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Andrew Watson (born May 1857, Demerara, British
Guiana; died in Sydney, Australia, date unknown)
was the world's first black international Football
(soccer)|football player, capped three times for
Scotland national football team|Scotland between
1881 and 1882 and considered as one of the top ten
most important players of the 19th century. 

He was the son of a wealthy Scotland|Scottish
sugar planter Peter Miller and a local girl Rose
Watson. At the age of 14, he was schooled at the
exclusive King's College London, where school
records show he excelled at sports including
football. He later studied philosophy, mathematics
and engineering at University of Glasgow when he
was 19, where his natural love of football
blossomed.

After first playing for Maxwell F.C., in 1876 he
signed for local side Parkgrove F.C. where he was
additionally their match secretary, making Watson
football's first black administrator. After
marrying in Glasgow, he soon signed for Queen's
Park F.C. – then United Kingdom|Britain's
biggest football team – and later became
their secretary. He led the team to several
Scottish Cup wins, thus becoming the first black
player to win a major competition.

Soon Watson won three international caps for
Scotland including captaining them to 6-1 victory
against England national football team|England in
1881, making him the world's first black
international captain.

In 1882, he was the first black player to play in
the FA Cup when he turned out for London Swifts
F.C.. In 1884 he was the first foreign player to
be invited to join the most exclusive of football
teams, a team that only allowed only 50 members of
high elite to join – Corinthians F.C.
– created to challenge the supremacy of
Queen's Park and the Scottish national side.

It had been maintained that the first black
footballer was Arthur Wharton, until it was only
recently noted that Watson pre-dates him by 11
years. One reasons is that when historians
consider black footballers, they tend to
concentrate on professionals and not amateurs such
as Watson. Another is that there are no known
written records or match reports that mention the
colour of Watson's skin. One match report is more
interested in that Watson played in unusual brown
boots rather than the customary black boots of
that time.

The colour of his skin was of no significance to
his peers and there is no historical record of
racism on the part of the Scottish Football
Association. As written in the minutes, before one
match where Watson was injured and unable to play,
an SFA vice-president said if Watson had been fit
he would have happily drugged a fellow Scottish
international to give Watson his place.

Watson's entry in the Scottish Football
Association Annual of 1880-81 in Scottish
football|1880-81 reads as follows:
:"Watson, Andrew: 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."

There is almost no record of his later life;
however, it is known that Watson later emigrated
to Australia, as he died in Sydney and is buried
there.

==International Appearances==

March 12 1881 - Kennington Oval, London,
England

England 1-6 Scotland 
  	
March 14 1881 - Acton Park, Wrexham, Wales

Wales 1-5 Scotland

March 11 1882 - Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Scotland 5-1 England 

==References==
*
http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/andrew_wa
tson.html 100 Great Black Britons profile
*
http://worldsoccer.about.com/cs/soccerlegends/a/aw
atson.htm The World's First Great Black Soccer
Player