A T&A picture of former Bradford City manager Chris Kamara is currently on show as part of an exhibition at Old Trafford about black footballers in Britain.

About the time this show opened, a TV programme mentioned the first black professional player in Britain, and put a date on his debut of 1935.

Not so, says reader G L Holmes, of Odsal.

What about Eddie Parris, who signed for Bradford Park Avenue as a 17-year-old in 1928? asks Mr Holmes.

Quite right (though, as we shall see later, he was not the first black league player).

Eddie Parris claimed a first in December, 1931, when, making his debut for Wales, he became the first black player to represent one of the 'home' countries in an international.

He was born in Chepstow, Monmouthshire (now Gwent) of West Indian parents on January 31, 1911. His football talents were spotted by Avenue scouts as the team were heading back to the Second Division having won the Third Division (North) championship in 1927-28, and the club signed the teenager as a triallist in August, 1928.

His first-team debut was not long in coming - and it was a dramatic one. Travelling to Hull for an FA Cup third-round game in January, 1929, Avenue found themselves without an experienced left winger and the young Eddie Parris was thrust into the limelight.

He scored Avenue's goal in a 1-1 draw which brought Hull back to Bradford for a replay which Avenue won. The management were impressed enough to give him another eight games that season, in which Bradford finished third in the Second Division. Sadly they were never to reach such heights again.

Eddie Parris established a regular first-team place at left wing, sharing the No 11 shirt with Phil Cartwright and Alf Dickinson for a couple of seasons until he made it his own in 1931.

He played for Avenue until 1934 when injury struck. He had his last game in January of that year and later moved to Bournemouth and then to Luton, Northampton and Gloucester.

In his career at Avenue, he played 142 League and Cup games and scored 39 goals. He died in 1971, aged 60.

Sadly, Mr Holmes, Eddie Parris was not actually the first black footballer to play in the league.

That distinction falls to Arthur Wharton, a Ghanaian, who signed as a professional for Preston North End in 1886. Two years later, Preston were among the founder members of the Football League.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.