Frank Soo: Football's Braveheart

Frank Soo, a football pioneer

Frank Soo was one of the game’s true pioneers, not only was he the first player of Chinese origin to play in the English Football League but the RAF serviceman was also the first non-white player to represent England.

Frank Soo’s early years

He was Born in Buxton, Derbyshire on the 8th of March 1914 to his father Our Quong- Soo who was a Chinese sailor and his English mother Beatrice Whittam. As a youngster, Soo played youth team football for West Derby Boy’s Club but despite interest from Liverpool and Everton he actually began his senior football career for Cheshire League side Prescot Cables in 1932.

Stoke and England

After just one season the left-back was signed by Stoke City for £400 and on the 4th of November 1933 he played against Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park to become the first player of Chinese origin to play in the Football League. Soo stayed at Stoke for 6 years scoring 10 goals in 185 games for them before the 1939-1940 League was suspended due to the start of WWII.

During the war years, Soo initially worked in engineering for the Michelin tyre company before he was called up to serve the RAF on July the 28th 1941 where he worked in the technical training of aircrews. Despite his work Soo still found time to play football and on May 9th 1942 he played for England against Wales to create history. In total Soo went on to play 9 times for his country between 1942-1945 although some only count the wartime games as semi-official.

Career as a Manager

After the war, he had spells playing for Leicester City, Luton Town and Chelmsford City before he retired in 1950. After retiring Soo went into coaching where he went on to get 14 different jobs as a manager, which included taking Norway to the 1952 Olympics, winning the Allsvenskan title with Djurgården and spells with AIK Stockholm and Scunthorpe United.

Sadly Frank Soo died on the 25th of January 1991 aged 76, but his name lives on in the form of the Frank Soo foundation.