Andre Gray's incredible tattoo pays homage to iconic civil rights activists and crucial moments in history

• e-mail

Andre Gray put plenty of research into the extraordinary tattoo he unveiled to the world this month.

The Watford striker has had a number of the most iconic leaders of the civil rights movement inked onto his back - a process which took 72 hours to complete over nine separate sessions.

Political figures such as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X feature alongside reggae musician Bob Marley, world heavyweight champion boxer Muhammad Ali and the famous podium protest involving athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympic Games.

Andre Gray has shown off his incredible new back tattoo, which took 72 hours to complete

Gray called the artwork a 'masterpiece' when he posted a greyscale portrait of his full-back tattoo on social media last week, and rightly so.

The intricate design includes important moments in black history, including Rosa Parks refusing to move from the front of an Alabama bus and Huey P Newton being freed from jail.

And far from being a vanity project, the forward has invested plenty of time, energy and emotion into the planning process.

'The civil rights movement is something I've looked into a lot,' Gray told the Telegraph.

'When I was about 23, I started reading up on it all and watching TV programmes. 

Gray is pictured out with girlfriend and Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock

'You find you read about one person and then you find there is a documentary you can watch about them and then it usually leads on to something else.

'I went to Zanzibar on holiday and there was a lot there about civil rights and there was a museum, where there are old slave chambers.

'It was horrible to go to and they've still got the chains there. It opens your eyes a lot. To go to Africa and see some of those things was pretty difficult, but it makes you think.' 

Gray is no stranger to emotive tattoos.

Gray is now at Watford after being sold by Burnley for £18.5million over the summer

The words 'still I rise', which are written into his left breast, refer to his salvation from the gang culture in his hometown of Wolverhampton.

In a previous interview with Sportsmail, the forward explained how he was left with a four-inch scar on his left cheek from a fight aged 18 and how he has gone on to change his ways.

‘Still I Rise. It’s a good quote,' he said.

'Obviously you’re going to get adversity along the way and some things will knock you back, but as long as you can fight through it and get back up … it kind of made sense to me.'