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

Image
  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

Joe Biden stumbles as he boards Air Force One

 Saturday 20 March 2021 - 6:02am

US President Joe Biden trips as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. AFP/Eric Baradat

WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden on Friday lost his footing and tripped multiple times while walking up the steps to Air Force One.

The American leader (78) had proceeded swiftly about halfway up the airstairs to the presidential jet when he stumbled.

Holding on to the railing with his right hand, he attempted a quick recovery but tripped again, this time dropping to his knee.

Biden stood up, paused and brushed his left pant leg before he headed up to the top of the airstairs, turned and saluted, and then entered the aircraft.

READ: 'Takes one to know one' Putin mocks Biden over 'killer' comment

Air Force One took off shortly afterwards from outside the capital Washington for a flight to Atlanta, where Biden was to meet members of the Asian-American community which has been shocked by a series of shootings in massage parlors.

"He is doing fine. He is doing just great," deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters about Biden's stumble.

Biden, the oldest president ever to take office, made a point of hustling to his appearances while on the campaign trail.

Last year he was routinely seen jogging up steps to a stage or towards a podium.

Joe Biden just fell 3 times in a row trying to go up the stairs to Air Force One pic.twitter.com/gTUTckUH32

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 19, 2021
Source
AFP

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Inside Xanadu 2.0: Take a sneak peek into Bill and Melinda Gates’s Washington mansion

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

Are there any planets outside of our solar system?