The Welsh boxer banned from competing for British title because he was black

  • ITV Wales' Lewis Rhys Jones reports from Swansea.

The story of an Olympic boxer from Merthyr Tydfil who faced racism has been turned into a stage show by a Welsh theatre production company.

It will tell the true story of Cuthbert Taylor who was denied the right to compete for the British title in 1928 due to the colour of his skin.

Theatr na nÓg in Neath is putting on the production for more than 5,000 schoolchildren from September to November.

'The Fight' will get its outing on stage this month. Credit: The Taylor Family

Cuthbert Taylor was a boxing pioneer in the 1920s and '30s. He was the first black boxer to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games in 1928. However, he never had the chance to be recognised as the best in Britain.

The British Boxing Board of Control banned non-white boxers from competing for the British title. The ‘colour bar rule’, in place between 1911 and 1948, stated a fighter had to have two white parents.

Simeon Desvignes, who plays Cuthbert in The Fight, said: "I’m sure Cuthbert Taylor is not the only one who went through this back in the 1920s, there’s lots of other mixed race or black boxers that also had the same experience.

"In this day and age when you’ve got heavyweight title contenders like Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua that are competing for heavyweight titles, I'm thinking about how far boxing has progressed since then."

Simeon Desvignes plays Cuthbert in the show. Credit: Dimitris Legakis, Athena Picture Agency

Simeon added: "I find it quite shocking that Cuthbert and his family haven’t received an apology.”

Making his directorial debut for this show is Kev McCurdy, a fight choreographer who has worked on Hollywood blockbusters and British television classics like Doctor Who and Torchwood.

He joined the production to shine a light on a chapter of black British history that he says was swept under the carpet for too long.

Kev McCurdy is making his professional directorial debut for this stage show after spending almost 30 years as a fight choreographer. Credit: Dimitris Legakis, Athena Picture Agency

He said: "The play has got so many different stories in it about the warmth and passion of the character, the injustice of what Cuthbert went through, from the time started going all the way up to the time he retired. As a professional he had 215 fights and won 151 of them.

"Back in the day it was very different, but now if you want to go and do something, you go and do it. Free of the injustice that goes on, and it still does go on."

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