A wee bit of Shire history regarding a former player Archie McLean Brazillian Internationalist courtesy of Duncan Carmichael the official Ayr United Historian. Duncan has a massive knowledge of Scottish Football History and author of many books regarding his beloved Ayr United. A proper gentleman and a pleasure to talk to regarding all Football matters. Thank you Duncan!

Brazil – the Somerset Park connections

Archie McLean was an outside-right whom Ayr FC signed from Glasgow Perthshire in the summer of 1908. Before Perthshire his club was Arthurlie. His Ayr FC debut was in a 4-0 defeat in the Second Division. That was against Raith Rovers at Stark’s Park on 29th August, 1908. He remained with Ayr FC for two seasons and his eventual record was:

League Scottish Cup Qualifying Cup

1908-09 19 apps 6 goals 1 app no goals 5 apps 1 goal

1909-10 21 apps 6 goals 2 apps no goals 5 apps 2 goals

Totals 40 apps 12 goals 3 apps no goals 10 apps 3 goals

He departed Ayr FC just prior to the amalgamation with Parkhouse to form Ayr United. In season 1910/11 he played for Galston and by 1911/12 his club was Johnstone (not to be confused with St.Johnstone). He was a native of Paisley and he worked as a mechanic for J & P Coats. In 1912 his firm sent him to Brazil and while there he resumed his football career. He played for Scottish Wanderers, a team comprised exclusively of employees of J & P Coats. In Sao Paulo he gained a reputation as an inside-forward and played for several clubs as well as representing the state. The Brazilians called him ‘Veadinho’ which meant ‘Little Deer’. This was somewhat more flamboyant than his Somerset Park title of ‘Airchie’. He played for Brazil in international matches against Chile and Argentina. It was 1949 before he returned to Scotland and he died in his native Paisley at the age of eighty-four in 1971.

In August 1996 I received a letter from an Aidan Hamilton who stayed in Taunton. He was researching a book which was published under the name of ‘An Entirely Different Game’. It charted the British influence of football in Brazil. I (DC) supplied Mr Hamilton with details of the Ayr connection and he gave me information on the Brazilian connection therefore the source is impeccable.

In later years my research led me to another player who had been a regular at Somerset Park before influencing the game in Brazil. It is a pity that I did not have the information when Mr Hamilton was researching his book. Jock Hamilton was a native of Ayr who became the first professional football coach in Brazil. He was one of two Hamiltons to have played in the Ayr FC team of 1893/94. Jock was a left-half whilst Edward Hamilton, known as Ned in his close circle, was a left-back. From the summer of 1894 distinction between the two was no longer necessary. Jock not only departed Somerset Park, he quit his home town altogether to sign for Wolverhampton Wanderers. A series of moves took him to Loughborough, Leicester Fosse, Watford then Fulham. While still a Fulham player he began to dabble in coaching. Then, in 1907, he became the first professional football coach in Brazil when he joined Club Atletico Paulistano. Through Jock’s success the concept of coaching caught on and flourished in that country. So too did his belief in passing the ball rather than the old idea that players should run with it until being dispossessed. There are numerous examples of the Brazilians employing this philosophy to glorious effect. Chief amongst those examples has to be their World Cup winning team of 1970. Let it be recorded that the seeds were sown by a man who first experienced senior football as a player at Somerset Park