World Cup Stories, 1986 — The only Scottish World Cup winner
One of the most important people in Argentina’s football history probably never kicked a ball in his life. James Brown was a farm labourer from Scotland, in search of a new life. Along with his wife Mary and an infant son, he set sail from Leith in May 1825 on the SS Symmetry, in search of prosperity in Argentina. They arrived in Buenos Aires three months later, via a stop in the Canary Islands — and, in typical Scottish style, toasted their arrival with whisky and a round of Auld Lang Syne. Brown became a successful farmer, and his descendants would go on to make their mark in the annals of Argentina’s new favourite sport.
The ‘father of Argentinian football’ was another Scotsman, Alexander Watson Hutton. He arrived in the 1870s, in search of a warmer climate that would help him recover from tuberculosis. A decade later, the teacher had founded his own school, where he taught his pupils the Scottish way of playing football — quick passing combinations, in contrast to the kick-and-rush style prevalent in England at the time.
Watson’s Alumni team won the new Argentine League 10 times in 12 years. James Brown’s grandchildren formed the backbone of the team, and five of them (and a cousin) went on to play for Argentina at international level in the early 20th century. Jorge Brown was known as the Patriarch because he dominated the team and the opposition. Along with Juan Domingo Brown and Ernesto Brown, he formed a formidable familial defence to rival the Nevilles or the Da Silva twins.
The name Brown began to disappear from the teamsheets as the century progressed, replaced by homegrown talent. However, it would reappear in dramatic circumstances, 141 years after James Brown first set sail for Argentina.
Jose Luis Brown, a direct descendant of the farm labourer, played for his country 36 times, but only scored once. A headed goal opened the scoring against West Germany in the biggest game of all — the 1986 World Cup final, in front of 114,000 people at the Azteca in Mexico City. The German keeper Harald Schumacher misjudged a corner, letting it float over his head, and Brown rose at the back post to head into the empty net. Although Maradona stole the show during the tournament with his godlike goals against England and Belgium, 29-year-old Brown’s role in the centre of defence gave unfancied Argentina the stability they needed to reach the final.
He had stepped in late on, called up to replace Daniel Passarella, the team’s inspirational captain, who had been sidelined with stomach ulcers. “Because of problems, the coach had to fall back on me,” Brown said after his side’s 3–2 win. “Some argued I had no place on the team. The Argentine papers wrote badly about me. Today’s result is vengeance for me.”
Although he professed it the happiest day of his life, his face told a different story — it was contorted with pain. Four minutes into the second half, Brown collided with West German forward Norbert Eder and heard “a noise” as his right shoulder dislocated.
“I was in very intense pain,” he said afterwards. “I felt really bad, but I continued to play. It was better for the team to keep all the defensive players in, rather than lose one.” His manager Carlos Bilardo agreed: “We were ahead and we had confidence in him. I had no opportunity to change with 30 million Argentinians watching, and I had no one to replace him.”
Compelled to stay on the pitch, he cut a hole in his shirt, so he could hook his thumb through it to keep his arm in place and play on with his shoulder out of joint. A century after one Scotsman helped bring football to Argentina, the descendant of another had helped win it the World Cup — and in a style befitting a typical Scottish hardman.
This is the 13th in a series of World Cup Stories that were first published in Sport magazine in the run-up to the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
I’ll be re-posting one a week until the tournament — there’s also an ebook if you just can’t wait.
