Born on this day in 1958 was Roly Gregoire, Sunderland's first ever black player. Tragically his time on Wearside as well as his footballing career were ended by an injury.
It took Sunderland almost a century to field a player of colour. A statement which may seem shocking in today's modern world, but things were different back then and it almost seemed exotic if Sunderland simply signed a player from Scotland. Roly arrived from Halifax Town and was still a teenager. But the sad reality is that when Gregoire came to Sunderland he would have to have been a budding Pele to be accepted by some people, such was the ignorance and prejudice that existed.
It must have been so difficult for the 19-year-old to adapt to life in the North East, having previously lived in the relatively diverse areas of Liverpool and Bradford. His parents Evered and Bernadette had come to Britain from Dominica in the Caribbean as part of the Windrush generation of the 50s.
Gregoire had just the five senior appearances to his name for Halifax before being signed by Jimmy Adamson, first coming to Sunderland's attention when he scored a hat trick in the cup for Halifax against the Wearsiders' reserves, before impressing in the second leg at Roker Park. It was SAFC coach Syd Farrimond who convinced Adamson to splash £5,000 on the striker. Farrimond had coached Gregoire at Halifax and was impressed with his technique, balance and body swerve.
Roly travelled with the senior squad to Bristol Rovers a week before Christmas, after impressing for the reserves and scoring regularly. He was given a first-team debut at the start of January due to injuries to our other strikers. Gary Rowell scored a brace as we won 2-0. Gregoire played the last five games of that 77/78 season, scoring in a 3-1 win at Luton and was part of the team that won at promotion-bound Tottenham.
Ultimately Roly failed to have much impact on Wearside, and would often bear the brunt of supporters' frustration. Perhaps he was treated unfairly, and held to too high a standard. After all, he was a young black lad coming to a region in which the sight of a black man was a rarity. But he goes down in the history books as Sunderland's first ever black player - paving the way for the likes of Gary Bennett and Howard Gayle further down the line.
Unfortunately the striker was dogged by injuries, and had to quit professional football 25 months to the day after his debut. A sad case of injuries ruining a person's career, Gregoire was only 21 when forced to retire, and would become a postman.
