Sir Sean Connery to create Scottish football legend television documentary for 2007

He was more familiar with Ayr beach than the Copacabana but Archie McLean is credited with being the “father of Brazilian football”.

Now the incredible story of the Scots engineer who helped to introduce the beautiful game to the South American country and became one of the original “Samba stars”, is to be told in a television documentary by Sir Sean Connery - reports Times Online (UK).

McLean, who worked for the Paisley-based textiles firm J&P Coates, was transferred to Sao Paulo when it opened a mill there in 1907. He founded the Scottish Wanderers, one of the most popular and successful teams in the country’s Paulista League. He intended to stay for three months but remained there for 40 years, helping to popularise the game.

Nicknamed “O Viadinho” — the Little Deer — because of his pace, he is remembered as one of the pioneers of Brazil’s passing style of play. He appeared as a guest of honour at Sao Paulo’s main stadium during a return trip in 1966 and his nickname was given to a street in the city.

Connery, a keen amateur player who turned down the chance to join Manchester United, became fascinated by McLean’s story while working on a series that will explore Scottish culture with Murray Grigor, the independent film-maker. “It was the story of Archie McLean that appealed to Sean straight away,” said Grigor, a former director of the Edinburgh Film Festival.

“He had never heard of him, but he talked to Alex Ferguson, who was able to tell him all about it.”

Football was started in the South American country in 1894 by Charles Miller, who was born in Brazil to a Scottish father, and who helped to found the Paulista League in 1901.

The first professional football coach in Brazil, Jock Hamilton, was also a Scot. The former Fulham coach, from Ayr, was poached by the Brazilian side Paulistano. He founded what is incorrectly known as the Systema Ingleza (English System) that they still use, because the locals did not know the difference between Scotland and England.

A Scot is also credited with introducing football to Argentina, Brazil’s greatest rival.

The Glasgow-born Alexander Hutton was a teacher at St Andrew’s school in Buenos Aires in the 1890s and started a football team in 1882.

The Scottish influence even extended to Argentina’s 1986 World Cup-winning side, which included Jose Brown, a direct descendant of an 1825 Scots emigrant, James Brown.

“Archie McLean was one of three men who were more or less responsible for making South American football what it is today,” said Ged O’Brien, the former curator and founder of the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park.

“He took the passing and running game of football to Brazil. The genius of the national team, which is one of the best in the world, is directly attributable to McLean and the Scottish Wanderers.

“There should be a 20ft statue to him in Paisley yet sadly most people today will not have heard of him. We are so used to the official history that tells us the English brought football to Brazil.”

The series, expected to be screened by the BBC in 2007, will include episodes on Scottish innovators, such as Lord Kelvin and James Clerk Maxwell, and literature, including Ian Rankin, the crime writer. Scottish architecture will feature as well.

It will also include a conversation between Connery and the author Umberto Eco in Rosslyn Chapel. Other locations across Europe are planned and the Scottish parliament — which Connery and Grigor believe is “marvellously impressive” — will also appear.
“It is a quirky view of Scotland which will include view of Scotland, facts and stories that many people will not be aware of,” said Grigor.

“Sean Connery is really interested in Scottish culture, from Macbeth — the Scottish play that dare not speak its name — to architecture.

“The series will bring to the fore what Scots have brought to the world.”

Tom Devine, professor of history at Aberdeen University, said: “This approach sounds impressive and nothing like this has been done before. It is vital that we have programmes like this commissioned.

“Although history is taught better in schools than it was 20 years ago, only a fraction of our youngsters are studying it adequately.

“Television is the main cultural feed for both adults and young people — it’s about understanding how we came to be the way we are today.

“I hope that Murray Grigor’s series will be commissioned with a budget big enough to produce the results he will be hoping for and that it maintains a strong intellectual spine.”

Thanks to `Harry` for the alert.

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