Spat on by a child, racially abused by own fans and locked out of boardrooms: Leroy Rosenior tells the story of his life

[BoleynBadges]

Spat on by a child, racially abused by own fans and locked out of boardrooms: Leroy Rosenior tells the story of his life in football

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[Oziron]

Thank god football has moved on from those days.....I liked Leroy when he used to provide comments on 'the lower leagues'.....He seems like a very smart person.....good luck to him....

[ToneLoc]

Will be interesting to see how this book is received amongst the old-guard support base?
I don't honestly recall racially motivated abuse from our own fans towards our own black players in the 80s, but then I was really only at around 5-8 home games per season on average when Leroy was a player for us and was in my early teens.

If the problems were genuinely persistent (there are many on here that are in a far better position than myself to opine on this matter) then it's his right imo that he doesn't gloss over this.
But, true or untrue, expect a few old-school feathers to ruffled with this book.

I do like Leroy very much though. He's a smart and passionate Hammer so good luck to him.

[Newmarket]

Will be interesting to see how this book is received amongst the old-guard support base?
I don't honestly recall racially motivated abuse from our own fans towards our own black players in the 80s, but then I was really only at around 5-8 home games per season on average when Leroy was a player for us and was in my early teens.

If the problems were genuinely persistent (there are many on here that are in a far better position than myself to opine on this matter) then it's his right imo that he doesn't gloss over this.
But, true or untrue, expect a few old-school feathers to ruffled with this book.

I do like Leroy very much though. He's a smart and passionate Hammer so good luck to him.

I don't recall any racist abuse directed st Rosenior from our fans Tone , but ten years or so earlier Besty copped it big time .

[palerider]

Will be interesting to see how this book is received amongst the old-guard support base?
I don't honestly recall racially motivated abuse from our own fans towards our own black players in the 80s, but then I was really only at around 5-8 home games per season on average when Leroy was a player for us and was in my early teens.

If the problems were genuinely persistent (there are many on here that are in a far better position than myself to opine on this matter) then it's his right imo that he doesn't gloss over this.
But, true or untrue, expect a few old-school feathers to ruffled with this book.

I do like Leroy very much though. He's a smart and passionate Hammer so good luck to him.

Well I guess I'm old-guard Tone.

Attitudes back then were a world apart from now. Nearly every club had their own 'darkies' but they were their 'darkies' and were roundly cheered. Especially if they were good.

But I still recall comments from friends of mine lamenting certain players we acquired who weren't. Stuff like 'Black players are supposed to be great aren't they ? What's the point of buying this cunt ?' As for opposition black players, it could be a nightmare. That documentary by Adrian Chiles a few months back was testament to that. Thankfully things have changed.

[belfasthammer]

Thankfully times have moved on and the abuse that black players did suffer is very rare. Leroy was not the best Hammer but always gave 100% Good luck to him

[Brookbonds73]

I don't honestly recall Leroy ever getting abused tbh. To me the big fella always gave us 100% and that was recognised amongst the fans. His strike partner if you can call him one, Kelly, however copped it on a regular basis, but that's because he was a hopeless cunt and absolutely shit.

[Penguin]

Leroy scored one of my favourite West Ham goals of all time. He also was a grafter, which always goes down well. An early favourite for me.

I don't think we (or anyone else) should deny there was a racist problem in the 1970s and early 80s. However, I haven't heard any racist chanting or abuse at West Ham for well over two decades now, and am glad to see it driven out of the club.

[deanox]

It was extremely racist in 70's/80's at UP. Remember a game when bananas were thrown at the West brom players(they had more black players than most)
Bulldog the NF paper was sold outside the south bank and glorified the most racist supporters by having a league table.
But to my knowledge Leroy wasn't a target of our fans, but he definitely would of heard racist language being hurled towards players.

[mkhammer]

We did have some NF guys around,and there was racist comments going around,
Mainly the Gorrilla thing,and do remember the bananas from the chicken run against WBA,
But not as bad as a lot of clubs,and as far as I know we never gave our own players any grief.

It's a sad thing to say but I think a lot of guys were doing it as a form of banter that they
thought was OK at the time, as opposed to any real hatred towards the black players.
that was how I saw it any way.

Had some first hand experience of it, if you like,
Used to play with a guy,he made it to lower leagues,Northampton,than a £50,000 transfer
to Cambridge,was a pretty good mate,and hadn't seen him for a while.
So it's Cambridge away,he's a first team regular,winger,so got myself right down buy
the corner flag,it was really close,and was gonna shout out to him,when he came over
for the first corner which I knew he'd be taking.
But first corner comes,and fuck me did he get some abuse,I really didn't know what
to do,I was absolutely devastated,all I'm seeing is a mate getting all this shit from my
own people.
Really tough,so I just moved away,and felt I was unable to meet up with him after match
and never ever saw him again after that,I just wouldn't have known what to say to him.