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Andrew Watson: The 'most influential' black footballer for decades lost to history

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  By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen...

South Africa: Inside the football-mad township 'too dangerous' for scouts to visit

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South Africa: Inside the football-mad township 'too dangerous' for scouts to visit By James Cronin in Khayelitsha, South Africa BBC Sport From the section Football Share this page The Khayelitsha township is overlooked by the iconic Table Mountain Drive around Khayelitsha, one of South Africa's biggest and fastest-growing townships, and football is impossible to ignore. There are hundreds of teams, thousands of players and five dedicated local football associations. Makeshift goal frames stand amid the rolling debris-filled fields, with pitches of various shapes and sizes squeezed among the streets and settlements. As the school buses and work taxis return for the evening, countless players can be seen shuffling towards their matches and training sessions as the sun goes down. Football is thriving but, despite the foundation of a Fifa Football for Hope Centre during the 2010 World Cup, and initiatives from local top-flight team Cap...

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