Black History Month: Icons of Sutton United

October is Black History Month, and as the month comes to an end, we celebrate the black icons who are part of Sutton United history with this special feature.

Gavin Fraser – 181 appearances/16 goals

Gavin was the first black or mixed race player to appear in our first team. He joined for the 1973/74 season having represented England Schoolboys and made his debut at home to Hitchin in August 1973, opening his goalscoring account in a 2-1 defeat against Walton & Hersham in October. Later that season Gavin was joined in the team by striker Junior Crooks.

Gavin left the club and played briefly at Wycombe Wanderers whilst training as a PE teacher before returning to Gander Green Lane for the 1977/78 season, when he became pretty much a first team regular, missing just two league games and scoring seven goals. Gavin continued to feature strongly the following year and played in the 1979 Anglo Italian Cup Final win over Chieti Calcio, which is widely seen as the springboard for so much of the success that followed. Gavin left the U’s in 1980 after making a total of 181 appearances and scoring 16 goals and later played for Carshalton Athletic.

Our paths would cross again in 2015 when the squad went on a pre-season trip to Jersey and Gavin was one of our hosts as an official of the Jersey FA and later joined the board of the island’s FA.

Steve Galloway – 65 appearances/33 goals

Steve joined the U’s in 1983 and was a fairly instant success, his speed, power and direct style making him a fans’ favourite and he was part of a Sutton team that was starting to score goals for fun. It was no surprise when, after just two years at the club and netting 33 goals for the U’s in just 65 appearances , he was spotted and signed by Crystal Palace but he only played a handful of games in two season, including a loan spell at Cambridge United, before a life-changing move to Sweden where he would play over 300 games for Tegs SK, Djurgardens and Umea, scoring almost 150 goals.

After retiring Steve became a coach in Sweden, where he still lives, and also appeared on TV show Gladiatorerna, the Swedish version of Gladiators.

Lennie Dennis – 264 appearances/144 goals

Lennie (pictured with Micky Stephens at a friendly at Dulwich a few seasons ago) joined the U’s in 1985, a slightly surprising signing by Barrie Williams to replace the prolific Micky Joyce after low key spells with Bromley and Dulwich Hamlet. However, partnering Paul McKinnon in attack Lennie formed a spearhead that helped the club to retain the Isthmian League title and win promotion into the Conference, bagging 32 goals in his first season.

Lennie was an all-action centre-forward, not dissimilar in style to Omar Bugiel but with a keener eye for goal. It didn’t seem to matter whether Lennie played alongside McKinnon or Joyce, the goals kept coming for all three. Famously, Lennie featured in the team that beat Coventry City in 1989. The broken leg suffered by Lennie at Barnet was a key factor in the club’s relegation in 1991, and he later left for spells with Welling and Woking before returning to Sutton to accumulate a total of 144 goals in just 264 appearances.

In 1988 Lennie was invited to represent Jamaica, and gained one international cap in a World Cup qualifier against the United States.

Francis Awaritefe – 62 appearances/22 goals

Francis joined the U’s from neighbours Tooting & Mitcham in 1986. Seemingly at home anywhere across the front line, Francis had a range of skills which, allied to his extreme pace made him a handful for any defence in the Vauxhall Conference. Francis netted 22 times in 65 games and seemed certain to be the next U’s star to progress into the Football League but it wasn’t plain sailing for the star striker, his temperament was always on the fiery side and defenders who couldn’t stop him any other way started to rely on the ‘dark arts’ and Francis was not always able to turn the other cheek. Events came to a head when Francis reacted to opposing goalkeeper Andy Pape with a blow that would not have looked out of place at Madison Square Garden; the club was left with little option but to terminate his contract. It was a sad end to his career at Sutton and professional aspirations, also for the fans who so enjoyed his exciting displays.

A year later Francis was playing in Australia and turned out to be a great success, averaging a goal every two and a half games in a career spanning more than 340 games and, as a nationalised Australian, earning three full caps. After retirement as player Francis enjoyed successful careers in coaching and on television before becoming a Vie-President of FIRPro (The International Federation of Professional Footballers.

Efan and Nko Ekoku – 68 appearances/36 goals (Efan); 142 appearances/13 goals (Nko)

Efan and Nko clearly inherited a sporting gene, brother Abi represented Great Britain as a discus thrower and later played rugby league, winning Super League and playing in a Challenge Cup Final, before becoming Chief Executive at Bradford Bulls.

It is the stuff of legend that a young Efan, playing nothing more than decent local football, walked into the club with a pair of boots around his neck and asked for a trial. After only a few weeks playing for the reserves Efan was promoted to first team action, coming on as a substitute against Bishop Auckland in the FA Trophy, and was soon impossible to drop. He finished that season with a hat trick against Barnet, the third goal following a run over half the length of the pitch. Efan had all the necessary physical attributes, height, strength and great pace. But on top of that he had skill to spare and became a firm favourite with Sutton fans and a force to be feared by other teams. There was one game where Efan was partnered upfront by a similar player in Carey Anderson and they were too much for a strong Darlington team in one of the most awesome displays of pace and power the old ground has seen.

