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

“I Am Sorry,” Mandi Chimene Pleads With ED For Forgiveness

 “I Am Sorry,” Mandi Chimene Pleads With ED For Forgiveness

“I Am Sorry,” Mandi Chimene Pleads With ED For Forgiveness

 
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By Robert Tapfumaneyi


THE once outspoken former Manicaland Provincial Minister Mandi Chimene has pleaded with President Emmerson Mnangagwa to forgive her as she misses home.

Now in self-exile after fleeing Zimbabwe in November 2017 after Operation Restore Legacy that removed then-President, Robert Mugabe, from office, Chimene has not set foot in the country since then.

In July 2016, at a rally organised by a group of war veterans to show support to former First Lady Grace, the former minister insulted Mnangagwa accusing him of leading a faction to replace the late Mugabe.

However, Tuesday, Chimene said: “To have spent my girlhood fighting to be free, only to find myself 37 years later stranded airborne on my way from China simply because another senior Cadre has taken over power was beyond my expectation.”

“Without disclosing my whereabouts, I must declare Zimbabwe to be my only home and no other. We rubbed shoulders during the war, shared the same plate of a small meal, and trained each other to win the fight. It is not too late to shake hands and embrace.

“President  @edmnangagwa, I am sorry for everything. All I want is to be back home to rest. Let bygones be. What’s sad in my life is that people have gathered to judge me on mistakes, real or imagined and make conclusions on my contributions to this nation based on what happened prior to 2017 and Nov 2017 itself.

“Let God be the judge but I remain a Cde. I miss stepping my feet in Zimbabwe.

Chimene said she has been on a long sabbatical following Nov 2017.

“I have been this silent to heal. I am now ready to reload. I love you all Yours Truly, Daughter of the Soil.” Chimene is also the former Makoni South MP ex-chairperson of the Zimbabwe-China Friendship Association.

She and other former ministers including Saviour Kasukuwere, Jonathan Moyo, Ignatius Chombo, Walter Mzembi, and Patrick Zhuwao were expelled from the ruling party Zanu-PF in December 2017.

Kasukuwere Mzembi and Zhuwao fled in 2017 to neighbouring South Africa while Moyo is in self-exile in Kenya.

The Zimbabwe government has made repeated attempts to have the former ministers extradited to Zimbabwe on charges of abuse of office while in government, but the efforts have hit a brick wall.

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