Laurie Cunningham
| Laurie Cunningham | ||
 Sculpture by Graham Ibbeson, Coronation Gardens, Leyton, London. 2019
|
||
| Personnel | ||
|---|---|---|
| Surname | Lawrence Paul Cunningham | |
| birthday | March 8, 1956 | |
| place of birth | St. Mary's Archway , London , England | |
| date of death | July 15, 1989 | |
| Place of death | Madrid , Spain | |
| position | Winger (left) | |
| Men's | ||
| Years | station | Games (goals) 1 |
| 1974-1977 | Leyton FC | 75 (15) |
| 1977-1979 | West Bromwich Albion | 86 (21) |
| 1979-1983 | real Madrid | 44 (13) |
| 1983 | → Manchester United (loan) | 5 (1) |
| 1983-1984 | Sporting Gijón | 30 (3) |
| 1984-1985 | Olympique Marseille | 30 (8) |
| 1985-1986 | Leicester City | 15 (0) |
| 1986-1987 | Rayo Vallecano | 37 (3) |
| 1987 | Sporting Charleroi | 1 (0) |
| 1988 | Wimbledon FC | 6 (2) |
| 1988-1989 | Rayo Vallecano | 19 (1) |
| National team | ||
| Years | selection | Games (goals) |
| 1977-1988 | England U-21 | 6 (1) |
| 1978 | England B | 1 (0) |
| 1979-1980 | England | 6 (0) |
| 1 Only league games are given. | ||
Lawrence Paul "Laurie" Cunningham (born March 8, 1956 in St. Mary's Archway , London , † July 15, 1989 in Madrid ) was an English football player and the first black player of an English national team.
Athletic career
Cunningham joined second division Leyton FC as a teenager , having previously played in student teams. Due to his extraordinary speed, he showed early on that a career as a first division footballer could be imminent and made a name for himself in the professional team at the latest from his second season onwards through his versatility in both game preparation and goal completion.
In March 1977 he moved to the first division promoted by Johnny Giles West Bromwich Albion and was with Cyrille Regis and a year later with Brendon Batson - there under coach Ron Atkinson - with other black teammates in a team, which was very rare at the time . For the first time in an English professional football club, three black players stood together on the field, which were henceforth referred to as the "Three Degrees".
By the late 1970s, the West Bromwich Albion team played a very attractive and offensive style. Mostly used as the right winger , Cunningham contributed six goals in 13 games from March to the end of the season and was instrumental in ensuring that the club finished the season in a good seventh place. Cunningham also drew attention to himself when he was called to the England U-21 youth team and with his debut on April 27, 1977 against Scotland at Bramall Lane became the first black English national football player. There he also scored his first goal for England and in the further course of his career he should also come to six international matches in the senior team - he made his debut there on May 23, 1979 during the British Home Championship against Wales and was also the one first black England international in a competitive game ( Viv Anderson had only made her debut in a friendly six months earlier).
Cunningham became the first British player to move to Spanish top club Real Madrid in the summer of 1979 for £ 995,000 . Although he could not quite repeat the performances previously shown in England, he became a crowd favorite with the fans and was nicknamed "Black Flash". He was able to record his first two important title wins in his first season by winning the double from the championship and the Copa del Rey . On the other hand, the European championship competition ended more disappointingly for Cunningham and Real , in the semifinals of which the Spanish representative surprisingly lost 5-1 at Hamburger SV after a 2-0 first leg win . A year later, Cunningham was again in the team that moved into the final against Liverpool , but lost 1-0 there. There were no more trophies for Cunningham in Spain, and the late phase of his Madrid engagement was overshadowed by a series of injuries. 1983 Real loaned him briefly to Manchester United . An additional setback was previously for Cunningham that the English national coach Ron Greenwood had not taken him into account for the final tournament of the 1982 World Cup .
Cunningham's later career stations were in Spain Sporting Gijón , the French club Olympique Marseille and in England Leicester City . After a two-year stay with the Belgian Sporting Charleroi , he returned to England for Wimbledon at the end of the 1987/88 season. There he became part of the "Crazy Gang", which, as an outsider, was able to defeat the high favorites Liverpool FC in the FA Cup final and even came on as a substitute. Later he moved again to the Iberian Peninsula, where he worked for a year for the club Rayo Vallecano , which is also based in Madrid . On July 15, 1989, Cunningham died in Madrid after a car accident at the age of 33.
successes
- Spanish champion: 1980
- Spanish cup winner: 1980
- FA Cup Winner: 1988
literature
Bowler, Dave & Bains, Jas: Samba in the Smethwick End: Regis, Cunningham, Batson and the Football Revolution . Mainstream Publishing, 2000, ISBN 1-84018-188-5 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cunningham, Laurie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cunningham, Lawrence Paul |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English soccer player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 8, 1956 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Mary's Archway , London |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 15, 1989 |
| Place of death | Madrid |