It was inevitable Efan would turn pro, but maybe it was a surprise that he joined AFC Bournemouth, having scored 36 goals in 68 games for the U’s. Over three seasons he only managed 21 goals for the Cherries in Division 3 but Premier League Norwich City had seen enough and signed him in 1993 for half a million pounds. Efan scored Norwich’s first ever goal in European competition, against Vitesse Arnhem in the UEFA Cup that September, and helped them to a famous win over Bayern Munich in the next round. He then scored four goals in a 5-1 win for Norwich at Goodison Park. A year later Efan was on his way to Wimbledon, sell-on clauses on top of his original sale to Bournemouth earning U’s a total fee of £180,000.

Nko possessed similar attributes to his brother but played in a slightly different position, either as a left winger or wingback where his power and speed could often dominate opponents. Nko was a big part of the culture instilled in the dressing room by manager John Rains and achieved one thing his brother didn’t, having a major role in the U’s winning the Isthmian League in 1999. The following season in the Conference was a challenging one for the U’s, ending in relegation, and Nko then left for Worthing. He played 142 games, scoring 13 goals.

Mark Watson – 238 appearances/102 goals

Mark had been playing locally, for Worcester Park, and came to the U’s attention through open trials and was offered a place in Ken Ireland’s Suburban League team. A tall, quick and strong front runner Mark soon pressed his case for a chance in the first eleven and was not slow in taking his opportunity. Mark is sometimes remembered for an amazing miss in front of an open goal against Histon but that is very unfair, his ratio of goals per game, 102 in 238 appearances, stands comparison with the club’s best strikers and he achieved that at a time when the club was at one of its lowest ebbs in the last fifty years. His goals were a key factor in the U’s avoiding the relegation trapdoor in the 1994/5 season. He then joined West Ham for a reported fee of £50,000 but only made one appearance for the Hammers, having several loan periods before a transfer to Bournemouth. Mark then had a brief stay with Welling United before returning to Sutton for two more seasons, his 100th goal being the winner in the 2003 Surrey Senior Cup final.

Fitzroy McCaulsky – 100 appearances

Fitzroy joined us at the start of the 1993-94 season having played for Haringey Borough and Brimsdown Rovers, and quickly established himself as the first choice goalkeeper. By the end of that season his performances, with his contribution to an FA Trophy replay win at Dover a standout, earned him the Supporters’ Club Player of the Year and also recognition in the Isthmian League representative side. His appearance against Kingstonian in the last game of the 1994-95 season was his 100th for the club, before he left the club due to work and family commitments at the end of that season.

Jon Nurse – 38 games/24 goals

Jon was brought to the U’s by reserve team boss Phil Dunne, and he quickly caught the eye. His pace, direct style and eye for goal marked him out as too good for Suburban League football but he had to wait for his chance in the first team. When it came Jon quickly became undroppable. Goals had been hard to come by for the U’s but Jon scored his first goal in a 1-0 win at Kettering at the end of November 2003 and went on to score 24 goals in just 38 games, helping to guide the U’s to runners-up spot behind runaway champions Canvey Island. Jon was joined in the side by his brother Chris, a midfielder. At the end of that season the restructuring of non-league football saw Sutton moved into the new Conference South but Jon’s goalscoring exploits had not gone unnoticed and he joined Conference outfit Stevenage Borough, just missing out on promotion into the EFL, although a move to Dagenham & Redbridge did give Jon his first taste of the Football League, and this also saw him win 6 full caps for Barbados. Jon later joined Barnet and was involved as player-coach in their promotion into the Football League.

Craig Eastmond – 393 games/29 goals

Craig made his first team debut for Arsenal in the League Cup against Liverpool shortly after his 19^th birthday, after featuring in their FA Youth Cup winning side of 2009, and he soon appeared in the Premier League and Champions League. Whilst on loan at Millwall Craig then broke his ankle, a bad injury that effectively ended his top flight career. Spells followed at Wycombe, Colchester and Yeovil before he joined the U’s in September 2015, on the recommendation of freelance fitness coach Jamie Lawrence. Craig was one of the missing pieces in the jigsaw, and played a vital part in the team winning National League South that season.

The next season would be a special one for Craig, as he featured in every round of the club’s run to the 5^th Round of the FA Cup when, of course, the U’s were drawn to host his old club, Arsenal. It must have been a moment Craig could never have dreamt of. The following season the U’s finished 3rd in the National League, the highest placing in the club’s history to that time, and Craig was named in the National League team of the year. Two years later, Craig was captain when the U’s beat Hartlepool to gain promotion into the Football League. That first season was an amazing success for the U’s, missing out on the play-offs by just one point but also reaching the final of the Papa Johns Trophy. With the score at 1-1 it was Craig who gave the U’s the lead early in the second half at Wembley (above), and amid the later disappointment that afternoon it is often forgotten that he won the Player of the Match award.

