Doncaster's Arthur Wharton, world's first black pro footballer, honoured with blue plaque

Arthur Wharton, who is buried in Edlington, was given the honour at Rotherham’s Clifton Lane ground where his team Rotherham Town played.

He signed full-time for the club in 1889, six years after moving to England from Ghana and the memorial was unveiled by Ken Monkou, a former Chelsea and Southampton Premier League player and also an ambassador for the organisation Give Racism The Red Card.

Born in the Gold Coast, now known as Ghana, in 1865, to wealthy parents, Arthur moved to the north-east of England in 1883, aged 18, so he could receive an English education.

His footballing career started at Darlington FC, with spells at clubs including Preston North End, Sheffield United, Rotherham Town and Stockport County.

In 1886 he became the Amateur Athletics Association national 100 yards champion and a year later he set a record time for cycling between Preston and Blackburn.

Despite being a professional player, Arthur needed to supplement his income by running two Rotherham pubs, the Albert Tavern and the Plough Inn in Masbrough.

When his playing days ended he became a miner at Edlington Colliery.

He retired from football in 1902 and died in 1930. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Edlington until the Arthur Wharton Foundation provided a headstone in 1997.

In 2003 Wharton was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of the impact he made on the game and in 2014, a statue honouring Wharton was unveiled at St George's Park National Football Centre.