[BITList] Great speed, sure kick

[John Feltham]

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Watson,  Andrew  (1856-1921), footballer, was born in Georgetown, British Guiana (later Guyana), on 24 May 1856, the illegitimate son of Peter Miller Watson (1805-1869), a sugar plantation manager, and Hannah Rose, a local woman. His Scottish father, who already had a daughter, Annetta, by the same mother, returned to Britain with both children and secured their future with a substantial legacy when he died, in London, in 1869.

Watson was educated as a boarder from 1866 at the Heath grammar school, Halifax, then from 1871 at King's College School, London. In 1875 he matriculated at Glasgow University, studying mathematics, natural philosophy, and civil engineering. He left after one year and in 1877 became a partner in a wholesale warehouse business in Glasgow called Watson, Miller, and Baird. He married, on 6 November 1877, Jessie Nimmo Armour (1860-1882), daughter of John Armour, cabinet-maker. He described himself on the birth certificates of their children, Rupert Andrew (b. 1878) and Agnes Maude (b. 1880), as 'railway shareholder', indicating his independent means.

Having played rugby football at school, Watson switched to the association game in Glasgow, initially with Maxwell Football Club, then with Parkgrove Football Club. He also participated regularly in local athletics meetings and won a number of prizes as a high-jumper. As a young black man, he might have expected to face discrimination but there is no contemporary evidence of racism on the part of fellow footballers or the football authorities, only praise and recognition for his sporting talent. He represented Glasgow against Sheffield in 1880, and was also due to take part in the first overseas tour by a Scottish team that summer, before the trip to Canada was cancelled because of the sudden death of the Scottish Football Association (FA) secretary, William Dick.

As a further indication of his acceptance by the establishment, on 6 April 1880 Watson was invited to become a member of Queen's Park Football Club, the dominant club in Scottish football. Within weeks he won his first trophy with his new team, the Glasgow Merchants' charity cup, and his blossoming reputation was captured in the Scottish FA's Annual for 1880-81, which described him as:

One of the very best backs we have; since joining Queen's Park has made rapid strides to the front as a player; has great speed and tackles splendidly; powerful and sure kick; well worthy of a place in any representative team.

Watson was a mainstay in defence as Queen's Park swept to victory in the Scottish cup and charity cup, and was held in such high regard that he was appointed captain of Scotland for his first international cap, against England. That match in London, on 12 March 1881, produced an astonishing 6-1 score in favour of the Scots, still a record away victory, and two days later he helped Scotland to defeat Wales 5-1. The only note of discord came in the Scottish cup final, in which Queen's Park beat Dumbarton 3-1 after a protested match because of crowd encroachment; there was considerable ill feeling between the sides and Watson was struck by an opponent, William MacKinnon, who was forced by the Scottish FA to apologize.

The following season was almost as impressive: Watson won another Scottish cup medal and was one of seven Queen's Park players in the national team that thrashed England 5-1 in Glasgow on 11 March 1882, his third and final cap. It would be well over a century before another black player played for Scotland.

Watson had been appointed secretary of Queen's Park in November 1881, becoming the first black football administrator, but it was a short tenure as the following summer he moved to London. He joined Swifts, a team of former public school men, and represented them in three FA cup campaigns, while retaining his membership of Queen's Park. As a gentleman amateur of the highest ability he was much in demand and turned out for other London clubs including Pilgrims, Brentwood, and London Caledonians. More notably Watson was invited to join the elite and exclusive Corinthians Football Club, with whom he took part in tours in 1883 and 1884, the latter including an 8-1 win over Blackburn Rovers, the FA cup holders. His regular returns to Glasgow included two more Scottish cup victories with Queen's Park in 1884 (when Vale of Leven refused to play the final) and the 3-1 defeat of Renton in 1886, which turned out to be his last match for the club.

As his football career wound down, Watson focused on his career as a marine engineer, and moved to the seaport of Liverpool, where he joined his last club, Bootle Football Club, in 1887. The club was investing heavily in new players and Watson was investigated by the FA on a charge of professionalism as he did not fulfil the residency requirements of the time; although exonerated, it is possible he was paid. He captained the team to the fifth round of the FA cup before his playing days ended abruptly through injury in March 1888, which prevented another success as Bootle won the Lancashire senior cup the following month, although he was photographed with the winning team.

Watson's record as the first black international footballer is all the more remarkable as, while there were numerous plaudits for his abilities, there were precious few comments on his colour. Alexander Steel, who had played against Watson while with Rangers, later wrote of the 'dusky features and tall, athletic appearance of the West Indian'  (Steel, 66) but virtually no other comments on his race have been found. His reputation was such that forty years after his career was over, the journalist James Catton named Watson in his best ever Scotland eleven  (Catton, 208).

Following the death of his first wife Watson married second, in Glasgow, on 10 February 1887, Eliza Kate Tyler (1861-1949), daughter of Joseph Tyler, East India merchant; they had two children, Henry Tyler (b. 1888) and Phyllis Kate (b. 1891). While the children from his first marriage remained in Glasgow with their grandparents, he settled with his second family in Liverpool. After retiring about 1910 Watson and his family moved to London and he died on 8 March 1921 at 88 Forest Road, Kew, Surrey, aged sixty-four. He was buried in Richmond cemetery on 11 March. He had by then disappeared from view and his death went unnoticed in the media. Because most commentators had focused on his ability rather than his race, Watson's significance as the first black international footballer went unrecognized until recent times, when his full life story was uncovered.

Andy Mitchell 

Sources  Scottish Football Association Annual (1880-81) + D. D. Bone, Scottish football reminiscences and sketches (1890) + 25 years of football (1896) + B. O. Corbett, Annals of the Corinthian football club (1906) + R. Robinson, History of the Queen's Park football club, 1867-1917 (1920) + J. A. H. Catton, Wickets and goals (1926) + 'Andrew Watson: Scotland's lost captain', BBC television documentary, 2003 + A. Mitchell, 'Fate of Scotland's first black footballer revealed', The Scotsman (20 March 2013) + matriculation records, 1875, U. Glas. + census returns, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 + priv. coll. + m. certs. + d. cert.
Likenesses  photographs, Scottish Football Museum, Glasgow [see illus.]




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