) was an England international footballer. While at Real Madrid he became the first English player in the club's history.
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[edit] Life
Born in Archway, London, Cunningham joined Leyton Orient after a start in schoolboy football. He joined West Bromwich Albion in 1977, where, under manager Johnny Giles, he teamed up with another black player, Cyrille Regis, and the following year (under Ron Atkinson) with Brendon Batson. This was the first time an English team simultaneously fielded three black players, and Cunningham, Batson and Regis became known as the Three Degrees.
West Bromwich Albion became one of the most attractive and exciting English sides in the late 1970s and Cunningham soon attracted attention. He became the first black player to wear an England shirt at any level[1]in England under-21s' friendly against Scotland at Bramall Lane on April 27, 1977, scoring on his debut. He subsequently earned six full England caps, making his debut against Wales in a Home International on 23 May 1979. Although Viv Anderson had made his England debut in a friendly six months previously and thus was the first black player to play for the senior England team, Cunningham was the first black player to play in a competitive England match.
In 1979 he made a historic move as the first British player to transfer to Real Madrid, for £995,000 Though he never recaptured his early brilliance he was adored by the fans being labeled 'Black Flash'. His later career saw him increasingly distracted by off-field interests and a series of unfortunate injuries, eventually being loaned to Manchester United before leaving Madrid in the summer of 1983 for permanent spells with Sporting de Gijón of Spain, Olympique Marseille of France, England's Leicester City and Charleroi of Belgium. He returned to the English game with Wimbledon midway through the 1987-88 season. Although he had limited first team chances, he made a substitute appearance in the famous 1988 FA Cup final win over Liverpool. Soon after that he was transferred to Rayo Vallecano in Spain.
Laurie Cunningham was killed in a car crash in Madrid at the age of 33, on the morning of 15 July 1989.
In 2004 he was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations.[2]
[edit] Honours
- La Liga winner - 1980
- Copa del Rey winner - 1980 and 1981
- F.A. Cup winner - 1988
[edit] Bibliography
- Bowler, D & Bains, J (2000) Samba in the Smethwick End: Regis, Cunningham, Batson and the Football Revolution ISBN 1-84018-188-5
[edit] References
- ^ FA PR— Laurie Cunningham
- ^ "The wraps come off 125th anniversary mural", West Bromwich Albion F.C., 2004-08-04. Retrieved on 2008-05-10.
