Former Sunderland striker Roly Gregoire finally broke a 46‑year silence about the abuse he endured as the club’s first black player. His 1978 debut came on 2 January 1978, assisting a 2‑0 win over Hull City, only to be met with racist taunts from supporters. The trauma forced him to change his name, leave the area and abandon football for decades.

Gregoire, born in Liverpool to Caribbean parents and raised in Bradford, arrived from Halifax Town for a £5,000 transfer in November 1977. He struggled to find acceptance in a town where less than 1 % of the 1981 population was African‑Caribbean. Teammates like Bobby Kerr offered brief support, but incidents on a Kenya tour and a hostile reception at a local white family’s dinner deepened his isolation.

A knee injury in 1979 ended Gregoire’s career at age 20, leaving him with a single senior goal in ten appearances. His story, now told on BBC Look North, exposes the deep‑seated racism that plagued Sunderland in the late 1970s and reminds fans that the club’s history includes painful chapters beyond on‑field results. Gregoire’s testimony stands as a stark record of what he endured.