Craig finished his Sutton career in 2024 with a total of 393 appearances and 29 goals, his eight years at the club having coincided with the most successful period of the club’s history and saw him at the heart of everything the team has achieved. He joined Wealdstone for a season and in the summer rejoined Matt Gray at Eastbourne Borough.

Leroy Griffiths – 89 appearances/22 goals

Leroy actually started his career in the youth team at Sutton, but with no first team opportunities coming his way he had brief spells with several local clubs before joining Hampton & Richmond, from where he was snapped up by Queens Park Rangers. A powerfully built striker, he played 36 times for QPR and grabbed three goals before carving out a career with a number of clubs in the top echelons of the Conference and Conference South. A brief spell back in the Football League was experienced with Gillingham in 2007/8 before a two-year stint with Staines Town. With the U’s chasing the Isthmian League title it was something of a surprise when Paul Doswell signed Leroy, by then 35 years old, for the run-in in 2011 but the manager knew he wanted an experienced, calm head in the team and with seven goals Leroy helped the team to get over the line. He remained with the U’s for the following season in Conference South and grabbed another fifteen goals, including four in a 5-1 FA Cup win over Dulwich Hamlet. After leaving Sutton, with 22 goals in 89 games, the veteran striker still managed to fit in another eleven clubs. It is fair to assume that Leroy, who played the game with a smile on his face, enjoyed playing football.

Tom Bolarinwa – 152 appearances/23 goals

Tom had a varied career with a number of non-League sides before playing in Thailand for three years. On his return he joined Cray Wanderers before Paul Doswell identified him as a missing piece of the jigsaw for the 2015/16 season. A rapid and powerfully built winger Tom was one of the players that crowds love to watch, he score some spectacular goals and made many more as the U’s powered to the National league South title. He was named in the league’s Team of the Year and earned himself a transfer to League Two Grimsby Town, where he made over thirty appearances. In November 2017 Tom rejoined the U’s on loan and made the deal permanent a few weeks later. He added another eight goals  but injury seemed to have robbed him of a yard of pace and his electric acceleration and in 2020 he moved to Lewes before a switch to Ashford Town. He scored a total of 23 goals in 152 games for the U’s but his contribution to the club’s success goes much deeper than those bare statistics.

Louis John – 286 appearances/16 goals

Louis started in Sutton’s youth team but was picked up by Crawley Town and spent two years there, including a loan spell at Bognor Regis, before coming to Sutton on loan, and then signing a permanent contract. Louis was in and out of the U’s team, often featuring at right back, and had several loan spells with local clubs before becoming a regular with Sutton, leading to two England ‘C’ caps and a transfer to EFL outfit Cambridge United. New manager Matt Gray was finding life tough in the National League, but one of the changes that turned around the club’s fortunes in the 2019/20 season was the return of Louis from Cambridge, initially on loan. The U’s ended in comfortable safety when Covid cut short the season and the following year Louis was a regular at the heart of defence alongside Ben Goodliffe as Sutton won the National League title. Louis scored the vital second goal in the decisive win over Hartlepool but a week or two earlier had managed a much better and altogether different goal with a calm and perfectly placed effort from inside his own half away at Maidenhead. The next year Louis played in the Papa Johns final at Wembley against Rotherham. After making a total of 286 appearances and scoring 16 goals Louis joined Ebbsfleet United in the summer of 2024.

Simon Downer – 256 appearances/8 goals

Even into his thirties it was easy to see why the teenage Simon Downer was once regarded by some as a potential England player. He did go on trial at Newcastle, then managed by Sir Bobby Robson, but a nagging injury possibly cost him that move. Instead he played almost 80 times for Leyton Orient before his injuries saw him switch between semi-retirement and brief spells with a number of non-League sides. In November 2008 Simon joined Sutton and scored in a 1-1 draw away to Wingate & Finchley in the FA Trophy. He only made seven appearances before spending the 2009/10 season in the Conference with Rushden & Diamonds, playing in almost 50 games.

