Earlier in the year I saw that there was a touring exhibition about the contribution that the Chinese ethnic population have made to the UK’s culture at a local Library. There have been few footballers emerging into the highest level from a Chinese background but with an expected increase in their ethnic grouping due to the expected immigration from Hong Kong we perhaps could soon be at the start of a few emerging stars.
What interested me was the reference to Frank Soo.
Born in Derbyshire my home county for the last 25 years, I thought our paths had crossed before.
Frank Soo I had believed was the manager of St Albans City FC when I was born in January 1950. Born on a Saturday my father was not there but watching his beloved ‘City’. More importantly a week later my mother had to stay in hospital for an extra day because he was watching St Albans again this time playing Stork FC in the FA Amateur Cup. Her antipathy to football may have been strongly influenced by this event. Further research though shattered my belief as Frank Soo didn’t become the Manager of St Albans City until the start of the 1950/51 season.
Reading about Frank Soo though soon made me realise that I had come across one of the greats of English football. He was born in Buxton to a Chinese father and English mother.
His footballing career was at Prescott Cables, Stoke City, Leicester City, Luton Town and Chelmsford City and a managerial career that included clubs in England, Scandinavia and Italy. Perhaps his overseas work meant his exploits were lost to a UK press. he even managed the Norwegian National Team at the 1952 Olympics in Finland.
He played as a midfielder and was reputed to be a very accurate passer of the ball which would unlock defences as well as a dead ball specialist.
Frank Soo’s career started at Prescott Cables, which I visited last year and from there moved to Stoke City in 1933. He played 173 times for Stoke scoring 5 goals and captained Stanley Mathew’s during his stay there which ended in 1948.
| 1932–1933 | Prescot Cables | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1933–1945 | Stoke City | 173 | (5) |
| 1945–1946 | Leicester City | 0 | (0) |
| 1946–1948 | Luton Town | 71 | (4) |
| 1948–1950 | Chelmsford City | ||
| Total | 244 | (9) |
Frank Soo was the first non-white person to play for the England national football team and still is the only player of an Asian background to reach that level for England. He achieved this in May 1942 at Ninian Park, Cardiff, against Wales and played for England a further 8 times all of which were deemed to be unofficial matches. His England career was limited by the Second World war when he turned out for many top teams as a guest in morale boosting games.
I was privileged to have come across such a pioneer in English football and hope that he gains more recognition and inspires others in the future to help our multi cultural game.
Much of the above information has come from ‘The Frank Soo Foundation’ http://www.thefranksoofoundation.org.uk the Chinese Cultural Exhibition at Mansfield Library and
St Albans City historian, David Tavener’s research for a Jake Ellacott article ‘From Clarence Park to Padova. The Story of an International Pioneer.’ http://www.stalbanscityfc.com
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