Cec Thompson Rugby Pioneer

The book ‘The Glory of their Times’ tells the story of the great part played in Rugby League by Black players. On the cover, the top photo is of Ellery Hanley who started his career with Bradford and who became one of the greatest rugby players of all time.

Ellery Hanley went on to become a star of Dancing On Ice.

When Hull’s Clive Sullivan captained Great Britain in the 1970s, he became the first Black British athlete to captain a British national side in any sport.

In 1972 he led Great Britain to win the World Cup

Here are some past stars of the Huddersfield Giants: Anthony Farrell, Tony Johnson, Marcus St Hilaire, Lee St Hilaire …

… Ian Thomas, Darren Fleary, Stanley Gene, Luke George …

… and some more recent players, Michael Lawrence, Jermaine McGillvary and Leroy Cudjoe.

All of these fantastic players were following in the footsteps of this man who was a real pioneer for other Black athletes

Cec Thompson died on 19 July He was 85. Cec rose from a penniless upbringing in orphanages to become the first black athlete to play Rugby League for Great Britain.

As a child his opportunities were so limited that he left school at 14 Such was his determination to succeed, however, that he overcame childhood difficulties to build successful careers both in business and as a highly-respected teacher.

Theodore Cecil Thompson was born in County Durham on July to a white mother and a Trinidadian father, who died before Cec was born. Cec's mother moved to Leeds, but after bailiffs kicked her out onto the streets he was raised in a series of orphanages.

As a child in the 1930s he grew up in a world where Black people were treated with ignorance. He was ignored at school and still left unable to read or write. He was still a boy when he went to work in a factory. He was an easy target for racist bullying. He served in the navy in World War II but after the conflict he returned to a series of jobs with few prospects.

A change of luck came in 1948 when he was asked to turn out for the Yorkshire Copperworks rugby league team and Cec discovered a rich natural talent for the game. His running and tackling were so outstanding that after just two games he was signed by Hunslet for £250. This was an enormous sum at the time and Thompson described himself as feeling “like Rockefeller”.

A six footer, who weighed 14 stone, Cec had an inexhaustible supply of energy. The team's fans quickly took the young sensation to their hearts. Then in 1951 Cec was picked to play for Great Britain, becoming the first Black player to do so.

Cec lines up to face New Zealand in 1951

He said,"In my first game for Great Britain, the National Anthem was played and our names were read. I shed a tear and disciplined my body not to shake. My thoughts were with my mother. If only she could see me now, I thought, we could cry unashamedly. I was thinking: well mum, people can make fun of me all they want, but I've done something I'm proud about."

In 1953 Thompson transferred to Workington, where he was a great success. Yet he still felt inadequate due to his lack of education. He dreaded autograph hunters because he could barely write his name and on coach journeys to away games would try to improve his reading with the Reader's Digest.

Then in 1958 a bad knee injury ended Thompson's career at the age of 32. As a part time player, Cec had worked as a window cleaner and on his round he found inspiration. "I used to go to schools to clean their windows and I would see teachers at work and imagine how pleasant it would be if I could do their job."

Financed by his window cleaning business Thompson went to night school in his mid-30s. At 39 he won a place at Leeds University, graduating four years later with an honours degree in Economics and a teaching diploma. While there he founded the Student Rugby League.

He became a respected teacher at Chesterfield Grammar School, where he ended his career as head of economics and teacher in charge of rugby. He had continued to run his business, developing it from a humble window cleaning round into a highly successful industrial cleaning company with 250 employees. In 1994 he received an honorary degree from Leeds University for his services to the community.

He wrote his story in his autobiography called ‘Born on the Wrong Side’. He described himself as “Half Trinidadian and half Yorkshire and proud of both.”

Ces died in He is survived by Anne, his wife of 47 years and their son

Jesse Owens was a fantastic American athlete who angered the leader of the Nazis in Germany by winning 4 Gold Medals at the Olympics in Berlin in He tells us to challenge ourselves to be the best that we can be.

The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself - the invisible, battles inside all of us - that's where it's at. Jesse Owens,