Is Paul reaney of leeds united black or white?

Answer 1

While he was a player Paul Reaney was regarded as white. However, seeing him play all those times I often wondered about his heritage. The man himself doesn't seem to have spoken at all about this issue, and if he doesn't want to that is fair enough, but if he is black, Viv Anderson's place in the record books as the first black player to play for England is open to contention. Certainly Reaney "looks" black, or at least mixed race. But there is a key question here, and that is what is "black"? No one is totally black (or white for that matter), it is just a concept that is useful in trying to categorise people. Ryan Gigg's father is black, but very few people seem to regard Giggs as black. Halle Berry is mixed race, but she states explicitly that she sees herself as a black woman. Considering the racism in the UK of the late sixties and early seventies, (when Reaney played for Leeds), it would not be surprising if a footballer chose not to identify himself as black.