Clive Sullivan, the first black captain for Great Britain in any sport, has been honoured by the daily Google Doodle on the day that would have been his 78th birthday.

The Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google’s homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. It is updated daily.

In 1972, Clive Sullivan captained Great Britain to winning the World Cup, scoring with a length of the field run against Australia in the World Cup Final. He won 17 GB caps and played in a further 10 tour games. For Wales, he won 15 caps, many of them in the 1975 World Championship, including the win over England in the famous “Battle of Brisbane“. He died of cancer on October 8, 1985, aged just 42. Click here to read more about his career.

Last year, he was honoured by Wales Rugby League twice, selected in the Dream World Cup Squad and also in the BAME XIII, whilst in December 2020 he was named as one of three Welsh rugby league players to be honoured with a new statue in Cardiff Bay as part of the One Team. One Race: Honouring the Cardiff Bay Rugby Codebreakers project, the other two being Billy Boston and Gus Risman. On April 9th, 2021, Google celebrated Clive Sullivan’s 78th Birthday with a Google Doodle. His son Anthony also played for Wales.

Wales Rugby League’s CEO Gareth Kear said: “It’s amazing to think that Clive Sullivan, born and bred in Splott in Cardiff, who faced racism and discrimination and was forced to go ‘north’ to play Rugby League simply because of his colour, is now recognised globally and by a tech giant like Google.

“The City of Cardiff will also celebrate the first black Great Britain international captain with a statue incorporating him and two other Rugby Codebreakers from Tiger Bay – Billy Boston and Gus Risman, which will be unveiled in 2022.”