Black Lions - West Ham United's Black England internationals | West Ham United F.C.

In 1962, John Charles of West Ham United became renowned for being the maiden Black athlete to represent the England national team in any category when he played for the Under-18s in Israel.

In the ensuing year, Charles, a defender, made history by becoming the inaugural Black athlete to grace the field for the Hammers in the First Division - and his impact has been felt by the many players from the Black community who have donned the iconic Claret and Blue uniforms over the past sixty years.

Nottingham Forest's Viv Anderson had to wait until 1978 to become the first senior international player for England. He was awarded this honor by Ron Greenwood, who had also given Charles his debut at West Ham.

It took another 15 years for a player who had been trained in the Academy of Football to create history. This player was Paul Ince, a midfielder. In 1993, Graham Taylor decided to appoint him as the captain for England's first two games at the US Cup.

During the four-nation tournament, which was held in the United States to test the waters before the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals, David Platt and Tony Adams were not present. As a result, Ince was selected to wear the captain's armband, despite only having played for his country seven times beforehand.

Back in 1993, on the ninth of June, England and the United States had a match at Foxboro Stadium located in Massachusetts. This stadium usually hosts NFL's New England Patriots games. During the match, Ince was playing alongside some notable players like Les Ferdinand and Ian Wright, while they competed against a future West Ham loanee John Harkes. The final results didn't work out well for Ince and the English team, as they ended up losing the game with a score of 2-0, with the Americans coming out as the winners.

When Platt made his way back and marked a point, Ince remained the team leader for England's second match in the U.S. Cup against the 1994 winning team Brazil. The match took place in Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, located near Washington DC. England showed strong performance and gained an admirable 1-1 tie.

During Glenn Hoddle's tenure as manager, Ince was given the opportunity to captain the England team on five separate occasions. The first of these matches occurred in March 1997, where England won a friendly match against Mexico at Wembley Stadium. In June of the same year, at the Tournoi de France - a competition designed to prepare teams for the World Cup - Ince led England to a 2-0 win over Italy. Later that year in October, he scored a critical goalless draw against Italy in a World Cup qualifying match. Ince's final two matches as England captain were against Cameroon and Morocco in friendly matches.

During the Cameroon match, Rio Ferdinand, who was only 19 at the time, made history by becoming the first Black West Ham player to participate in a senior level match for England at Wembley Stadium. He replaced Gareth Southgate as a substitute during the first half of the 2-0 victory.

During the months of October and November in 1998, the striker Wright was able to garner two more of his 33 caps. This was made possible following his move from Arsenal to West Ham United. At Arsenal, he had the distinction of becoming the all-time leading goal scorer. The two final caps were earned during the matches against Luxembourg and Czech Republic.

Towards the end of 2001, David James and Trevor Sinclair joined the English football team, becoming the third and fourth Black Hammers to do so. James played in a loss against the Netherlands, while Sinclair played in a tie with Sweden.

In August 2007, Kieron Dyer joined the ranks of former Hammers players, including Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Frank Lampard, and Joe Cole, as he started the 2-1 friendly loss against Germany at Wembley.

Ferdinand had the opportunity to showcase his skills on the international level while playing for West Ham. He represented England on ten occasions during his time with the team. Ferdinand later went on to play for Leeds United and Manchester United, earning 71 more caps with the national team. At the age of 29, while playing for Manchester United, Ferdinand made history by becoming the third Black men's senior captain for England, succeeding Ince and Sol Campbell. This momentous occasion occurred during a friendly match against France in Paris, which England unfortunately lost 1-0.

Ferdinand assumed the role of captain for England in a total of eleven games. Following his last game for the team, other players such as Ashley Cole, Chris Smalling, Fabian Delph, Raheem Sterling, and Marcus Rashford have all been given the captain's armband from the start of games.

Cole was present on the sidelines when another footballer with the same name, Carlton Cole, made history as West Ham's sixth Black English player during a friendly match against Spain in Seville back in February 2009. This was the first of Carlton's seven appearances representing England in the field.

Jesse Lingard took on the role as the seventh Black Hammer to represent England, particularly when he was brought back to Southgate's team last March of 2021. It was during his impressive loan period in east London when the recall happened.