The Scot who taught Argentina how to play the beautiful game
THE concept of “putting a kilt” on a story is one that all sports journalists here can relate to. Searching for a Scottish angle during major tournaments is a prerequisite of the job thanks to the lamentably frequent absence of our own national team from such events.
When it comes to slapping a splash of tartan on world champions Argentina though, the task is mercifully simple, and not just because they have a lad named Mac Allister in their midfield whose father – who also played alongside Diego Maradona for La Albiceleste – would look entirely at home staggering down a street in Mount Florida with a SeeYou- Jimmy hat on, an ill- fitting kilt, Timberland boots and a sausage supper under his arm.
You see, had it not been for a pioneering Scot from the Gorbals, the Argentinians might not have had a Lionel Messi or a Maradona to venerate at all.
Alexander Watson Hutton, inset, is widely acknowledged as the father of Argentinian football, at least in his adopted homeland, if not in the country of his birth.
Born at 29 Eglinton Street in June 1853, Watson Hutton went on to earn a philosophy degree from Edinburgh University, but it was his footballing philosophy that would have far- reaching consequences for both Argentina and ultimately, the football world.
In 1882, he set sail for South America as so many thousands of others did at the time. Two years later, he founded the Buenos Aires English High School ( BAEHS), which was a bilingual school that placed physical education at the heart of its curriculum. It was to prove fertile ground for the growth of football in the country.
Just a year later, Watson Hutton formed the Argentine Association Football League ( AAFL), and entered his own club comprising former pupils of the BAEHS into the league of five teams. School names were later forbidden in 1901, prompting a name change to Alumni Athletic Club, a team which became storied in the history of the Argentinian game.
Alumni Athletic Club would win 10 of the first 12 league championships, losing out just twice to fierce rivals Belgrano Athletic Club, but it was the traditionally Scottish style of play adopted by Watson Hutton that was the key to their appeal.
Scottish sides of the time were renowned for their high- energy game that was built upon the pillars of passing and teamwork, a philosophy that ultimately in turn made Alumni Athletic Club hugely popular among new fans of the sport in Argentina.
Just like Alexis Mac Allister more than a century down the line, Watson Hutton’s son, Arnoldo, would not don the dark blue of Scotland at international level. Alas, the free- scoring forward would instead represent the nation of his own birth, solidifying the family name among the royalty of Argentinian football.
Over time, the influence of Watson Hutton and the imprints of Scottish football on the Argentine game would fade. Alumni Athletic Club would be wound up amid financial difficulties in 1913, and from then on, the so- called “cinco grandes” would assume prominence – Boca Juniors, River Plate, Independiente, Racing Club, and San Lorenzo.
These clubs were also mostly born out of immigrant communities, and the game in Argentina became more and more Hispanicised, gradually assuming its own distinct identity. In 1936, just as the burgeoning professional era was getting underway and the game had become seeped into the nation’s soul, Watson Hutton passed away.
What he left behind, though, was a remarkable legacy that ultimately led to the celebratory scenes the world witnessed on Sunday night, both in the Lusail Stadium in Qatar as Messi was carried shoulder high with the World Cup held aloft, and in the thronging jubilance on the streets of Buenos Aires.