DIVERSE STATUES

Why so few diverse statues? A Sheffield University study, which started in 2010 and continues each year, found that in the past five to 10 years, more BAME statues have been appearing across the UK. The Arthur Wharton statue was unveiled in 2014 at St George's Park, in tribute to the World's first black professional footballer.

Arthur Wharton (above and below) played for a number of English clubs between 1885 and 1902. Arthur “Kwame” Wharton was born in Jamestown, Ghana in 1865. In 1883, he moved to England to train as a missionary at Cleveland College, Darlington. It was there he began his amazing sporting careers, competing as a ‘gentleman amateur’, but soon abandoning this in favour of becoming a full-time athlete. Arthur became the first official fastest male, when he ran a record time of 10 seconds dead in the 100 yards (now meters) on the 3rd July 1886 at Stamford Bridge, London. His World Record would stand for over 30 years. According to the Arthur Wharton Foundation, he "refuted racist theories in a time of adversity and prejudice". Shaun Campbell was instrumental in putting the statue of Wharton at St George's Park, home of the Football Association's national football centre. He believes it is time for authorities to act to improve the representation of athletes from diverse backgrounds across the UK. He also later became a cycling champion,professional cricketer and a rugby player. In 1930, Arthur Wharton died penniless in the Springwell Sanatorium in Balby and was buried in an unmarked grave in Edlington Cemetery. In May 1997, Arthur’s grave was given a headstone after a campaign by anti-racism organisation Football Unites Racism Divides for recognition of his achievements. 

Jack Leslie would have been the first black person to play for England when he was picked for a friendly against Ireland in 1925 - yet it's believed he was dropped when selectors visited his club, Plymouth Argyle, and discovered he was black. A campaign has now raised more than £135,000 to celebrate Leslie's life by building a statue, which would be one of the few in the UK to stand in honour of a black sportsperson. 

This country has 240 statues of sports' people, but only 10 of those are from black and ethnic minority (BAME) backgrounds, according to data from Sheffield University. Football has the most with five, but tennis, golf and cricket - among others - don't have any sport statues from diverse backgrounds.

"When the statue subject is chosen, particularly within football, one of the main drivers for that is nostalgia," said Dr Chris Stride, of Sheffield University. "The majority of football statues tend to be erected around 20 to 30 years after a player has retired".

"Now that's important in terms of statues of black footballers, because there were very few black footballers in the UK before the early 1980s. So those players who played in the 80s are retiring around 1990, and we're now getting to the point when that era starts becoming part of the nostalgia zone. That's one reason that I think you're starting to see more pop up now."

Nine of the 10 black and ethnic minority sport statues in the UK have been erected in the past decade. One of the most prominent statues celebrating black footballers was unveiled in 2019 - featuring the trio of Laurie Cunningham, Cyrille Regis and Brendon Batson, who helped to make West Bromwich Albion one of England's top teams in the late 1970s.

"But we don't tend to celebrate players who would be considered barrier breakers," Stride added. He believes those players before the 1970s have not been honoured because of issues around "branding".

Stride explained: "Statues of footballers tend to be driven by the club's desire to brand the club through nostalgia, aiming to excite the fans and make them think back to the days when they were a child and went to the game."

Thierry Henry 2011 Football Emirates: Walter Tull 2017 Football Northampton Guildhall:  Laurie Cunningham 2017 Coronation Gardens Leyton: Laurie Cunningham, Brendon Batson, Cyrille Regis 2019 in one statute at New Square, West Bromwich. 

There are statues to Black athletes: Billy Boston & Martin Offiah (alongside Eric Ashton, Alex Murphy, & Gus Risman) - 2015 in Warwick. Boston also in Wigan: all Rugby League. Ade Adepitan 2012, wheelchair basketball, Woking Jubilee Sq.

According to the statues project, the UK has the highest number of football statues. In total, there are more than 700 around the world, in 70 different countries. However, very few statues are of women. "There wasn't a statue of a specific woman footballer, who was a woman professional or high level woman footballer, until about two years ago." said Stride.

Lily Parr was the first female footballer to be honoured with her own statue. The life-size sculpture of the trailblazing winger of the 1920s and 30s, who played for the Dick Kerr's Ladies team, was unveiled in 2019 at the National Football Museum in Manchester. In the UK, there are only four sport statues that celebrate women's success:

• Dorothy Round - Wimbledon Champion in the 1930s - Dudley
• Dame Mary Peters - Pentathlon Olympic champion, Munich 1972 - Belfast
• Lily Parr - Trailblazing star of women's football in 1920s and 1930s - Manchester
• Dame Kelly Holmes - 800m and 1500m Olympic champion, Athens 2004. 2012  at Tonbridge