History-Football

Great Black Champions of British Football

We all know the British fathered football. (Whether the offspring has an English or Scottish DNA is debatable). But there is one inescapable historic fact that many do not know, and die-hard bigots won't acknowledge. Black players were on the field when the "aimless, chaotic" workers' pastime was transformed into the game that has won millions of adherents in Africa, South America and around the world.

Early Black British players, many of them born in the Empire, were equally adept at breaking racial barriers and setting outstanding records of achievement. Perhaps the brightest star among them was the Guyanan Andrew Watson, a man of formidable talents.

Discovered after more than a century of obscurity by Scottish curators, we follow the research trail through team photographs and newspaper clippings of the period.

Undoubtedly Watson's successes paved the way for all who came after him.. From Arthur Wharton and Walter Tull, the late 19th and early 20th century heroes, to the Black champions of today.

Click here to read

• First Black footballer, Andrew Watson, inspired British soccer in 1870s

• Black stars in British football history: Are we gaining or losing ground?

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