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The Walter Tull Memorial and Garden of Rest was opened at Sixfields today (Sunday), by the Mayor of Northampton, Arthur McCutcheon. |
The Memorial is on the South entrance to the Stadium, and acts as a permanent reminder to the remarkable Walter Tull, who was killed in action during the First World War. Tull was the first coloured outfield player in the Football League and the first black officer in the British Army. He made 110 appearances for Northampton Town from 1911 to 1914. |
The Memorial Garden project has earned praise and support from Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chris Smith from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Sport Tony Banks. |
In his message of support, Chris Smith said, "Freeing football from prejudice would not be so close without the endeavours of the handful of pioneering players, like Walter Tull, who took the field in conditions that were openly hostile. I can only stand and admire the courage that this must have taken." |
The Memorial, which supporters will pass on their way in to the Stadium complex, acts as a visual statement that all who visit Sixfields should expect to give and receive respect. |
| The text on the memorial reads: | ||||||||||||||
Through his actions, WDJ Tull| ridiculed the barriers of ignorance | that tried to deny people of colour | equality with their contemporaries. | His Life stands testament to a | determination to confont those | people and those obstacles that | sought to diminish him and the | world in which he lived. | It reveals a man, though rendered | breathless in his prime, whose | strong heart still beats loudly. | This memorial marks an area of | reflective space as a Garden of | Remembrance." | |
