text: Professionalism In 1886 and 1887, the English club Bootle advertised for players in Scotland, as the Scotch Professors innovation of the modern passing game took hold in England. Several Scottish players were enticed to relocate by the offer:- Tom Veitch (Dumbarton), Campbell (Moffat), Frank Woods (Moffat), Robert Anderson (Dumbarton), Billy Hastings (Airdrieonians) among others. It was later found by a SFA committee investigating a Scottish player, Robert Calderwood, who returned north - he obtained a new job in Cowlairs offering 30 shillings per week, and subsequently turned out for Cowlairs F.C. - that he received a wage of 26 shillings per week from Bootle F.C.. The SFA found Calderwood guilty of professionalism and he was banned for two years, but they found that Cowlairs F.C. played the player unknowingly and they were merely ordered to replay a match against Third Lanark.
  Watson also signed for Merseyside club Bootle in 1887. Bootle offered wages and signing fees to a number of players, and research by Tony Onslow outlined in The Forgotten Rivals. A History of Bootle Football Club indicates that Watson was paid professionally. This means that Watson's professional career would predate the professional career of Arthur Wharton, who was previously considered to be the first black footballer to play professionally.