It would only be telling a small part of an incredible story by suggesting that club cricketer, champion cyclist, professional footballer and record-breaking sprinter, Arthur Wharton could play a bit.
The story is finally receiving the attention it deserves after being lost for over 60 years where it ended in a pauper’s grave in 1930 hear Doncaster after having started in the Gold Coast of present day Ghana, in 1865. Now an appropriate ending will be written to Wharton’s story with his final chapter being written thanks to Shaun Campbell, a Darlington businessmen and Sheila Leeson a Rotherham grandmother.
A ceremony prior to Tuesday’s friendly between England and Ghana will be attended by the two and will celebrate the legacy of Wharton and him being the first black in professional world football.
Wharton came to England at aged 19 in 1884 the son of a Ghanaian princess and renowned half-Grenadian half-Scottish Methodist minister. Darlington FC proved to be impossible to resist even though he was supposed to study at Cleveland College to be a missionary.
He was spotted by Preston North End in his first season at Darlo as the fixture between the sticks and he joined the team from Lancashire the following year and helped them to their semi-berth in the FA Cup, football’s premier competition at the time in 1887.
He was much more than just a goalie, holding the world record for 100 years that he set in 1886 at Stamford Bridge at a first every 10 seconds flat and he set a record time for a bike race from Preston to Blackburn in 1887.