Willie Clarke (footballer)
![]() Clarke featured in the Taddy 'Prominent Footballers' cigarette card series in 1907 while playing for Bradford City | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | William Gibb Clark | ||
Date of birth | 3 March 1878 | ||
Place of birth | Mauchline, Scotland | ||
Date of death | 1949 (aged 70–71) | ||
Place of death | Tunbridge Wells, England | ||
Position(s) | Outside-right | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
–1896 | Kelburn | ||
1896–1897 | Crown Athletic | ||
1897–1900 | Third Lanark | 0 | (0) |
1898–1899 | → Arthurlie | ||
1899–1900 | → East Stirlingshire | ||
1900–1901 | Bristol Rovers | 20 | (3) |
1901–1905 | Aston Villa | 41 | (5) |
1905–1909 | Bradford City | 92 | (15) |
1909–1911 | Lincoln City | 35 | (1) |
1911–1912 | Croydon Common | ||
Total | 188 | (24) | |
International career | |||
1897 | Scotland Juniors | 1 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
William Gibb Clarke (3 March 1878 – 1949) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a winger. Clarke was the first Black professional footballer to score in the English Football League, while playing for Aston Villa in December 1901.[1] He was also the second Black player to represent Scotland, after Andrew Watson, by playing for the Scotland juniors side in 1897.
Early life, ancestry and early career
[edit]Born in Mauchline, East Ayrshire to Alexander and Jemima Clark in 1878, his father was born in Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana.[2][3] Born William Clark, he would be referred to as Willie Clarke after he moved to England later in his life. Records show that his grandfather Duncan Clark worked as a wood cutter and married a local woman named Cecilia Hutton, with their son Alexander being sent back to Scotland to boarding school.[2] Clarke's family moved to Glasgow in the 1890s when his father found work as an engine fitter.[2] In early 1900 William was listed as an upholsterer in Glasgow's Cathcart Street.[4]
Club career
[edit]Scotland
[edit]Clarke played for junior clubs Kelburn and Crown Athletic before Scottish Football League side Third Lanark signed him in 1897, some sources also suggest he played for Govan side Benburb.[5][6] He did not break into the first team there and was registered to non-League sides Arthurlie and East Stirlingshire between 1898 and 1900 while Third Lanark continued to hold his league registration.[7]
England
[edit]Clarke attracted interest of a Southern Football League side in 1899 but ultimately signed for East Stirlingshire instead.[8] The following year he did move to the Southern League, joining Bristol Rovers. In over a decade in the Southern Football League and Football League Divisions One and Two, Clarke played for Bristol Rovers, Aston Villa, Bradford City, and Lincoln City.[9][10][11] He later played for Croydon Common before retirement in 1912.[2]
In 1901, while playing for Aston Villa, Clarke became the first non-white player to score in the English First Division.[1][12][13]
International career
[edit]Clarke was called up to the Scotland juniors side in 1897. He played against Ireland in Belfast on 27 March 1897 and contributed to a 3–1 win.[5]
Later life and military service
[edit]Having retired from his football in 1912 Clarke served in World War I, being among the first to sign up in August 1914. Willie was initially a Private in the Middlesex Regiment, and later moved regiments to become a Sapper in the Royal Engineers.[14] He served in the theatre of war and was awarded the 1914 Star, Victory Medal and the British War Medal.[15] Following the war he moved to Tunbridge Wells in Kent and worked as an upholsterer, continuing the trade he had learned in Glasgow before his professional football career.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Dave Pendleton (6 July 2011). "Celebrating 106 Years of Black Footballers at Valley Parade". Boy From Brazil.
- ^ a b c d e Hern, B, & Gleave, D (August 2020). Football's Black Pioneers (1st ed.). Conker Editions. ISBN 978-1999900854. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ 1881 Scotland Census. Parish: Mauchline; ED: 1; Page: 4; Line: 17; Roll: cssct1881_193: Scotland. 1881 Scotland Census. Reels 1-338. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. 4 April 1881.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ "Local Notices". Motherwell Times. 27 April 1900. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
- ^ a b Mitchell, Andy. "Willie Clarke – Scotland's second black internationalist". Scottish Sport History. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- ^ John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Hemmens, Ian (2015). "The Dusky Flier". The City Gent. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- ^ "Athletic Notes". Falkirk Herald and Midland Counties Journal. British Newspaper Archive. 19 August 1899. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ^ "Profile". Aston Villa Player Database.
- ^ Frost, Terry (1988). Bradford City: A Complete Record 1903–1988. Breedon Books Sport. ISBN 0-907969-38-0.
- ^ Samuel, Richard (2 March 1907). "Liverpudliana". Cricket and Football Field. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ^ "Football's Black Pioneers on Radio Leeds". Football's Black Pioneers. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ^ Murray, Scott (September 2017). The Title: The Story of the First Division (1st ed.). Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781472936622.
- ^ Gleave, David (18 September 2020). "William Gibb Clarke – Football Pioneer and Soldier". Football's Black Pioneers. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
- ^ "Engineers Regiment: Roll of Individuals Entitled to the Victory Medal and British War Medal Granted Under Army Orders". Army Medals and Awards Roll for William G. Clarke (Regt. #:87338): 9840. 1919. Retrieved 10 September 2020.