Darlington FC

Black players in football are commonplace in the modern era, but once upon a time it wasn't that way.

Even before the likes of Albert Johannsen, Clyde Best and Viv Anderson, one man was trailblazing a path which has helped everyone from Ian Wright to Sol Campbell make an impact on our national game.

Arthur Wharton was his name, and his goalkeeping talents were to take him to a string of clubs, including Darlington during his career.

Beginnings

Wharton was born in Ghana to well-to-do parents in 1865, just three years after the oldest Football League club Notts County were formed.

He came to England to study, but finding that his athletic talents were much more interesting, became involved in sport.

Having moved to the Durham area in the 1880s, Wharton was destroying the opposition in sprint races, notably in a Amateur Athletics Association National 100yd Sprint at Stamford Bridge.

The sight of this powerful, quick black runner was something of a novelty, but his talents were anything but a gimmick.

Darlo

Living in the North-East, Darlington were the first club to take an interest in him, and plucked him to play as an amateur.

Wharton used his athleticism to good effect, making the club's goalkeeping jersey his own, but it was only a matter of time before bigger clubs came calling - and at the time Preston North End were as big as Manchester United or Arsenal are today.

'The Invincibles' as they were soon to become, signed Wharton on a semi-professional contract and snatched the Ghanaian across the Pennines.

Decline

Preston provided a major platform for Wharton's talents, as the Lillywhites made headway in the FA Cup, beating Hyde 26-0 in the First Round and setting a first-class record.

Wharton managed to combine his football with his other sports such as cycling and running, continuing to impress in those disciplines.

His short spell with Preston came to an end where he moved to South Yorkshire to play for both Rotherham - where he turned professional - and Sheffield United.

At the latter he found first-team opportunities difficult to come by but did make a couple of appearances and thus became the first black player to take place in the top flight.

After that Wharton trickled from club-to-club in the north-west area, but his career never again scaled the heights it had at Preston or Darlington.

Tragedy

Sadly for all Wharton's talents, he was unable to hold down a successful career after he hung up his boots, and fell into drinking problems and after working in a South Yorkshire colliery, he passed away in 1930.

It took another 67 years before his achievements were truly recognised, when a Football Unites, Racism Divides study into history at Sheffield United ensured that his grave was given a headstone and that awareness of his past were documented in a book.

Arthur Wharton, along with the Scottish international amateur Andrew Watson who supercedes him, played a vital role in establishing black footballers in the modern game.