The Scotch Professors

Alexander Watson Hutton

The Father of Argentine Football

Alexander Watson Hutton was born in Glasgow 10th June 1853. After matriculating from Edinburgh University in 1872 he worked briefly in Edinburgh schools as a teacher before emigrating to Argentina.

Apparently the Watson Huttons suffered from tubercolosis and Alexander needed a new life in a climate that wouldn’t kill him. Scotland’s loss was Argentina’s gain, for Hutton took a job at the Saint Andrew’s Scotch School and promptly started teaching the children how to play the old Scotch Professor game.

It is ironic that the game was introduced to help with the disciplining of the children. All it did was get Hutton in bother, because of the damage done to property in the breaking of school and church windows.

In 1883 Hutton left the school to found his own establishment: the Buenos Aires English High School. It remains to this day, although in a different part of the City.

Hutton wasn’t the only Scot spreading the word. The Browns had been in Argentina for many decades and were augmented by the craftsmen like Harley who had emigrated to help build and run the Docks and the Railways.

The Buenos Aires English High School

In 1891 Alec Lamont, headteacher of the Scotch School had inaugurated the brief League which was won by a team of Scots playing as Saint Andrews. Second was a team of Scottish dockworkers playing as the Old Caledonians. Hutton restarted the Argentine Association Football League in 1893. It changed its name in 1903 to the AFA. He became the Association’s first President and also worked as a referee.

His School was the first great team in South America. Past students known as the Alumni won the League ten times in twelve years: 1901-3, 1905-7 and 1909-11. The backbone of the Alumni team were the Browns. The backbone of the national team were the Alumni squad which included Hutton’s son Arnoldo Pencliffe Watson Hutton.

The Alumni are generally credited with introducing creative and scientific football to Argentina.

Watson Hutton died in Buenos Aires in 1936. He is buried in the British section of Chacarita Cemetery. The AFA Library is named in his honour.

Archie McLean

From Paisley to Sao Paulo

I wonder if J & P Coats realise the incredible influence they have had on the development of world football? Wherever they sent their workers to establish a foothold in a foreign land, the Scotch Professor passing and running game went too.

In 1912 Archie McLean: a Paisley machine mechanic was sent to Sao Paulo by his employers to work in their factory. He left behind a promising football career when in Scotland. He had played for the Ayr team that amalgamated with Parkhouse to form Ayr United as well as Galston and Johnstone. With Johnstone he had won the Consolation Cup in 1912.

Initially his appointment was only to be for a few months. In the end he stayed almost forty years. Johnstone actually retained him as a player under the impression he’d probably return for the 1913 season at the worst.

‘Football’ of a type had come to Brazil with Charles Miller who had been educated in Southampton. Ironically, although of Scottish blood Miller chose the dribbling game over the Scotch Professor style. When Archie arrived Miller’s style was swept away.

The Scottish Wanderers

The first thing any true Scotch Professor does is establish a team. The Scottish Wanderers wore blue shirts with a white lion for a crest and used mostly Scottish workers from Sao Paulo. They played in the Liga Paulista. Within a year McLean’s brilliant performances had caught the attention of the Brazilian public and he was picked for the Sao Paulo state team against Rio de Janeiro.

McLean played with the Sao Paulo Athletic Club (SPAC) Sport Club Americano and Sao Bento. As there was no national side Archie played what were called ‘internationals’ for the SPAC against foreign sides and even for a Foreigners IX. Archie played alongside Artur Friedenrich – the first great hero of Brazilian football.

John Harley

Poached from Argentina

From a century and a continent away, it is hard to imagine the influence that John Harley of Glasgow had on Uruguayan football. Like the Browns and the Huttons before him, John Harley [born 1886]moved to Buenos Aires: in his case to work as a draughtsman for the railways. He arrived in Argentina in 1906 and worked for the Ferrocarril de Bahía Blanca and later the Ferrocarril Rosario de Santa Ferailway company.

In 1908 the Uruguayan team Peñarol [then known as the Central United Railway Cricket Club FC]played two friendlies against Harley’s then team Ferrocarril Oeste. In that moment the Uruguayans saw the man they knew would change the course of their football. The legendary Piendebene ensured that Harley was persuaded to move to Montevideo and continue working there, whilst turning out for CURCC.

The age of the Scotch Professor was about to dawn on the north bank of the River Plate.

The Reformer of Uruguyan Football

With Harley in the team, Peñarol adopted his style of play. Piendebene had been influenced by Harley’s short, precise and elegant passing style, his ability to read an opponent’s pass and his skill at heading the ball. Harley made the centre half position his own and developed Uruguayan football with his position as the critical one on which the team was based.

It is confirmed by old timers that Harley made the English style in Montevideo look the dinosaur it was. Before Harley, Montevideans had had to suffer man marking and a ‘mobile attack’ with long passes to the forwards. Harley also introduced another characteristic of the Scottish game: the ‘forward fan’ in which the centre forward played ‘backwards’. One assumes this means linking with the centre half and spreading the ball to the wings.

In 1951 when Harley was 65, 45,000 fans honoured him before a Peñarol v Rampla Juniors game at the Centenario Stadium where the first World Cup was won by the host nation. He was named The Reformer of Uruguayan football.

The Brown Family

All the Way From Leith

On the 22 May 1825, the SS Symmetry left Leith Docks with 220 Scottish colonists bound for a new life in Argentina. Amongst that number were James Brown, a skilled farm servant and his wife Mary and their infant child.

The first successful British colony was established at Monte Grande in 1824. It was the reason for the colonists’ trip. Whatever impact the burgeoning Brown family might have had as pioneers in the new settlement, it is nothing compared to the influence they left on South American football. In concert with Alexander Watson Hutton of the Buenos Aires English High School the extended Brown family took a firm grip on the development of the early game. They ensured that Argentine football was brought up in the Scotch Professor way.

On the 12th June 1910 Argentina played Uruguay in the Copa Centenario: a competition encouraged by another Glaswegian – Sir Thomas Lipton of tea and groceries fame. In the Argentine side were three cousins from the Brown dynasty: Jorge Gibson, Juan Domingo and Ernesto Alejandro.

Backbone of the Nation

In that Centenario game Arnold Watson Hutton had opened the scoring with Eliseo Brown adding the second. In all, at least eight Browns played for the Alumni side or the national team. They included Alfredo C., Carlos, Patricio and Juancito.

Chief of them all was Jorge, known as The Patriarch because of his dominance of his team and the opposition. He played in defence alongside Juan Domingo and Ernesto. Ernesto was known as The Pacific because of his tranquil play on the field. He made his international debut at the tender age of 17.

It is hard to think of another country where one family had such a pivotal influence on the development of the game.

In 1986 when Argentina won the World Cup, a certain Jose Luis Brown scored the opening goal in the 3-2 victory over West Germany. The dynasty continues.

Ged O’Brien Former Director of Scottish Football Museum, Hampden Park