Skip to main content

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

Manchester United striker Edinson Cavani returns home ahead of new season


Uruguayan forward Cavani is raring to go ahead of the new Premier League campaign.

Edinson Cavani is back in Manchester

Edinson Cavani has returned 'home' to Manchester ahead of the new season.

Manchester United will get their Premier League campaign under way on Saturday as they take on bitter rivals Leeds United at Old Trafford.

Preparations for the season have been far from ideal for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, with several members of his squad being unavailable for large chunks — as they were given extended holidays following participation in the summer's international tournaments.

Cavani is one of them, after starting all five of Uruguay's games in their run to the Copa America quarter-finals, playing the full 90 minutes in four of them, scoring twice.

As a result, and following the birth of his new child, the veteran striker was handed an even longer break and has only just returned to base in the Manchester area.

Cavani posted a photograph on Twitter on Thursday night with himself and his family in the garden of his home, accompanied with the caption: "Back at home, this year we'll be 4 for this new adventure."

It's not yet clear if the 34-year-old has only just arrived back from Uruguay or not, or whether he will have to undergo a period of isolation, with the South American country currently on the UK's red travel list.

Government rules for people entering the UK from a red list country state they must 'quarantine for 10 full days in a managed quarantine hotel' and take two Covid-19 tests.

Even if Cavani has already completed his quarantine period, it's highly unlikely that he will be involved against Leeds — but he has been keeping his fitness up by working out in the gym.

Sign up to our United newsletter so you never miss an update from Old Trafford this s eason.

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?