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

LET'S HELP OUR ZIM NEIGHBOURS

 

Manwell would like to send basic foods in bulk to Manya, so she can package them into food parcels in Zimbabwe. It is cost effective to buy flour and other basic items in bulk. Call Manwell (063 885 5141) if you are able to help.

Journalist Linda Sparg | Sunday, 14 February 2021, 08:01
Let's help our Zim neighbours
These children must pay an adult to help them cross this flowing river to go to school in Zimbabwe.

MOSSEL BAY NEWS - After the Mossel Bay Advertiser published an article last week about a Zimbabwe woman looking for a pasta-making machine, a Stilbaai woman called her, offering help.

Nasper Manya, in Zimbabwe, wants to start a pasta business to provide employment and help raise money for hungry, disabled people in Zimbabwe.

The Stilbaai business woman, who herself has a pasta-making business, offered Manya a hand roller. She did not have a machine to spare.

Manya is extremely grateful for the help, nonetheless.

Many are going hungry in Zimbabwe. Disabled people have it hard. Very few have wheelchairs. Many people who do not have legs have to shuffle along on the ground because wheelchairs are so hard to come by.

Diapers for the disabled, sanitary pads, food and clothes are badly needed.

Nasper Manya assists the hungry and disabled in Zimbabwe.

Mossel Bay couple Manwell and Tina Mpofu, who come from Zimbabwe, are in contact with Manya constantly. The Mpofus are highly respected in the Zimbabwean community in Mossel Bay.

Manwell has contact with a transport business owner who regularly takes items to Zimbabwe on trucks.

If you have clothes to send to Zimbabwe, they will be most welcome. Manwell says: "It does not matter if they are old and have a hole or two. Zimbabweans have nothing and are grateful for anything they can get."

Manwell would like to send basic foods in bulk to Manya, so she can package them into food parcels in Zimbabwe. It is cost effective to buy flour and other basic items in bulk. Call Manwell (063 885 5141) if you are able to help.

You can also contact Manya (071 697 4706 or 077 675 8822) via WhatsApp, email her (nasper002@gmail.com) or connect with her on Facebook (Nasper Manya).

These holey, thatched structures are a primary school in Mwenezi, Masvingo, in Zimbabwe.

Roads in Zimbabwe are in disrepair.

'We bring you the latest Mossel Bay, Garden Route news'

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