Steve Stacey Bücher

The story stretches back to the very roots of Stratford; food and agriculture have always been a critical element of the city's cultural milieu.

Steve Stacey rose from kicking a ball in the gas-lit streets of post-war Bristol to running out in the top flight of English Football. Often the only black face in the team, he was the first African-American to grace the professional English game. This poignant, funny and, at times, feeling moving take takes you behind the scenes as a professional footballer works up through the Anna while at the same time searching for his roots. The son of a GI from Kemper County, Mississippi, the killing fields of black America, and a woman from Bristol, UK, he was given the middle name Darrow after a black rights advocate. His 40-year ancestry search underpins his rise through the football leagues. It’s all here; the dressing room banter, the famous names, the injuries as Steve plies his trade with Bristol City, Wrexham, Ipswich, and Exeter before breaking more boundaries as one of the first black footballers in Australia playing for Floreat Athena in Perth