Former Darlington goalkeeper to be honoured

[Notts_Quaker]

Aurthur Wharton, the worlds first black pro footballer to be honoured with a 12ft statue



http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/8 ... _go_ahead/

[BUSHEAD]

.

[Big Tim]

it should be placed outside the stadium

[BishopQuaker]

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Show some pride FFS.

It's something for Darlo to celebrate.
Something that doesn't happen very often and that's the response?

No wonder this club is going to the dogs

[Darlo Fonz]

Yep should be put outside of the stadium

[mikkyx]

Outside the stadium works for me.

[1Superlidds]

Its the most obvious location but I guess it depends if the club have done anything to help with the cause, if not then somewhere near his personal spiritual home of Feethams would be most appropriate

[DarloOnTheUp]

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Show some pride FFS.

It's something for Darlo to celebrate.
Something that doesn't happen very often and that's the response?

No wonder this club is going to the dogs

To be fair, Bushead has previously admitted voting for the BNP before, so is obviously a complete and utter twat.

[grytters]

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Show some pride FFS.

It's something for Darlo to celebrate.
Something that doesn't happen very often and that's the response?

No wonder this club is going to the dogs

To be fair, Bushead has previously admitted voting for the BNP before, so is obviously a complete and utter t**t.

Oh. I think you're underestimating him.

[Mr_Tibbs]

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Not this story again? I remember there was quite a lively discussion about it over on Rivals.

[BUSHEAD]

I'd sooner see the FA spend money on upgrading sporting facilities than giving money to statues.

Could of been a Ron Greener / Liddle / Brian Little statue and i'd think the same - its got nothing to do with colour, as i'm not a racisit

[BUSHEAD]

.

[DarloOnTheUp]

To be fair, Bushead has previously admitted voting for the BNP before, so is obviously a complete and utter t**t.

By the way, please remove comments like this or i'll ask the admin for your details to take the matter further.

Take the matter further? What are you gonna do, send me a threatening e-mail? To be fair, I'm only going off what you said on here before:

I'm not ashamed to say i've voted BNP, and i'd vote for them again in a "Lab/Con/Lib Dem/BNP" vote.

I don't have any time for anyone who even considers voting for those scumbags, hence my completely valid comment about you.

[ShrewsX]

At the risk of being a racist and branded a BNP voter... this is my opinion...

A statue is a fine idea, I like it. But really, of all our past players... is Arthur Wharton the most deserving? Seems to me we are honouring a player purely because of his race... which is racist in itself perhaps?

An Arthur Wharton suite, or an Arthur Wharton Stand seems appropriate, both of which would be significantly cheaper to get a sign made. The guy deserves some commemoration, but a statue seems a little OTT.

That said, I'd struggle to name anyone else more deserving in our recent history?

[BishopQuaker]

At the risk of being a racist and branded a BNP voter... this is my opinion...

A statue is a fine idea, I like it. But really, of all our past players... is Arthur Wharton the most deserving? Seems to me we are honouring a player purely because of his race... which is racist in itself perhaps?

An Arthur Wharton suite, or an Arthur Wharton Stand seems appropriate, both of which would be significantly cheaper to get a sign made. The guy deserves some commemoration, but a statue seems a little OTT.

That said, I'd struggle to name anyone else more deserving in our recent history?

Interesting point.
Considering the amount of money it would save if we named as stand rather than a statue you might be on to something.

As a servant to the club Craig Liddle would probably deserve a statue, but then as he's still at the club that seems a bit OTT too!

[Darlo_H]

An Arthur Wharton suite, or an Arthur Wharton Stand seems appropriate, both of which would be significantly cheaper to get a sign made. The guy deserves some commemoration, but a statue seems a little OTT.

I don't really understand why we haven't named any of the stands (or even sold the naming rights) already.

I realise it's not exactly high on the clubs list of priorities but it's not like I'd take a massive amount of effort to do. Even if we can't raise a sponsor we could have a fan vote on the best name for a specific stand which would at least have the fans feel a little more involved with the goings on at the club.

[Hilly]

At the risk of being a racist and branded a BNP voter... this is my opinion...

A statue is a fine idea, I like it. But really, of all our past players... is Arthur Wharton the most deserving? Seems to me we are honouring a player purely because of his race... which is racist in itself perhaps?

An Arthur Wharton suite, or an Arthur Wharton Stand seems appropriate, both of which would be significantly cheaper to get a sign made. The guy deserves some commemoration, but a statue seems a little OTT.

That said, I'd struggle to name anyone else more deserving in our recent history?

Obviously quite far off the scale but would a statue of Martin Luther King be racist? Because that's what Arthur Wharton did but obviously on a very low scale i.e. made in-roads into allowing black people to play professional football.

I don't think any of our past players are really that deserving of a statue to be honest, by all means name bars, stands, suites etc... after them but, as I said on Twitter, a statue needs to be reserved for real game changers and Arthur Wharton was certainly that.

[BishopQuaker]

Is there actually a fund you can donate to to raise money for the statue or have they actually secured funding for it now?

[Mr_Tibbs]

Seems to me we are honouring a player purely because of his race... which is racist in itself perhaps?

They're making the statue because he was black - it's just the same as people saying "I'm not a racist", like they have to go out of their way to say it or prove it.

It's white people wanting to be seen as not being racist, by being overly anti-racist.

Very thought provoking site which nails all of that right on the head at my post earlier. The letters page is fun - some people just don't get it.

I'm not sure likening him to MLK is fair though - I don't know if he stood up on a soapbox and demanded to be allowed to play football - or maybe he did? If so then, yes, someone to honour, just like MLK and that woman on the bus.

