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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...

Lazarus Chakwera: Malawi's president who 'argued with God'

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By Damian Zane BBC News 29 June 2020 Share this with Facebook   Share this with Messenger   Share this with Twitter   Share this with Email   Share Image copyright REUTERS Image caption Lazarus Chakwera's political fortunes were revived by a court ruling that annulled last year's flawed election In the unmistakable cadence of a preacher, Malawi's new President, Lazarus Chakwera, appealed for unity in his country shortly after he was sworn in on Sunday. The day of the week seemed fitting as the former head of the Malawi Assemblies of God, one of the largest Christian denominations in the country, treated the stage like a pulpit to inspire fervour with his words. The country is fractured after a divisive 13 months following the disputed 2019 election, the result of which was cancelled by the courts. Speaking in a style and accent that had hints of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, President Chakwera talked about the drea...

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