Robert Walker (Third Lanark footballer)

Robert Walker was a Scottish footballer who was one of the first black players of the sport.[2] He played in the late 1870s for Parkgrove (alongside fellow black player Andrew Watson) and between 1875-1877 for Third Lanark (with whom he was a runner-up in the 1876 Scottish Cup Final).[3][1] He took part in two trials for the Scotland national football team (1876 and 1877),[4][5] but this did not lead to a full cap.[6]

Robert Walker

Youth career
—1875	Queen's Park[1]
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1875—1877	Third Lanark
1877—1878	Parkgrove
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

See also

• Andrew Watson (footballer, born 1856) - the first black person to play association football. Watson played for Maxwell, Parkgrove, and Queens Park before being capped for Scotland
• James Robertson (rugby union, born 1854) - the first black person to play rugby union. Robertson played for Royal HSFP and represented Edinburgh District in the 1870s.
• Willie Clarke (footballer) - the first black player to score in the English Football League, a Scottish footballer who played for Third Lanark in the late 1890s.

References

1. "Scotland's first black footballer: Robert Walker, the 'curly-haired son of Africa'". Scottish Sport History. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
2. Andrew Downie (15 February 2017). "Strathbungo's Sharpshooters: Third Lanark". Bygone Bungo. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
3. Richard McBrearty. "The world's earliest known black footballers". Show Racism the Red Card. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
4. International Trial Match., The Glasgow Herald, 21 February 1876
5. Football. | Matches Played On Saturday., The Glasgow Herald, 19 February 1877
6. John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)