The weather was so cold and the grass was frozen solid that Viv Anderson doubted that today's match would even take place. In fact, the frost was as hard as concrete on some corners of the pitch, prompting England players to wear rubber-soled cleats instead of metal studs for parts of the match.
But despite the terrible conditions, the match went ahead as scheduled and after 90 minutes of less than inspiring football, England beat Czechoslovakia 1-0 at Wembley. More importantly, Anderson made history as the first black player to represent the England national team. That was over 40 years ago, but it's still an award the former Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Arsenal defender wears with pride. "It was a big deal at the time," Anderson told CNN Sport. "I'm very honoured and happy to be the first. To be the first at anything is a big achievement in my opinion." Days before he took to the pitch at Wembley, journalists had already begun interviewing Anderson's parents, teachers and childhood coaches, eagerly awaiting the then 22-year-old England international's historic appearance. Black players had represented England at youth level before, but Anderson, whose parents left Jamaica as part of the Windrush generation, made his first appearance for the senior team. He also reportedly received telegrams from Queen Elizabeth II and Elton John on the occasion. But it was important for the young player to thwart the fanfare surrounding his historic debut in order to earn the first of his 30 caps for England. "I got into football mode, the same thing I did every Saturday afternoon," Anderson recalled. "I was there for the first header, the first tackle, the first pass, making sure I got it right and didn't miss any of it."
For Anderson, now is a good time to reflect on his playing days, and he recently decided to sell his collection of items from his career, including medals, trophies, England caps and the shirt he wore on his international debut in 1978. Initially, he hoped selling the jersey would be a way to financially support his family. "My son is getting married next year, so it was a good excuse to put it up for auction," Anderson explains. Then he started digging out other memorabilia, some of which had been stored in a garage and buried. "We went through everything and found a lot of stuff that hadn't seen the light of day for about 40 years," he says. The jersey went up for sale at Graham Budd Auctions last week, but Anderson still owns it after it failed to meet the minimum bid of about $40,000 (about 32,000 yen). But the entire collection reached the hammer price of about $180,000 (about 135,335 yen). The memorabilia collection is a testament to Anderson's illustrious career. Anderson won consecutive European Cup titles with Nottingham Forest, won the First Division, the old name for England's top football league, won the FA Cup and the Football League with Nottingham Forest, and won the Cup with Manchester United and Arsenal. But not all of his memories are happy ones. Anderson said racial slurs across the country formed an ugly backdrop to parts of his football career. He recalls fruit being hurled at him from the stands during a warm-up, including apples, pears and bananas, and another time a glass bottle being hurled at him. It was the late forest manager Brian Clough who encouraged him to persevere through the abuse and make him laugh. On the day Anderson was pelted with fruit at Carlisle, Clough told him to "go outside and get me two pears and a banana." "It was funny at the time and everyone was laughing, but afterwards he took me aside and said, 'Look, if you let the people dictate what you do in this stadium like they did today, you've got to sit down as fast as you can and that's what's going to happen.' You didn't tell me anything," Anderson recalled. "You've got to go out there and prove to them that you can play. We believe in you, and you've got to prove it by doing what I say and not reacting to what people say or what they might say to you. It was a good learning curve for a 17-year-old, and I embraced it. It's stayed with me throughout my career."
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