Show celebrates first black professional footballer

Curators hope an exhibit linking the UK's first black professional footballer and his town's railway heritage will inspire a new generation.

The Arthur Wharton: He Changed The World exhibit at Hopetown Darlington tells the story of how he moved from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to north-east England in the 1880s and became one of the country's most successful athletes.

Founder of the Arthur Wharton Foundation, Shaun Campbell, said the exhibit would inspire pride in the town, highlighting how Wharton represented the "beginning of the black presence in sport, not just in this country, but globally".

Campbell said he had travelled the country to retrieve Wharton's trophies and bible for display.

Wharton moved to the UK to train as a missionary, but his athletic prowess led him to become a Darlington FC goalkeeper at the age of 19.

He went on to play for Preston North End, Rotherham Town and Sheffield United.

Campbell "went on a mission" to track down items such as the Cleveland Challenge Cup, which Wharton helped Darlington win in 1887.

Since there was no picture of the trophy in the Thirsk Falcons collection, he travelled to Northallerton to investigate.

"The second I walked in that room and looked at that glass cabinet, I recognised the cup almost intimately," he said.

"To get my hands on it was incredible."

The Challenge Cup will be displayed on 16 August, for one day only, he said.

Campbell said he had also tracked down The Prince Hassan Pacha Cup, which Wharton won in 1886, when he became known as the fastest man in Britain.

Names later engraved on the cup alongside Wharton's include modern-day athlete Linford Christie and Olympics hero Eric Liddell.

It is hoped the exhibition will reveal how Wharton's legacy helped shape modern sport, as well as how the railways played a part in "connecting communities, teams, and traditions".

Campbell said he wanted local people "to take pride": "Pride in their town - for celebrating Arthur; pride in themselves - for being here, and appreciating and understanding his story and how it relates to our children today.

"Imagine being Arthur in 1883, probably the only black or brown face in the area...

"I want anybody coming to appreciate exactly what Arthur had gone through."

The free exhibition is open until the end of August at Hopetown Darlington, and it is hoped the exhibits will eventually be put on show in Ghana.

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