Yet Wharton, the country's first black footballer more than 100 years ago, blazed a trail for every one of them, breaking down seemingly invincible boundaries, representing, encouraging and motivating black British people and paving the way for the scores of black footballers playing in the league today.
And Northampton will go down in history as playing a pivotal role in what was to change the nation's game forever.
In 1910, some 14 years after goalkeeper Wharton's debut for Preston North End, Cobblers signed Walter Tull, a mixed-race teenager from a Bethnal Green orphanage, from Spurs for a record fee.
Tull had made history as the UK's first black outfield player and enjoyed two dazzling seasons and obviously attracted considerable media interest. But it was to all end in tears when he was viciously racially abused at a match at Bristol City- a local paper described the vile taunts and chants as: "language lower than Billingsgate".
Soon after he arrived at Northampton Town, where he was to once again flourish. The team's star player, he made 110 first team appearances and settled in Rushden.
He was on the verge of signing for Glasgow Rangers in 1914 when war broke out. Son of a Barbados-born Methodist, Tull's Christian morals told him to sign up and he was soon off to fight with the Middlesex regiment, which contained several professional footballers.
The dignity and strength with which he confronted blatant and vicious racism on the pitch were to serve him well on the battlefield. He survived the slaughter of the first battle of the Somme and was praised for his bravery, making sergeant in 1916.
So respected was Tull, later that year he achieved the unachievable. He was sent to officer training in Scotland, something that was unprecedented and technically impossible since a 1914 military law stated 'Negroes' were forbidden from 'exercising command' and therefore could never become officers.
In 1917 as a 2nd lieutenant Tull led his battalion to the Italian front for the first battle of Piave. His leadership was praised in his regiment's dispatches home, describing his 'gallantry and coolness'. In 1918 he and his men returned to France for the second battle of the Somme, the end of the war was in sight but Tull never saw it, gunned down at the age of 29 in No Man's Land on March 25, 1918.
When he died his men braved machine-gun fire to retrieve the body of their much-admired officer.
Tull's commanding officer broke the news to his brother Edward, by now a successful dentist in Glasgow, in unusually emotional terms, remarking on "how popular he was throughout the battalion. He was brave and conscientious.......The battalion and company have lost a faithful officer, and personally I have lost a friend."
But though the obituaries for Tull were effusive, "an officer and a gentleman, every inch of him" said one - society at large did not consider the untimely death of a black, working-class orphan a loss worthy of permanent commemoration, and he passed from the public mind.
Until, after lobbying by Cobblers fan Sean O'Donovan prompted the club to organise a permanent memorial at Sixfields, with the backing of Northampton Borough Council.
He had heard Sir Trevor McDonald talk about Tull on the radio and encouraged Northampton Town to use his story to drive the anti-racism initiative it was planning.
Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh is said to be in talks with Tull's chief historian and actor Nicholas Bailey, best known as Dr Trueman in EastEnders, wants to be involved in a film of Tull's life.
Northampton Town was also involved in another landmark in the history of black players in this country. In 1938 the club bought John Parris, who later went on to play for Wales, becoming the first black footballer to play for a home international team.
The club has been praised for its anti-racism work and the memorial to Tull, with other clubs using its stance as a model for their own discrimination policies.
It seems hard to believe that nearly 80 years after Tull's debut promising young Watford player John Barnes would walk out to face monkey taunts and a hail of bananas. Exalted for his wonder goal for England against soccer giants Brazil in 1984, he was soon to be spat at, abused and humiliated by the same fans who had hailed him a hero.
Barnes says: "Racism is not only a problem in football, it's a problem in society. Until we tackle it in society, we can't tackle it in football. For example, there is a directive to eject people from the grounds if they are making racist chants, so they keep quiet for 90 minutes and then on Saturday night and for the rest of the week they're racist. In many respects it is a big problem in society and we have to tackle it."
The 1990s FA campaign, Let's Kick Racism Out of Football, showed the association wants to eliminate similar behaviour from the game but critics say it is not enough.
Twenty per cent of the country's 2,800 players are black yet black fans make up just one per cent of UK gates and the number of black managers and coaches can still be counted on two hands. As for Asian players, there is just one in the entire Premier League, British-born Sikh Harpal Singh of Leeds, and he is yet to make his debut. Currently on loan to third division Bury, Singh has the expectations of Asian football fans across the world on his shoulders.
Walter Tull may have blazed a trail for the Derek Asamoahs, Thierry Henrys and Harpal Singhs of today, who have experienced little racially motivated abuse in comparison, but 21st century players also owe respect to latter-day pioneers, the likes of Cyrille Regis, Viv Anderson, Garth Crooks, John Barnes, Lawrie Cunningham and Paul Ince, who each faced a hotbed of hatred as they ran out onto the pitch.
Black Flash is on BBC Four on Sunday at 7pm. For more information and to vote for your favourite black player of all time see the Black Flash website at www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour