THE man behind the campaign to honour Arthur Wharton, the world’s first black professional footballer, has spoken of the “overwhelmingly positive” response after addressing some of the game’s leading figures.
Darlington businessman Shaun Campbell spoke at the Black List awards on Thursday evening at Wembley Stadium.
The audience included Garth Crooks, who took home the main award for his services to football, Sir Trevor Brooking, and Newcastle United manager Chris Hughton.
Mr Campbell told the audience about his campaign to erect a statue of Wharton in Darlington, where the Ghanaian goalkeeper played for three seasons from 1885.
Following Mr Campbell’s presentation, Mr Hughton said: “I am very pleased to support the work of the Arthur Wharton Foundation, indeed I was honoured to see the model of a statue of Arthur when we played a pre-season game at Darlington back in July. Arthur made his name in the North-East of England, and was a true pioneer of the game, a man of great dignity and deeds.”
The presentation also found favour with Onyekachi Wambu, of Score 4 Africa, a social enterprise established to celebrate the use of football as a positive force in Africa.
Mr Wambu said he was looking at ways the organisation could work with Mr Campbell’s Arthur Wharton Foundation.
“Shaun put across the story of Arthur Wharton very powerfully, especially in the context of England’s World Cup bid,” he said.
“It is a key part of English football and we need to celebrate it.
If you think of all the other black players who followed Arthur Wharton, why aren’t we celebrating it? Ruud Gullit, Patrick Viera, Pele, it all started with Arthur Wharton, and Shaun made us all think about that.”
Last night, Mr Campbell said: “I wanted to appeal for more to be done to celebrate someone who should have been celebrated a long time ago.
“Afterwards, people were coming up passing on their appreciation for what they had heard.
They wanted to be photographed with the statue.”
Mr Campbell has now set his sights on getting the campaign featured as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place in December.
To vote for Africa’s best ambassador in the Premier League, visit score4africa.org
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