Meet the 1st black man in football history, a man who would have also been the fastest in the world

For his work to feed schoolchildren during the Covid-19 pandemic, Marcus Rashford was knighted by Queen Elizabeth last year. The England and Manchester United forward received the Medal of Member of the Order of the British Empire.

“If he lived today, the same would happen to Arthur Wharton. He was ahead of his time in many things. Caring for the less fortunate and helping them with money was one of them”, says former full-back Viv Anderson. , two-time European champion with Nottingham Forest in 1979 and 1980.

Anderson is one of the patrons of the Arthur Wharton Foundation, created to preserve and promote the memory of the first black player in the history of professional football. At least that can be proven.

But that would be summarizing his accomplishments. He also played cricket and rugby. He would have run, according to the UK press at the end of the 19th century, the 100 meters in less than 11 seconds. The brand is not recognized.

The foundation was created on the initiative of entrepreneur Shaun Campbell. One of the goals was to commission the creation of a statue in honor of the goalkeeper at a location to be determined. It already exists today and is in St. George’s Park, the training ground for the England national team.

“A few years ago, Usain Bolt was a short-lived professional football player. So there are only two people in history who were the fastest men on the planet and played football: Usain and Arthur Wharton,” recalls Campbell.

Between 2018 and 2019, Bolt played for as a forward for Central Coast Mariners (AUS) and Stromsgodset IF (NOR). In total, he played four games. On the field, the career of his predecessor was much more relevant.

Arthur Wharton was born in Accra, Ghana, in 1865. At age 17, he moved to Darlington, England. As a goalkeeper for the team of the same name, he gained a reputation as an eccentric. He used to crouch beside the post while the ball did not approach his area. It was recognized as one of the best of the position in the country. In 1889, at Rotherham Town, he began to act as a professional.

When that happened, he distributed part of his salary so that poor families in South Yorkshire, where the club was located, could eat.

Wharton played for Preston North End in 1887 and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup, the oldest team tournament on the planet and, at the time, the most important. The following year, he decided to take a break from his football career and focus on athletics.

He missed his chance to be part of Preston’s squad, the first to win the national league and cup in the same season, that of 1889.

Instead, he would have gotten another feat. At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea’s stadium, he would have run the 100 meters in less than 11 seconds (some publications said 10 seconds stuck). The registration is not recognized by World Athletics. For the entity, the first record of the race is the American Donald Lippincott, who scored 10.60 in 1912.

The goalkeeper played for Sheffield United in 1894 and made just three appearances. But one of them, against Sunderland, was in the first division, which gave him another mark: the first black to play in an elite tournament match in world football, with a proven record.

At the initiative of Campbell and the foundation, a mural was painted in his honor in Darlington. When England were beaten on penalties by Italy in last year’s Euro Cup final, the image was vandalized with racist messages soon erased by volunteers.

The selection had lost after three missed free kicks by black players: Rashford, Sancho and Saka.

“The foundation’s work is also to promote the culture of diversity and fight against racism. Arthur’s history and image inspire this”, adds Anderson, who is also a name in history. Before him, no black player had worn the England shirt.