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Who is Arthur Wharton and what did he do?
Who is Arthur Wharton and what did he do?
Arthur Wharton was the first black professional footballer in England!
He was born in Ghana in 1865 on the 28th of October. He then moved to England from Ghana in 1882 to become the first black footballer. His first team that he played for was Darlington.
Later on in life he started playing for England and Sheffield united.
In 1886 he then won the Amateur Athletics Association national 100 yards champion award at Stamford Bridge and was also the first Northerner to win it!
What was life like as the first black footballer?
What was life like as the first black footballer?
Sadly he faced extreme racism from his opponents, commentators and team mates because they sadly believed that football was a one race career which is 100% not true. He sadly also got bad chants made about him and got stuff thrown at him on the pitch because of his race.
What else did Arthur do?
What else did Arthur do?
He also was the first official fastest man in the world! He became the fastest man on the 3rd of July 1886 after winning the 100 yard world record which then stood for 30 years!
He also was a professional cricket player and rugby player. For cricket he played for Cannock and Darlington Cricket Club in the Yorkshire and Lancashire league.
For rugby he played for Darlington, Rotherham and Heckmondwike.
Facts about his life:
Facts about his life:
He went to Cleveland collage in Darlington
In 1890 he married a woman called Emma Lister
He had zero children
He died at the age of 65 due to cancer on the 13th of December 1930
Arthur Wharton is an inspiration and always will be.
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