Irish Roots in the Argentine World Cup Winner Team Mc/Mac Allister?

[Alby]

Travelling in northern Argentina in October and November of 1995, I well remember that Maradona had just returned to play his final stint at Boca, with his hair dyed blue and gold. We became a bit interested in football and would watch the games on television and have a bit of a chuckle at the comentators' pronunciation of the name of a red-headed player on the same team: MACAlister. We assumed he was some kind of import or player on loan from the UK, and Google didn't exist in those days to find the information at the push of a button. In fact, it was Carlos MacAllister, Alexis' father, later a secretary for sport in Macri's administration.

One of the games I referred to. From 6:44 to 6:49 MacAllister senior appears clearly in the picture. At 7:13 the commentator names him in the play.

My memory is pretty spot on. The error was recalling that Maradona had dyed his hair blue and yellow. As the video shows, it was just yellow.

His appearance at Oxford occurred several weeks later, on 6 November, still with the yellow hair:

 

[Rich One]

Many thanks for sharing: Maradona in OXFORD , a 2 hour video, half an hour delay before Maradona arrives....!
Didn't have the patience to watch it all...! Couldn't hear well Maradona's speech and the English translation was amateurish by an Argentinian...
Maradona received an Oxford Degree, Master of Inspiration.
When asked how he felt about Women's Soccer games, he replied, women add beauty to the game, because they have better legs and backside...! (a no no today)
Amazing to see the presenter Mario Pergolini younger..!

 

[Johnny]

The Mac Allister papa.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1606974992595488768

 

[Rich One]

There are many hundreds of thousands of Irish descendant Argentines and Irish surnames are actually more common and more familiar here than you might expect in a Spanish speaking country. There are many Irish origin surnames among the traditional landed gentry families and it's been that way for the last 150 years or so.

Hi Avet,
What makes alex Mac Allister unique is that is the sole Irish in the Doha World Cup 2022 winning team , he scored winning goals. and that the Argentina flag was raised in Donabate, Ireland, where local fans cheered for The Argentina Team...!
Alex's father was also a known soccer player
I have celebrated many St. Patrick's day with the Irish communities, in small cities in Provincia, like Suipacha. Provincia de Buenos Aires.

As you mention the Irish community is quite large in Argentina, see link below .
.

Inmigración irlandesa en la Argentina - Rumbo Sur

A fines del siglo XIX, una gran ola inmigratoria arribó al Río de la Plata. Nuestro país, después de la batalla de Caseros y de la consolidación de su territori

www.rumbosur.org