The Irish connection to Argentinian football
By Jack Kelly
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past month, one might assume that the vast majority of people are aware that Lionel Messi led Argentina to victory at the World Cup in Qatar in December. Millions of people around the world were fixed on their televisions for a whole month living in a state of constant awe at some of the performances by these Argentinians (the Saudi Arabia match aside, of course). Any pub in Ireland was evidence of this. Whether it was a piece of Messi magic, the heroic goalkeeping of Emiliano Martinez, the dynamism of Julian Alvarez or perhaps it was the industrious midfielder Alexis Mac Allister who caught the eye, the football world could not help themselves from getting behind the South Americans in blue and white.
However, as the nation of Ireland cheered for the Argentinians and simultaneously butchered pronunciations of their names. One name rolled off the tongue with ease to us: Alexis Mac Allister. The Brighton midfielder with a surname of almost guaranteed Celtic heritage. As if Messi’s hunt for the World Cup was not enough; the nation of Ireland now had an added impetus to support ‘La Albiceleste’. He almost became ‘one of our own’ and it did not take long before his lineage was traced to Donabate, County Antrim.
His cousin, Noel Mac Allister, was interviewed during the World Cup by RTÉ and explained the family's connection from Donabate to Argentina: ‘The Mac Allister’s are in this area since 1690, Joseph was the first to go to Argentina…in 1865.’
Noel also went on to explain how by a chance reading of a certain paper led to him realising that there was still Mac Allister’s in Argentina. "I got a call one morning from Frank Mc Allister a cousin of mine who's since died and he said did you get the Times? There's a photo from the Times. get it. And it was of Dick Spring, the minister of foreign affairs at the time, in the hurling club of Buenos Aires Argentina, with the President of the hurling club Dickie Mac Allister." Noel tells a story of how they sent a letter to the hurling club in Argentina's capital asking for some information. Much to their surprise, a return letter arrived from the club detailing the Mac Allister family's history all the way back to their time in Donabate.
Amazingly, the Irish connection to one of the most successful nations in the world does not end there. Alexis’ father, Carlos, was a professional footballer too and he represented the biggest team in Argentinian football: Boca Juniors.
Still the most successful team in Argentina, Boca Juniors boasts a rich history of having some of the best Argentinian players in history to have worn its colours. It is the club of Carlos Tevez, Juan Roman Riquelme, and none other than arguably the greatest footballer of all time: Diego Maradona. And right at the beginning of the club's illustrious past is an Irish man from Cashel, Co. Tipperary.
Paddy McCarthy was at the forefront of the establishment of Boca Juniors and without him the club itself may never have existed. Of course, an alternative would have inevitably been founded in what is such a football crazy city. However, Paddy McCarthy was the mentor to five Italian students in the La Boca district of Buenos Aires in April 1905 who subsequently formed one of the most recognisable football clubs in the world.
McCarthy arrived in Argentina from Cashel aged 29 in 1900 and was teaching PE by 1905. The five Italians who eventually created Boca Juniors were his students. A boxer in his past and an all-round sports fanatic, McCarthy became the club’s first coach. McCarthy was also given the title of ‘president’, which he held for seventeen years.
Interestingly, one theory that began to circulate was that the famous blue and yellow colours worn by Boca were derived from the colours of McCarthy’s native Tipperary. This is merely a happy coincidence as the club's colours were obtained from a Swedish ship sailing into the port of Buenos Aires in 1913.
It is fascinating to explore the life of this man who was so central to the formation of such an iconic football club. In his youth, McCarthy attended the Christian Brothers School in Cashel. Consistent with Ireland at this time, not much is known about his parents or what they did as the records do not exist. Like the Swedish ship mentioned above, McCarthy had the same landing in 1900 in Buenos Aires port.
McCarthy’s journey was not direct and was somewhat arduous. He first had to go to Southampton to sail to Lisbon then onto the Cape Verde Islands before arriving in Buenos Aires. The city’s population was rapidly rising during this time with population numbers growing from 180,000 to 660,000 between 1870 and 1900. Many Irish had settled in Argentina at this time due to the high availability of land in the country. There was also an Irish covenant in Buenos Aires from 1856 with many Irish having left from the midlands throughout the latter half of the nineteenth-century.
McCarthy was listed as a ‘crew member’ on the ship that sailed to Buenos Aires. It is reasonable to suggest that he worked on the boat in order to reach his destination. Upon his arrival, he worked on the port before he met Reverend Henry Brady who had set up a Seaman’s Mission. The pair set up a boxing festival in Buenos Aires.
By now McCarthy was teaching English in a local Commerce School, a school that had an Irish man as school principal, James Fitzsimons. McCarthy fitted in seamlessly in South America.
At this time, Buenos Aires was a relatively young city and organised football was also in its infancy. The game was introduced to Argentina by the travelling English and Scottish who were working there. Although Cashel was not soccer mad during this era, there remains a high likelihood that McCarthy would have played the game at some level. An excellent book by David Toms called Soccer in Munster provides evidence on how soccer was not simply a garrison game back then thus there remains the possibility that McCarthy could have played at some stage. He had enough of a grasp of the game to coach and played for several clubs while in Argentina- such as Central Athletic, Estudiantes and Lobos, which was set up by a few Irish immigrants.
The game was amateur during this time and turned professional in 1931. But amateur football was flourishing and in 1910 McCarthy set off to Brazil with Estudiantes for a tournament that eventually morphed into the Copa Libertadores (the modern day South American equivalent of the UEFA Champions League). In 1913, he stepped in as referee in what is now one of the most hostile, fiercely contested derbies on the planet: Boca Juniors against River Plate. A derby referred to as ‘Superclassico.’
McCarthy refereed soccer matches in Argentina for eighteen years and his time officiating matches overlapped with a period in which football and Argentinian culture became intertwined. This was the beginning of a passionate love affair that still exists today. Think of Argentina and immediately the blue and white colours of the national team spring to mind. One only needs to look back at the plethora of videos shared during the World Cup hero's welcome last month. The unforgettable scenes of millions of overjoyed Argentinian fans lined the streets to create a carnival atmosphere for the team as they undertook a fifty-mile open-bus trip around Buenos Aires tell you all you need to know about the importance of football in this South American country.
As for Paddy McCarthy, it is unknown whether he ever returned to Cashel or not but what is certain is the legendary status he lived out the rest of his life with. He became an icon and someone particularly important visitors were photographed with, namely the Duke of Kent and the former US president Theodore Rosevelt who gifted him a jacket with Y on it (for Yale University). Paddy McCarthy died in 1963 and was buried in Chacarita, but his grave has not yet been located.
From Paddy McCarthy to Alexis Mac Allister, it is astonishing to consider the effect our little island has had on one of the greatest footballing nations in the world.