The Watford FC handbook from the 1899-1900 season. Picture: Watford Museum The
Watford Observer has teamed up with Watford Museum and its curator Sarah Priestley to take a journey back to the town’s past through items or places of historical significance. We ve reached item 32 in a history of Watford 50 objects and it comes from the museum s extensive collection relating to Watford FC - a handbook for the 1899/1900 season which Sarah says is full of fascinating detail and particularly interesting to me for the entry it includes about John (also known as Jack) Cother. John and his brother Edwin, who also played for Watford, were of Indian heritage. They were the first players of colour to play for Watford, and the first South Asian professional footballers in the country. We think of Watford as a diverse town today, with many cultures and heritages adding to our community, but this handbook shows that diversity isn’t such a recent thing in Watford.