By the start of the 2010/11 season Simon was back with the U’s and scored in the dramatic 4-3 comeback win at home to Wealdstone as the U’s went on to win the Isthmian League title, and the following year he was named as Players’ Player of the Year. After four years he joined Maidenhead United, closer to his west country home, but the lure of The Lane proved too strong and he returned for a third spell at the start of the 2015/16 season. It proved to be another astute move as he collected another championship winner’s medal as the U’s took the National League South title. By then Simon was having to carefully manage his injured knee and any games that Paul Doswell could coax out of him were a bonus. Simon showed why he was so important to the team with a standout performance in the FA Cup defeat of Cheltenham Town, he then played at centre-half in the win over Leeds and at right back in the famous game v Arsenal. A week later he took over in goal after Ross Worner had been injured at Torquay. It was Simon’s versatility and ability to churn out consistent performances with rarely a bad game that made him so valuable to the team and so popular with fans. Simon managed eight goals in 256 games for the U’s and one last season followed at Hampton & Richmond before he retired at the end of the 2018/19 season.

David Ajiboye – 168 appearances/23 goals

David was new manager Matt Gray’s first signing, in the summer of 2019, after scoring sixteen goals for Worthing the previous season. His blistering pace was immediately evident and his ability to almost always beat the first defender made him one to watch. In that first, covid-affected season David only managed four goals; his talent was there for all to see but sometimes he seemed to lack in confidence. The next season though David was instrumental in the club’s title success, he scored five times but made so many more and was a constant threat, being named in the National League team of the season. He continued to terrorise defences after promotion into the Football League and scored several wonderful goals after mazy, high speed dribbles. In summer 2022 David was sold to Peterborough United, but he rejoined the U’s on loan for the second half of the season. On returning to Peterborough he completed a half century of appearances, and had loan spells with York and Newport, before being released at the end of last season and joining Carlisle United, for whom he played at Sutton in August. He netted a total of 23 goals in 168 appearances for the U’s.

Isaac Olaofe – 80 appearances/26 goals

“Tanto”, as he is universally known, is the only player featured this month who was never actually a Sutton United player. All of his appearances were as a loanee from Millwall, but the impact he had and the part he played in statistically the club’s two most successful seasons ever mean he cannot be overlooked.

Tanto joined shortly before lockdown in the Covid season, playing five games and scoring in the last game of the curtailed season against Hartlepool. He began the 2020/21 season on loan from Millwall to St. Johnstone but only made two appearances. Manager Matt Gray had maintained a watching brief and he was back in Sutton colours by late October, announcing his return with a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Kings Lynn. Tanto’s express pace was integral to the way the U’s played that year and the most significant of his fourteen goals that season came in the final home game, the 3-0 win over Hartlepool that clinched promotion into the Football League. He was named as the club’s Young Player of the Year. Having renewed his contract with Millwall Isaac then returned to Sutton on loan at the end of August. An injury-hit season saw his appearances restricted and he scored just eight goals but did make a substitute appearance in the Papa Johns Trophy final. At the end of December 2022 Tanto left Millwall for Stockport County for an undisclosed fee, making over 100 appearances over three years and in 2023-24 becoming the first player for over twenty seasons to score twenty goals for the club in a Football League campaign, helping them to promotion to League One. He moved in to the Championship with Charlton Athletic for an undisclosed fee at the start of this season. Isaac totalled 26 goals in 80 games for the U’s.

Craig Dundas – 586 appearances/109 goals

The club legend that is “Dundo” is without doubt the most successful legacy of Ernie Howe’s brief and unproductive stay as Sutton manager. Quickly making a name for himself at Carshalton, after six years with Croydon, Craig was already 26 years old when he joined the U’s in November 2007 and scored in an encouraging 3-3 draw away to Hayes & Yeading. It was a false dawn for Sutton as relegation beckoned at the end of a dismal season but Craig was one of the few players retained by new manager Paul Doswell after grabbing twelve goals in a half a season. Craig featured regularly in the Isthmian League the next season, his great strength and determination making him a firm favourite with the fans, but the U’s lost out in the play-offs and Craig left for a year with Hampton & Richmond. This U’s knocked the Beavers out of the FA Cup and by the time the 2010/11 season started Craig was back at The Lane. He played a vital part in the U’s winning the Isthmian League title and Conference South crowds soon became used to the cry of “Dundo’s gonna get yer”. In an eight-year spell bringing almost 300 appearances Craig scored over 60 goals but it was his workrate as much as his finishing that endeared him to Sutton fans and he was a vital part of the success that the team enjoyed in the mid 2010s: winning the National League in 2016 and reaching the last 16 of the FA Cup in 2017. Already 36, Craig then alternated briefly between Hampton and Sutton but new U’s boss Matt Gray retained Craig as a fitness coach and as a player and he enjoyed the National League title success of 2021. On 11^th September 2021, aged 40, Craig become the oldest player to make their EFL debut since the 2^nd World War, in a game against Stevenage. Remarkably Craig remained an active member of the first team squad during our three years in the EFL, finishing his career with us on 586 appearances (fifth in the all-time list) with 109 goals. In 2024 he joined Epsom & Ewell and at the start of this season took up the manager’s role with them, but he retains his Sutton connections, enjoying a testimonial game in May (above) and now involved in a coaching role with our academy.