Frank Soo

Hong Ying "Frank" Soo (born March 8, 1914 in Buxton , Derbyshire , †  January 25, 1991 in Cheadle , Staffordshire ) was an English football player and coach . The Chinese-born midfielder is sometimes referred to as the first non-white England international , although the games in which he played, known as Wartime Internationals , are not officially recognized by the Football Association .

Career

Soo was born in Central England to a Chinese sailor and an Englishwoman. After the family moved to Merseyside , he began playing football with the Liverpool Schoolboys and Prescot Cables before moving to Stoke City in January 1933 . In the six years up to the Second World War , he was one of the first non-white players in England in 176 games for the club and was able to score six goals.

During the war, Soo was used as a so-called Wartime Guest Player for various clubs and played 81 games. These included next to the Reading FC of Everton FC , the FC Chelsea and FC Brentford . In addition, he made his debut on May 9, 1942 in the 0-1 away defeat against the Welsh selection in front of 30,000 spectators at Ninian Park in Cardiff in the English selection. Until his last game on October 20, 1945, another 0-1 defeat against Wales at The Hawthorns in Birmingham , he ran in nine selection games for the English national team. He stood at the side of players like Stanley Matthews or Neil Franklin on the field.

After the war ended Soo moved to Leicester City for a fee of £ 4,600 . The local trainer Tom Mather had already looked after him at Stoke City. In July 1946 he moved on to Luton Town . Here he played another 71 league games. He let his career end at the lower-class club Chelmsford City .

From 1947 Soo worked as a coach at the lower class club St Albans City before he went to Italy in 1950 to AC Padua . After the engagement was ended at the beginning of the 1951/52 season, he went to Sweden. First he was in charge of IFK Eskilstuna before taking over Örebro SK . From the summer of 1954 he was a coach at Djurgårdens IF . Here he celebrated his greatest success when he led the club to the fifth championship title in the club's history. The next station was IK Oddevold , before he was in charge of AIK for one season in 1958 . He then returned to England and took over the coaching post at Scunthorpe United .

After a brief engagement as a trainer for the Israeli national team , Soo returned to Scandinavia as a trainer and in the following years looked after several clubs such as Köpings IS , IFK Stockholm , AB Copenhagen and Höganäs BK .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Hong Y Soo - Short Profile at Football Unites, Racism Divides (accessed July 26, 2008)
2. ↑ ^{a b c} "FRANK SOO - DERBYSHIRE'S FAMOUS CHINAMAN" - Article at youandyesterday.co.uk ( Memento of the original from October 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 26, 2008) 
3. ↑ Brief profile at Spartacus Educational (accessed July 26, 2008)
4. ↑ Football Trivia at soccerhistory.org.uk ( Memento of the original from November 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed on July 26, 2008)