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

Thieves breach security at SA Air Force base

 


11 May 2021 - 15:21
Hoedspruit Air Force Base is the home of 19 Squadron. The air force Oryx, pictured, operates from this base. File photo.
Hoedspruit Air Force Base is the home of 19 Squadron. The air force Oryx, pictured, operates from this base. File photo.
Image: National Sea Rescue Institute

Thieves managed to breach security at a SA Air Force base and break into an office at the weekend.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hoedspruit Air Force Base, on the border of the Kruger National Park near Mozambique, is home to 19 Squadron, a helicopter unit.

SA National Defence Force (SANDF) spokesperson Brig-Gen Mafi Mgobozi confirmed the incident but did not provide details, other than to confirm the break-in occurred at the finance office at the base.

The break-in allegedly occurred on Sunday evening and an angle-grinder was used. Cash and other valuables were reportedly taken.

Hoedspruit is a modern fighter base, formerly known as “Fighter Town” when the Mirage F1 and Mirage III French fighter jets were based there. It is now home to A109 LUH and Oryx helicopters.

“The SANDF would like to reiterate that all or any acts of criminality will not be tolerated. Perpetrators will face the full might of the law,” said Mgobozi.

ADVERTISING

TimesLIVE has reached out to the police for more details about the break-in.

TimesLIVE  


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

Are there any planets outside of our solar system?

If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise?