Smart Arridge

Smart Arridge's parents were both English, his father was from Lincolnshire and his mother from Durham. Smart himself was born in Southwick (Sunderland).
The family moved to Bangor in north Wales and Smart, along with his brother* played for Bangor City. Smart played at left back.
In 1892 Smart joined Bootle ( then in Division 2). The following season he joined Everton, for whom he made 56 first team appearances up until his move to New Brighton Tower in 1898. In 3 seasons at Tower Arridge made 88 appearances and scored his only 2 League goals. In 1901 he moved on to Stockport County (67 appearances). in 1903 he returned to Bangor City (he was employed as a ticket collector on the pier).
Under the international qualification rules of the time Smart was only eligible to play for England (the Goodall brothers provide a good illustration of these rules in action). However, between 1892 and 1899 he played 8 internationals for Wales (w 1 d 2 l 5 ) , captaining the side on one occasion (a 4-0 defeat to England in 1899) .

* The Bangor City website confuses the 2 brothers, claiming 'Smart' as a nickname for W.G. Arridge. I have viewed Smart Arridge's baptismal record- Smart was his given name ( he also named his own son Smart). Census records show his brother, William, to be 4 years his senior.

Arthur Wharton

Arthur Wharton was born in The Gold Coast (Ghana). He was educated in London and then moved to Grenada in the West Indies. At the age of 17 he returned to England to train as a missionary teacher. However he soon abandoned this in favour of following a career in sport. He was an accomplished cricketer, cyclist and sprinter (a World record holder with 100 yards in 10 seconds in 1886).

Unusually for a sprinter, Wharton was primarily a goalkeeper, although he did also play on the wing.

He was on the books at Darlington and Preston North End as an amateur between 1885 and 1888. Though he never commanded a regular first team place he did play in the FA Cup semi final for Preston. After taking a break from football to focus on sprinting, he joined Rotherham Town as a professional in 1889. He became the first black/ mixed race player to play in the First Division when he was with Sheffield United in the 1894-95 season. After spells with Stalybridge Rovers (he also coached Rovers,signing Herbert Chapman in 1896) and  Ashton North End he ended his career with Stockport County.

During his playing career Wharton had also been a pub landlord. Sadly he died  a destitute alcoholic in 1930.