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

Giant sinkholes leave roads disfigured in Gauteng and Western Cape

 10 May 2021 - 13:56

A metro police officer demonstrates the severity of the damage to the road in Soweto. Both lanes have been closed and motorists are using the Rea Vaya lane.
A metro police officer demonstrates the severity of the damage to the road in Soweto. Both lanes have been closed and motorists are using the Rea Vaya lane.
Image: Twitter: Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD)

Collapsing infrastructure and heavy downpours have led to the closure of two major roads in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

The Johannesburg Roads Agency has announced the closure of a section of Klipspruit Valley Road in Soweto due to a sinkhole.

The agency said in a statement that stormwater infrastructure had collapsed, causing the road to cave in. Two lanes were affected.

“Plans to repair the stormwater and road infrastructure are under way and further developments will be communicated in due course,” it said, adding that traffic had been diverted to the Rea Vaya Bus lane. 

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Motorists in Johannesburg have also reported a sinkhole on the M1 north just after Booysens but the road has not been closed yet.

Some roads were washed away after heavy downpours lashed parts of the Western Cape last week.

The rain saw some residents being evacuated from their homes. The road linking Robertson to Bonnievale collapsed in the Langeberg municipal area.

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