Andrew Watson Plaque Unveiling: Wednesday,
The Andrew Watson Plaque at Crossley Heath School was unveiled by Viv Anderson MBE on Wednesday, in the presence of guest speakers, pupils and staff of Crossley Heath School.
Mark Metcalfe, journalist and campaigner, spoke about his work identifying suitable plaques for the PFA; he had heard about Andrew Watson and he thought this would be a nice idea. He thanked the school and Becky for organising the event.
He welcomed Viv Anderson whom he had seen standing up to abuse at St James’s Park during a match between Nottingham Forest and Newcastle when Brian Clough was the Nottingham Forest manager. This had encouraged him to get involved in getting rid of the National Front at Sunderland.
Dean Jones, headteacher, welcomed people and pointed out that the choice of Andrew Watson to captain Scotland on his debut in an international match in 1881 was an example of someone breaking through barriers.
Cllr Colin Hutchinson reminded people that schools, like Forest School, Snaresbrook, had had a major influence on the development of football around the time that Andrew Watson had been at Heath and that it was important too to recognise the impact of slavery and its consequences.
Virginia Lloyd DL, Deputy Lieutenant and High Sheriff, said that this was a special day and that the examples of Viv Anderson and Andrew Watson should enlighten future generations.
Chris Millington, Halifax Town manager, stressed the importance of what goes on behind the schools.
Bill Hern, co-author of Football’s Black Pioneers, spoke of his work identifying all the black pioneers in football.
Llew Walker, mentioned his book A Straggling Life Andrew Watson, noting that this is the first dedicated memorial to Andrew Watson. He picked out an incident from Andrew’s life when he had been playing for Pilgrims in a game against Charterhouse School which they won 2–1. Andrew Watson was the first black footballer they had ever seen on the Charterhouse playing fields and they had never seen a full back playing like that. At the end of the game, the boys ran onto the pitch and hoisted Andrew Watson onto their shoulders.
Brian Moore, former pupil and rugby star, reminded people of the saying that, ‘Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.’ We need to understand the importance of Andrew Watson and also of what it means to come from a disadvantaged background.
Ibrahim Hussain, pupil, spoke of what they had learned over the past two days from the speakers who had visited the school while
Grace Sheard, pupil, spoke of how it had encouraged her to break barriers through playing football.
Richard McBrearty, from the Scottish Football Museum, said that it was important to recognise what Halifax had given to Andrew Watson and how it had enabled him to stand up to any abuse he received.
Finally, Viv Anderson MBE spoke of his pleasure at being involved in the unveiling of the plaque.
