From Kerry Davis to Khadija Shaw: women’s footballers celebrated as part of Black in the Game | OneFootball

Walking around the Score Gallery at the National Football Museum in Manchester, seeing exhibits celebrating everyone from Nikita Parris to Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Pelé, it quickly becomes clear this is a collection like no other. Among the items on display are an impressive number of match-worn shirts and a handmade banner celebrating Marcus Rashford pressuring Boris Johnson into a U-turn on free school meals for vulnerable children.

The Black in the Game exhibition aims to showcase not only sporting success but the cultural impact of key football figures from African and Caribbean communities, including administrators, officials and other non-playing staff. It celebrates some modern-day stars such as the Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw, the WSL’s current top scorer, and was curated across three years by a panel of footballers and academics.

It is largely a celebratory gallery but after the racism directed at England’s Jess Carter during last summer’s European Championship, further incidents of players – including the England and Tottenham winger Jessica Naz – being subjected to racist messages through social media, and Tuesday’s alleged abuse of Vinícius Júnior by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni this exhibition also feels more pertinent that ever.

Among the co-curators is Mary Phillip, who was part of Arsenal’s quadruple-winning season of 2007 and has donated the shirt she wore in that European final. She describes seeing the exhibition for the first time as “mind-blowing and breathtaking”. The exhibits include recognition for pioneers such as Andrew Watson, who became the first black heritage international when he played for Scotland in 1881.

Phillip was, in 2003, the first black woman to captain England but says she was not aware of that at the time: “You had great players before me, Kerry Davis, Brenda Sempare, Sammy Britton and Hope Powell, and I knew Hope had been vice-captain but I hadn’t known that none of them had ever captained before me.

“It is key that an exhibition like this is out there for people to visualise and actually see for themselves, that it wasn’t an easy walk in the park and [the players celebrated here] went through all the hoops, they ran through the fires,” Phillip adds. “They have a full right to have their stuff displayed in here today because they had to deal with a lot to be recognised and seen for who they were.

“It lets the young kids now look forward saying: ‘It can happen, I can be the next black player to wear the armband.’ Look at Michelle Agyemang at the Euros, a young player coming through – what is stopping her in the next few years getting that armband and going strong with it? It’s about allowing players to see that greatness can happen.”

Dr Paul Campbell, associate professor in the sociology of race and inclusion in sport at the University of Leicester and the chair of the Black in the Game co-curatorial group, says off-pitch contributions to society were considered significantly when deciding which figures to showcase in the museum. “One of the main objectives was to celebrate the contributions, but not to provide a rose-tinted narrative.

“This is also showcasing and capturing the kind of historical exclusions and struggles, barriers that black heritage people have felt and have been subjected to, not just historically, but also contemporarily,” Campbell says. “So it’s really about presenting an honest history, one that shows, yes, it’s a story of celebration, but it’s also a story of the ways in which the sport and communities have been excluded.”

Women’s football receives far more than a token inclusion. Mementos from past and present Lionesses are prominent, including memorabilia relating to the career of Davis, who was the first black woman to play for England, in 1982, and scored 44 times for her country.

“The progress [growing the women’s game] was slower than I thought, but then in the last 10 years, with the Lionesses winning these two Euros, that is absolutely massive and now we have to keep the development, keep the investment, keep the progress,” Davis says. “And the biggest thing for me is grassroots. They have to invest there, so we don’t run out of these talented players. But where the game is now, it’s everything I hoped and wished for and dreamed about.”

Davis, who is modest about her achievements despite only Ellen White and Kelly Smith having scored more goals for the Lionesses, feels she was not subjected to racism on the same level as Carter “because I was not as visible”. She retired before the dawn of social media and the professionalisation of the women’s game, which has increased exposure.

“Are we doing enough to educate people?” the former Lazio, Napoli and Croydon striker says. “You could say a lot of that England team at the Euros in 2025 weren’t always in the rhythm that we wanted to be, not just Jess, but they [racists] look at one player, the colour of the skin, and that’s the person who gets the abuse. You’ve got to educate people into not looking at someone just because they’re different.”

The Black in the Game exhibition, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will remain open until 8 March.

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