Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Davis has won an award named in honour of his old Gunners team-mate Kevin Campbell, who died earlier this year.
Davis, who played 447 times in a 17-year career with Arsenal, received the Kevin Campbell Captains Award at the inaugural Trailblazers Awards organised by the Black Footballers Partnership (BFP) at the House of Commons on Thursday evening.
Campbell died aged 54 in June, and his sister Lorna, the director of the Kevin Campbell Foundation, presented the award to Davis.
“We know Kevin loved Paul to bits and would love no one better to be the inaugural winner of the Captains’ Award,” she said.
“Paul was known as ‘Pops’ by the younger players, respected by them all. And we all know that his career off the pitch has been dedicated to showing leadership and inspiring a new generation of coaches and people in the community to give back, which is the essence of the Kevin Campbell Foundation. We lost Kevin far too soon, but these awards and other initiatives will contribute to keeping his legacy alive.”
Since his retirement Davis has worked with the Professional Footballers’ Association as a coach educator, and with anti-discrimination charities Kick It Out and Show Racism The Red Card.
Also honoured at the event were former England internationals Ricky Hill and Mary Phillip, plus experienced manager Chris Hughton.
Phillip was the first black woman to captain England, and won 65 caps for the Lionesses. She was a key part of the team which reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2007.
She was the recipient of the Emma Clarke Award, named in honour of England’s first black female footballer.
Hill, a star of the Luton team in the 1980s and the first British South Asian to play for England, won the Arthur Wharton Award named after the world’s first black professional footballer.
Hughton, who has managed at Newcastle, Birmingham and Brighton among others as well as the Ghana national team, received the Tony Collins Award.
Collins started managing at Rochdale in 1960, becoming the Football League’s first black manager.
Collins’ daughter Sandra Hepworth said: “Our father was not one to talk about the challenges he faced but we know he struggled to reach the heights that his talents deserved.
“He started managing Rochdale in 1960 and loved it. Yet here we are 64 years after he began his managerial career and there are only two black managers out of 92 in 2024.
“Let’s hope these Trailblazers Awards will cause the game to reflect on its past and what needs to happen in the future.”
The awards were decided by polling among the BFP membership.
BFP co-founder Delroy Corinaldi said: “While tonight’s awards celebrate the trailblazers of the past by rewarding the pathfinders of the future, we cannot ignore the fact that with 43 per cent of top-flight professionals being of black heritage, it remains a scandal that only two clubs out of the 92 across all leagues have a black manager.
“Black players excel on the pitch, do their badges and want to excel off the pitch, but hit the ‘grass ceiling’ when they step off the pitch.
“The data is starker at board and executive levels where only 1.6 per cent of roles are occupied by people of black heritage. The game must do better and the Government owe a duty of care to the black footballing community and can’t ignore this scandal as they consider the remit of the football regulator.”
