Argyle name boardroom after pioneering player

Jack Leslie was one of the first BAME players in British football. (Radio Plymouth, December 2019. Article available here.):

Chairman Simon Hallett with the new plaque

Plymouth Argyle have unveiled their new boardroom in the £8 million Mayflower Grandstand. 

The Jack Leslie Boardroom, named after the former player, marks a strong shift by the club to stamp out racism. 

Jack Leslie was one of the shining stars for Argyle between 1921 and 1934 and will be forever enshrined in the Argyle record books. 

He played the inside forward position and is the fourth highest goal scorer in Argyle history, scoring 137 times in over 400 appearances. 

Mr Leslie grew up in Canning Town in London with a Jamaican father and was one of the first BAME players in British football. 

Having such a talent, Mr Leslie was told by Argyle manager Bob Jack, that he had been selected to play for England. 

However, he received communication cancelling his call up, something he later commented on saying: “I guess they didn’t realise I was a coloured boy.” 

The naming of the new boardroom is a sign of commemoration of Jack Leslie but also marks a shift in the approach to discrimination in football and at Home Park. 

Argyle chairman, Simon Hallett, said: “The leadership of this club are determined to stamp racism out at Home Park and the naming of the boardroom after Jack Leslie is a sign of that commitment.”

 The Jack Leslie boardroom is part of the new £8 million Mayflower Grandstand. 

The new grandstand was designed by award winning architecture firm Kensington Taylor (KT) who worked alongside Plymouth’s Architects Design Group (ADG).