Walter Tull - Football Career

Football Career

Tull signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909, after a close-season tour of Argentina and Uruguay, making him the first black/mixed heritage professional footballer to play in Latin America. Tull made his debut for Tottenham in September 1909 at inside forward against Sunderland, making him the second mixed heritage player to play in the top division after goalkeeper Arthur Wharton of Darlington, but only made 10 first-team appearances, scoring twice, before he was dropped to the reserves. This may have been due to the racial abuse he received from opposing fans, particularly at Bristol City, whose supporters used language "lower than Billingsgate" according to a report at the time in the Football Star newspaper.

Further appearances in the first team (20 in total with four goals) were recorded before Tull was bought by Herbert Chapman's Northampton Town on 17 October 1911 for a "substantial fee" plus Charlie Brittain joining Tottenham Hotspur in return. Tull made his debut four days later against Watford wearing the number 9 shirt, and made in all 111 first-team appearances and nine goals for the club. He lived in Rushden and at one time at 26 Queen Street. When war broke out Tull enlisted in the army, in December 1914, the first Northampton Town player to do so. It was reported in the Glasgow Evening Times in 1940, in an article about Tull being the first black infantry officer in the British Army, that he had signed to play for Rangers once the war was over.