Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

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Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856)

Andrew Watson (24 May 1856 – 8 March 1921) is
widely considered to be the world's first black person to
Andrew Watson
play association football at international level.[2][3][4] He
played three matches for Scotland between 1881 and 1882.
Arthur Wharton was commonly thought to be Britain's
first black player, as he was the first black professional
footballer and the first to play in the Football League, but
Watson's career predated him by over a decade.

Watson (top centre, 1882 photograph)

Contents Personal information
Early life and education Date of birth 24 May 1856
Private life and career Place of birth Demerara, British Guiana
Football career Date of death 8 March 1921 (aged 64)
At club level Place of death London, England
At international level Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Later life and tributes Playing position Full back

References Senior career*

External links
Years Team Apps (Gls)
? Maxwell
1874–1880 Parkgrove
1880–1882 Queen's Park[1] 0 (0)
Early life and education 1882–1884 Swifts
Watson was the son of a wealthy Scottish sugar planter 1884–1885 Corinthians
Peter Miller Watson (1805–1869) (the son of James 1885–1887 Queen's Park[1] 0 (0)
Watson, of Crantit, Orkney, Scotland) and a local British 1887–1892 Bootle
Guianese woman named Hannah Rose.[5] He came to National team
Britain with his father, and his older sister Annetta, and
1881–1882 Scotland 3 (0)
they inherited a substantial amount when their father died
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for
in London in 1869.[6] the domestic league only.

He was educated at Heath Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorkshire and then from 1871 at King's College
School, in Wimbledon, London, where records show he excelled at sports including football. He later studied
natural philosophy, mathematics and engineering at the University of Glasgow when he was 19, where his love of
football blossomed. He played in the full back position, on either the right or the left flank.

Private life and career

Watson left Glasgow University after one year and in 1877 became a partner in Watson, Miller, and Baird, a
wholesale warehouse business in Glasgow. In November 1877 he married Jessie Nimmo Armour (1860-1882); she
was the daughter of John Armour, a cabinet-maker.[6] Their son Rupert Andrew was born in 1878, and a daughter
Agnes Maude in 1880.[5] Watson moved to London with his family in the summer of 1882 for work reasons.[5] His

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wife died in the autumn of 1882 and their two children returned to Glasgow to live with their grandparents.[5]

He returned to Glasgow and married for a second time, to Eliza Kate Tyler (1861-1949) in February 1887.[5] She
was the daughter of Joseph Tyler, East India merchant. Later that year he moved to Liverpool, where he worked on
ships and sat exams to qualify as a marine engineer.[5] Watson and Eliza had two children, a son Henry Tyler in
1888 and a daughter Phyllis Kate in 1891.[5]

Football career

At club level
After first playing for Maxwell in 1876 he signed for local side Parkgrove, where he was additionally their match
secretary,[2] making him the first black administrator in football.[4] At Parkgrove he played alongside another black
player, Robert Walker.[7]

He also took part in athletics competitions, winning the high jump on several occasions.

On 14 April 1880, he was selected to represent Glasgow against Sheffield; Glasgow won 1–0 at Bramall Lane. He
was also selected for a tour to Canada in the summer of 1880 which was cancelled after the death of William Dick,
secretary of the Scottish Football Association.[6]

In April 1880, he also signed for Queen's Park – then Britain's largest football team – and became their secretary
in November 1881. He led the team to several Scottish Cup wins, thus becoming the first black player to win a
major competition.[4]

Watson's entry in the Scottish Football Association Annual of 1880–81 reads as follows:[6]

"Watson, Andrew: One of the very best backs we have; since joining Queen's Park has
made rapid strides to the front as a player; has great speed and tackles splendidly;
powerful and sure kick; well worthy of a place in any representative team."

