There is a16ft statue of
the world's first black professional footballer, which will be unveiled at the
FA's national football centre in Burton today. Cast in bronze, it depicts goalkeeper Arthur
Wharton flinging himself backwards to tip a ball over the bar. Wharton was born Jamestown, Gold Coast (now
Accra, Ghana) in 1865 and played as an amateur for Darlington and Preston North
End, and professionally for Rotherham Town and Sheffield United Reputedly he was the first man in England to
run 100 yards in 10 seconds.
The story of how it got there involves Sepp Blatter, Stevie
Wonder, Rio Ferdinand and a 53-year-old Darlington artist called Shaun
Campbell. It all started seven years
ago in Middlesbrough Town Hall.
Campbell, a 53-year-old with English and Barbadian heritage,
was giving a speech in the town as part of Black History Month. He picked up a
brochure and read, for the first time, about Wharton - a Methodist missionary
who moved from the Gold Coast to Darlington in the 1880s.
Campbell went back to his art furniture shop and painted a
picture of Wharton. A customer saw it, asked Campbell who it was, and told the
local newspaper, the Northern Echo and the campaign was born. Campbell wanted a statue of Wharton in
Darlington, either at the football ground (Feethams or the newly-built arena)
or elsewhere in the town. But after gaining only a "measured amount of
support" he decided to take the campaign nationwide.
And that - in September 2008 - is where Stevie Wonder came
in.
"I was in Birmingham for a furniture trade fair,"
explains Campbell. "Along with my ticket, there was a flier for a Stevie
Wonder concert. I thought, 'I'll stay on, watch the concert, that will be
great'.
"Next thing you know, we're on stage in front of
thousands of people and Stevie Wonder is waxing lyrical about Darlington and
Arthur Wharton.
It was Wonder who suggested that Campbell broaden the
campaign to make it about education, as well as the statue. And so the Arthur
Wharton Foundation was born, with the aim of promoting racial harmony, equality
and diversity.
In 2009, UEFA donated £17,500 to the campaign and received,
in return, a maquette - a scaled-down version of the statue - which is still on
display in their headquarters. "UEFA were magnificent from the moment I
contacted them," says Campbell.
From there, the FA and FIFA also offered support, with
Campbell presenting the maquette to Sepp Blatter in Zurich in June 2012.
In the 1980s, a history lecturer called Ray Jenkins brought
the tale to a modern audience and, in
1998, the author Phil Vasili wrote a book called "The First Black
Footballer" about Wharton.
A year earlier, Wharton's unmarked grave in Edlington, South
Yorkshire, was given a headstone after a campaign by the charity Football
Unites Racism Divides (FURD).
But it was Campbell who took Wharton's story to the world,
persuading everyone from Rio Ferdinand to Andy Cole to Theo Walcott to pose
with a maquette and back the campaign. Patrons of the foundation include Viv
Anderson, George Boateng and Irvine Welsh.
Anderson - the first black player for the full England team
- first learned about Wharton through an exhibition at the National Football
Museum, then in Preston, in 2003.
"The campaign has been given legs by Shaun Campbell. If
it wasn't for his passion and drive it would be dead in the water. Wharton's
story has to be told." Another of
the foundation's patrons is Sheila Leeson, Wharton's granddaughter.
In October 2012, she travelled with the foundation to Ghana,
where two teams competed for the Arthur Wharton Memorial Cup. The group met
Wharton's Ghanaian descendants and went to his former school, Mfantsipim - the
former UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, is another alumnus.
But it isn't just football that has remembered Wharton's
achievements. In 2013, Campbell presented
a statue to Lamine Diack , president of the IAAF, at the Anniversary Games at
London's Olympic Stadium. Wharton was also commemorated at England Athletics'
Hall of Fame awards that year.
But it's the National Football Centre where Wharton will -
in the words of St George's Park chairman David Sheepshanks - "educate and
inspire a new generation of coaches and players from all backgrounds". The
erection of the statue will be accompanied by an educational package, supplied
by FURD.
Another statue has been approved at Rotherham United's
ground and Campbell will keep spreading the message. Only last week, he was in
Rome, giving a speech to Michel Platini and UEFA. The campaign has come a long way - in every
sense - from his art furniture shop in Darlington.
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