THE BLACK FLASH AND THREE DEGREES

The 15th of July, 1989, saw the pioneering, black footballer, Laurie Cunningham, nicknamed "The Black Flash". He was one of the top footballers in England to achieve such prominence playing for Ron Atkinson's, West Bromwich Albion, in the 1970s. He went on to become Real Madrid's first Englishman to play for the Spanish club and also their first black footballer. Laurie was the first black player to represent England at any level and he scored on his Under 21 debut in 1977. Laurie was tragically killed in a car accident at only 33 years old. 

Born in Archway, London, he was the son of a former Jamaican race-horse jockey. Cunningham started in schoolboy football and was turned down by Arsenal before joining Leyton Orient in 1974.

He joined West Bromwich in 1977, where, under manager Johnny Giles, he teamed up with another black player, Cyrille Regis, and the following year under Ron Atkinson, with Brendon Batson. This was the second time an English top-flight team simultaneously fielded three black players (the first being Clyde Best, Clive Charles and Ade Coker for West Ham Utd against Spurs in April 1972 and Atkinson collectively referred to Cunningham, Batson and Regis as the Three Degrees after the USA Soul Singer Group

Whilst a West Bromwich Albion player, he played in a Benefit Match for Len Cantello, that saw a team of white players play against a team of black players.

In the summer of 1979, he made a historic move as the first English player to transfer to Real Madrid, who paid West Bromwich Albion a fee of £950,000. He scored twice on his debut and helped Madrid win the Football League and FA Cup Double.

Cunningham began the 1980–81 season with Madrid well and scored goals in the early rounds of the European Cup (as it called then), but then succumbed to injury, and required an operation on a broken toe. He recovered just in time for the 1981 European Cup Final against Liverpool in Paris, as Madrid lost 1–0. During pre-season training for the 1981–82 season, a thigh injury kept Cunningham out of the majority of the season (only three goalless appearances in the league), his only real noteworthy contribution was in the UEFA Cup quarter-final tie against Kaiserslautern. In the first leg, Cunningham scored a goal in Madrid's 3–1 win. In the second leg, however, he was sent off shortly before halftime for retaliation!! as Kaiserslautern won 5–0 to inflict Madrid's worst-ever result in European competition. Cunningham won a second Copa del Rey medal as he played in the final, when Madrid beat Sporting Gijon 2–1, but it was a depressing campaign for him. For the next season, with Madrid signing Johnny Metgod to join Uli Stielike as the two permitted foreigners, Cunningham spent most of the 1982–83 season on the sidelines, until he reunited with Ron Atkinson at Manchester United on loan in April 1983. He left Madrid after the 1982–83 season, joining Gijón and subsequently Marseille.

Cunningham only remained in France for one season in 1984–85, before heading back to England to join Leicester City, although he played only half a season due to further injury. At the end of the 1985–86 season, Cunningham went back to Spain to play for Rayon Vallecanon in the second tier. He moved to Charleroi in Belgium for the 1987–88 campaign, but was yet again struck down by injury, and in the new year was back in England on a short-term deal with Wimbledon, where he managed to help the Dons beat Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final.

Cunningham later moved back to Spain and Rayo Vallecano for the 1988–89 season. He scored the goal that secured their promotion to the Primera Division. Cunningham was killed in a car crash in Madrid on the morning of 15 July 1989, at the age of 33. He was survived by his wife and their son.

In November 2004, he was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations. The club announced that Cunningham would feature in a mural of the former players to be displayed at The Hawthorns.

In October 2013, the Nubian Jak Community Trust unveiled a Blue Plaque outside Orient's Brisban Road ground. In September 2015, English Heritage erected a blue plaque on Cunningham's childhood home at 73 Lancaster Road, Stroud Green, London.

In November 2017, a statue by Graham Ibbeson (below) was unveiled in Coronation Gardens, Leyton, near Brisbane Road, paying tribute to Cunningham and his time at Leyton Orient. 

Another statue, by Ibbeson, was unveiled in West Bromwich town centre, in May 2019 (next below!). The work commemorates Cunningham's time at Albion alongside two black teammates, Cyrille Regis and Brendon Batson, with a spokesperson for the organisers commenting that "the three players opened the gates to allow black players into football at a time when they were locked out".

A play based on Laurie's life, Getting the Third Degree by Dougie Blaxland, was first performed in 2019.