[DarloOnTheUp]

Seems to me we are honouring a player purely because of his race... which is racist in itself perhaps?

They're making the statue because he was black - it's just the same as people saying "I'm not a racist", like they have to go out of their way to say it or prove it.

It's white people wanting to be seen as not being racist, by being overly anti-racist.

Very thought provoking site which nails all of that right on the head at my post earlier. The letters page is fun - some people just don't get it.

I'm not sure likening him to MLK is fair though - I don't know if he stood up on a soapbox and demanded to be allowed to play football - or maybe he did? If so then, yes, someone to honour, just like MLK and that woman on the bus.

I see what you're saying but the guy who has been pursuing this is apparently mixed race, which makes your argument fall flat on its face.

Also, give me an overly anti-racist to a full-blown racist any day of the week.

[ShrewsX]

Lets not forget that this bloke, was an amateur sprinter, and won records for his pace, and we played him IN GOAL!!!

Will that be on the pedestal?

Being serious though, I appreciate this blokes crusade to get him recognised, and Arthur Wharton deserves acknowledgement... But the statue seems a little much. Maybe appropriate in a 'History of Football' museum but his actual contribution to DFC is minimal. Apart from the colour of his skin, he'd have been one of many hundreds to have pulled on a darlo shirt that would have been forgotten.

A plaque on the stadium wall, a stand, or even a fullsize picture in the bar... fine. Statue though? seems a little much.

[1Superlidds]

The statue is not to honour his playing for Darlo, its to acknowledge that, at a time when colour was a big issue, he achieved something that up to then was considered unthinkable and made a careeer in the sporting world (not just football).

If it was simply to honour a former player then shrew would be right in that a suite or a stand would be more apt but it is nothing of the kind. The statue doesn't have to be located in Darlo but given he did play football here as a pro then its as appropriate as anywhere and why shouldn't our town have a bit of reflected glory in this initiative?
Anyway given I doubt anybody on here has contributed so much as a penny to the cause then really none of us have just cause to question its validity!!!

[ShrewsX]

The statue is not to honour his playing for Darlo, its to acknowledge that, at a time when colour was a big issue, he achieved something that up to then was considered unthinkable and made a careeer in the sporting world (not just football).

If it was simply to honour a former player then shrew would be right in that a suite or a stand would be more apt but it is nothing of the kind. The statue doesn't have to be located in Darlo but given he did play football here as a pro then its as appropriate as anywhere and why shouldn't our town have a bit of reflected glory in this initiative?
Anyway given I doubt anybody on here has contributed so much as a penny to the cause then really none of us have just cause to question its validity!!!

Very good point, very well made.

I still find it quite indicative of this club that we played a world champion sprinter in goal. Shows that long before the sagas of recent years, dfc were quite capable of missing oppurtunities

[A kick in the Jacobs]

Anyway given I doubt anybody on here has contributed so much as a penny to the cause then really none of us have just cause to question its validity!!!

Wrong.

If it's being placed in a public place, we could, personally, contribute nothing and still have very good validity to question it's validity.

Which is exactly what I've been saying on the main board.

[1Superlidds]

then its you that is wrong! you could perhaps question its location within a public area but you can't question the validity of it.
If individuals wanted to raise (and succeeded in raising) funds for something they genuinly believe to be a worthy cause then so long as its legal and not obscene who are we to question its validity?

[A kick in the Jacobs]

then its you that is wrong! you could perhaps question its location within a public area but you can't question the validity of it.
If individuals wanted to raise (and succeeded in raising) funds for something they genuinly believe to be a worthy cause then so long as its legal and not obscene who are we to question its validity?

No, I'm not wrong. If it's going to be in a public place, then I have every right to question the validity of putting it in a public place. Who the fuck are you to tell me that I don't have the right?

[DarloOnTheUp]

then its you that is wrong! you could perhaps question its location within a public area but you can't question the validity of it.
If individuals wanted to raise (and succeeded in raising) funds for something they genuinly believe to be a worthy cause then so long as its legal and not obscene who are we to question its validity?

No, I'm not wrong. If it's going to be in a public place, then I have every right to question the validity of putting it in a public place. Who the f*** are you to tell me that I don't have the right?

Why are you that bothered? I think you're taking it a bit too far.

[1Superlidds]

then its you that is wrong! you could perhaps question its location within a public area but you can't question the validity of it.
If individuals wanted to raise (and succeeded in raising) funds for something they genuinly believe to be a worthy cause then so long as its legal and not obscene who are we to question its validity?

No, I'm not wrong. If it's going to be in a public place, then I have every right to question the validity of putting it in a public place. Who the f*** are you to tell me that I don't have the right?

If you had taken the time to read my post you would see I even said if its being erected in a public location then you could question its location you could have saved making yerself look daft with such an uneccessarly aggressive post

[1Superlidds]

it was an initiative that had really passed me by without much concern either way...am actually more concerned by individuals that seem to be getting incensed by its mere existence. I can understand those individuals putting in so much hard work and effort and having the passion to see such a project brought to fruition but to have so much passion against it is a concern.

[A kick in the Jacobs]

then its you that is wrong! you could perhaps question its location within a public area but you can't question the validity of it.
If individuals wanted to raise (and succeeded in raising) funds for something they genuinly believe to be a worthy cause then so long as its legal and not obscene who are we to question its validity?

No, I'm not wrong. If it's going to be in a public place, then I have every right to question the validity of putting it in a public place. Who the f*** are you to tell me that I don't have the right?

If you had taken the time to read my post you would see I even said if its being erected in a public location then you could question its location you could have saved making yerself look daft with such an uneccessarly aggressive post

I did read all of your post and it was you opened a post with - "then it is you who is wrong".

You have no excuses.