PAUL ARMSTRONG suggests Arthur Wharton may have been beaten to the distinction by a Scottish international playing for Bootle…

PAUL ARMSTRONG
FOOTBALL HISTORY

Arthur Wharton.

IT IS widely believed that when Arthur Wharton signed for Rotherham Town in 1889, he became Britain’s first ‘black’ professional footballer, and when he turned out for Sheffield United against Sunderland in the 1894/95 season, the first to play in the First Division (though Wharton was not actually black but of mixedheritage).
Having developed a drink problem, Wharton retired from football i...