St. Andrew's Athletic Club was a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

established in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

immigrants from the St. Andrew's Scots School, the oldest private school of Argentina. Playing its home games in

Barracas, Buenos Aires Barracas is a ''Barrios of Buenos Aires, barrio'', or district, in the southeast part of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located between the railroad of Ferrocarril General Manuel Belgrano and the Riachuelo River, and the streets ''Reg ...

, St. Andrew's was the first official

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

champion of Argentina, when in 1891 the team shared the title with Old Caledonians.El día que los ferroviarios se llevaron las medallas
Página/12, 18 Oct 2010

History

The "St. Andrew's Athletic Club" was established in 1890
by Jorge Gallego on CIHF, 16 Apr 2016 by the homonymous school."Desempates en el fútbol argentino: 1891–2008", Centro para la Investigación de la Historia del Fútbol (CIHF)
20 January 2009 The football team was formed by railway workers. St. Andrew's A.C. is considered the first Argentine champion ever due to have won (along with Old Caledonians F.C.) the first Primera División championship organized in

1891 Events January * January 1 ** A strike of 500 Hungarian steel workers occurs; 3,000 men are out of work as a consequence. **Germany takes formal possession of its new African territories. * January 4 – The Earl of Zetland issues a ...

by the "

Argentine Association Football League The Argentine Association Football League was the first association football, football association of Argentina and predecessor of current Argentine Football Association. The association has a historic importance in football for having organised th ...

", a body founded that same year by fellow student Alec Lamont, although it was disestablished soon after the end of the season. The five teams registered to play the tournament were (apart from St. Andrew's), Old Caledonians, Buenos Aires & Rosario Railway, Belgrano Football Club (predecessor of current

Belgrano Athletic Club Belgrano Athletic Club is an Argentina, Argentine amateur sports club from Belgrano, Buenos Aires. One of Argentina's oldest institutions still in existence, Belgrano was one of the four clubs that founded the Argentine Rugby Union in 1899. The ...

) and Buenos Aires Football Club (not related to the first football club of Argentina founded in 1867). Hurlingham also registered but did not play any match. The club had its field in Montes de Oca Avenue, Barracas district of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

The practice of

football in Argentina Association football is the most popular sport in Argentina and part of the culture of Argentina, culture in the country. It is the one with the most players (2,658,811 total, 331,811 of which are registered and 2,327,000 unregistered; with 3,37 ...

was spread thanks to Lamont and

Alexander Watson Hutton Alexander Watson Hutton (10 June 1853 – 9 March 1936) was a Scottish teacher and sportsman who is considered "The Father of Argentine football". In 1893 he founded the "Argentine Association Football League" (current Argentine Football Ass ...

, who later established

Alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

, the most successful team until its dissolution in 1911. The first championship started on 12 April and finished on 13 September 1891. At the end of the season, St. Andrew's and Old Caledonians, a team formed by employees of the

company that built the main drainage of Buenos Aires, shared the first position and the Association considered the title shared, but both teams had to play a new match only to award the medals."El verdadero comienzo" by Oscar Barnade
'' Clarín'', 2006 Therefore, St. Andrew's and Old Caledonians played a new game, played on September 13, 1891, and won by St. Andrew's by 3–1.Argentina 1891
by Osvaldo Gorgazzi on RSSSF The team disputed only one more tournament in

1894 Events January * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United States. * Ja ...

, which was won by

Lomas Athletic Club Lomas Athletic Club is an Argentina, Argentine sports club from the Lomas de Zamora district of Greater Buenos Aires. One of Argentina's oldest clubs still in existence, Lomas is one of the four institutions that founded the "River Plate Rugby Cha ...

. St. Andrew's finished 5th over 6 teams, having lost 7 games of 10 played. After that season, St. Andrew's FC never played an official football championship again. It is believed that the club was dissolved soon after.

Notable players

Charles Douglas Moffatt Charles Douglas Moffatt (5 July 1870 – 1 March 1953) was an English footballer, considered one of the pioneers of the sport in Argentina, active in the country as a player between 1891 and 1901. Career Born in London, Moffatt arrived in Arg ...

: Scored all goals in the 3–1 over Old Caledonians at the

playoff match."Los deportistas más destacados del Flores"
on the CEHR (archived, 4 Feb 2014) He also won the first

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

championship held in 1899, playing for Banfield. * Alec Lamont: An employee of the

Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) () was one of the ''Big Four'' Indian gauge, broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 and the f ...

and also player of St. Andrew's, Lamont was the ''alma mater'' for the creation of the

, the first football association in the country."Hace 120 años, el fútbol tenía su primer torneo local"
by Oscar Barnade, Clarín, 12 Apr 2011

Honours

National

* Primera División ** Winners (1):

Legacy

Being the first Argentine champion gave St. Andrew's fame and prestige. The first crest of Independiente (with the "IFBC – Independiente Foot-Ball Club" initials) was inspired on St. Andrew's. In the 1990s, the original crest of the club was revived for the away jerseys, having been used as emblem since then. In 2013, the

Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association (, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine football league system, Argentine league system (from Argentine Primera División, Pri ...

listed on its website St. Andrew's as the first Argentine champion, although the title was shared with Old Caledonians and the Association did not organise that championship so the body was established in February 1893.Historia
on Argentine Football Association website

References