John Walker (20 June 1876 – 1 August 1900) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

whose position was

outside left In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He was possibly the first

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

player to play in both the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

and the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, featuring for

Leith Athletic Leith Athletic Football Club is a association football, football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. They compete in the East of Scotland Football League, First Division. First team matches are played at Meadowbank Stadium. Th ...

and Heart of Midlothian for brief spells in his home country, followed by another short period with Lincoln City in England before returning due to ill health.

Career

Born in

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

, Walker began his playing career with local

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

team Leith Primrose, moving on to second-tier SFL club

in March 1898. Record of pre-war Scottish League Players John Litster / Scottish Football Historian magazine, October 2012 His performances at the end of the 1897–98 season and the outset of 1898–99 drew the attention of Heart of Midlothian, and he signed for the Tynecastle club in October 1898 for a fee quoted as £50 or £80. He made six Division One appearances for Hearts and featured in an

East of Scotland Shield The East of Scotland Shield is a Scottish football trophy awarded by the East of Scotland Football Association. The only older cup competition in Scottish football is the Scottish Cup. The tournament is the third-oldest in world football st ...

win over local rivals

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

, but his overall form did not impress the hierarchy and he was allowed to leave the club at the end of the season. Walker joined Lincoln City of the English

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

for the 1899–1900 season and made six league appearances for the ''Imps'' during the first half of the campaign before being released in January 1900 returning home to Scotland in a poor state of health and dying around six months later.

Personal life

According to the 1881 census, Walker's mother Sarah was born in Leith (one of Scotland's main ports), and his father, also named John, was a dock worker born in "India, West" with mention of "Spain" (presumed to be the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, possibly

Port of Spain Port of Spain ( ; Trinidadian and Tobagonian English, Trinidadian English: ''Port ah Spain'' ) is the capital and chief port of Trinidad and Tobago. With a municipal population of 49,867 (2017), an urban population of 81,142 and a transient dail ...

in Trinidad or a Spanish colony such as Cuba). During his playing career, he was often referred to by the nickname 'Darkie', although this term did not have the same weight as an insult as in later times. He died of consumption (

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

) in August 1900, aged 24. Walker was not the first black footballer, being preceded by the likes of Robert Walker (no relation), Andrew Watson, and

Arthur Wharton Arthur Wharton (28 October 1865 – 12 December 1930) was a British footballer. He is widely considered to be the first black professional footballer in the world. Though not the first black player outright – the amateurs Robert Walker, of Q ...

, but he was among the first to play in the Scottish Football League, and to appear for league clubs in both Scotland and England – alongside his contemporary Willie Clarke.

References

External links

Hearts player profile
at ''London Hearts'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, John 1876 births 1900 deaths Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Leith Black British sportsmen Men's association football wingers Leith Athletic F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Scotland British people of West Indian descent