In 1882, he moved to London and became the first black player to play in the English Cup when he turned out for
Swifts.[2] In 1883, he was the first foreign player to be invited to join the leading amateur club in England, the
Corinthians. During his time there, this included an 8–1 victory against Blackburn Rovers, who were at that time
the English Cup holders.[8] He also played for other amateur English clubs, including Pilgrims, Brentwood, and
London Caledonians.[6]

The colour of his skin was of no significance to his peers, and there is no historical record of racism on the part of
the Scottish Football Association.[9] One match report is more interested in Watson's unusual brown boots rather
than the customary black boots of that time.[9] As written in the minutes, before one match where Watson was
injured and unable to play, an SFA vice-president said if Watson had been fit he would have happily drugged a
fellow Scottish international to give Watson his place. He played his last match for Queen's Park in 1886.

Watson signed for Merseyside club Bootle in 1887.[5] Bootle offered wages and signing fees to a number of players,
but it is unknown whether Watson was paid.[5] If he was, this would predate the professional career of Arthur
Wharton, who is generally considered to be the first black footballer to play professionally.[5]

At international level
Watson won three international caps for Scotland.[3] His first cap came for Scotland in a match against England in
London on 12 March 1881, in which he captained the side;[10] Scotland won 6–1. A few days later, Scotland played

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Wales and won 5–1.

Watson's last cap came against England in Glasgow on 11 March 1882. This was a 5–1 victory again to Scotland.[11]
Watson moved to London in the summer of 1882, which effectively ended his international career as the SFA only
picked players based in Scotland at this time.[5]

The next non-white person to receive a full international cap for Scotland was Paul Wilson in 1975. The next black
person selected to play for Scotland after Andrew Watson was Nigel Quashie in 2004, 120 years later.[12]

Later life and tributes

It was thought that Watson emigrated to Australia and had died in Sydney, but in fact he retired to London in
around 1910 and died of pneumonia at 88 Forest Road, Kew, in 1921.[5] He is buried in Richmond Cemetery.[13]

In 1926 the sportswriter "Tityrus" (the pseudonym of J.A.H. Catton, editor of the Athletic News) named Andrew
Watson as left back in his all-time Scotland team.[14]

References
1. The Scottish Football League did not commence until the 1890–91 season.
2. "First Black footballer, Andrew Watson, inspired British soccer in 1870s" (https://web.archive.org
/web/20100610052137/http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/articles/andrew_watson.html). Black History
Month. Archived from the original (http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/articles/andrew_watson.html) on 10
June 2010.
3. "Andrew Watson" (http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/andrew_watson.html). 100 Great Black Britons.
4. "Andrew Watson" (http://www.furd.org/default.asp?intPageID=37). Football Unites, Racism Divides.
5. Mitchell, Andy (20 March 2013). "First black footballer: Watson story takes twist" (http://www.scotsman.com
/sport/football/top-football-stories/first-black-footballer-watson-story-takes-twist-1-2845754). The Scotsman.
Johnston Publishing. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
6. Andy Mitchell, 'Watson, Andrew (1856–1921)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University
Press, September 2014 accessed 13 March 2015 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/94046)
7. Richard McBrearty. "The world's earliest known black footballers" (http://www.srtrc.org/news/news-and-
events?news=5534). Show Racism the Red Card. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
8. Cavallini, Rob (2007). Play Up Corinth: A History of the Corinthian Football Club. Tempus Publishing.
pp. 13–14, 230, 278. ISBN 0-7524-4479-4.
9. Brown, Paul. The Unofficial Football World Championships. North Shields: Tonto Press. p. 123.
ISBN 978-0-9552183-1-6.
10. The Times, 14 March 1881, p.6, col C.
11. "Andrew Watson – Scotland" (http://www.londonhearts.com/scotland/players/andrewwatson.html).
LondonHearts.com.
12. "History calls on Quashie" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/scotland/3751759.stm). BBC
Sport. BBC. 26 May 2004. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
13. "Andrew Watson: a gravestone that deserves more" (http://www.scottishsporthistory.com/1/post/2013/08
/andrew-watson-a-gravestone-that-deserves-more.html).
14. Catton, J.A.H. ("Tityrus") (2006 reprint of 1926 original). The Story of Association Football. Cleethorpes:
Soccer Books. ISBN 1-86223-119-2.

External links

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Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Watson_(footballer,_born_1856)

Glasgow University (http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH3046&type=P) Biography of

Andrew Watson
Andrew Watson (http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/players/?pid=113377) at the Scottish Football Association

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