Frank Soo: Calls to remember England's 'forgotten' footballer
England's first non-white footballer to win an international cap is being remembered by search engine Google, in the form of their daily Google Doodle, on the day he made his first appearance for his country, against Wales in Cardiff.
Frank Soo was born in Buxton, Derbyshire in 1914, and raised in Liverpool. His parents, a Liverpool-based Chinese sailor father, Our Quong-Soo, and English mother, Beatrice Whittam, had married in Chorlton, Manchester in 1908.
His early footballing career was spent with several clubs on Merseyside, before being scouted and signed by Stoke City in 1933, going on to captain the side, making 173 appearances.
He went on to play for Leicester City, Luton Town and Chelsmford City before retiring from playing in 1950.
Soo then embarked on a career in management, coaching clubs in Finland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Scunthorpe, along with the Norwegian national team in the 1952 Olympics. He died in 1991.
During the Second World War, Soo enlisted with the RAF, captaining their football team. It was then that he was called up for England, winning the first of his nine caps on 9th May, 1942. Those wartime games aren't classed as official fixtures, but there are calls for his achievements to be recognised.
Frank's great-neice, and President of the Frank Soo Foundation, Jacqui Soo told ITV News "As a family we're extremely proud of Frank today. I think it's fantastic that we should remember him, he was extremely important for English football. The Frank Soo foundation promotes football among the Chinese community, so this will help to promote the sport among the youth. He was generally forgotten about because he coached so much in Scandinavia, but he had great achievements including going to the Olympics with Norway, along with being in the Malmo coaching team who faced Nottingham Forest in the 1979 European Cup Final."
In marking Frank's first international cap, it is hoped his legacy will grow and he will be a marker for the diversity now seen in football internationally. Artist Matthew Cruickshank says "I imagined how many barriers Frank broke down as a brilliant footballer in a minority. He took his talent to the pinnacle. I hope people will take away from the doodle a love of football and a celebration of the diversity we have in the modern game today. Frank really played his part in achieving that."