CORNWALL AND MEXICO-AN OBVIOUS LINK

With reference to the  Falmouth Anchorby Samuel Turner.  Javier Hernandez and The Estadio Azteca are just some things that might come to mind when you think of Mexican football??? Well of course, BUT, did you know that Cornish miners played a part in the emergence of football in Mexico? 

We often fall in love with the Mexican National team during international tournaments due to their passionate fans and the teams’ common status as the underdog. One great example being, of course, this summer’s World Cup in Russia when a Mexican side managed to beat, the then World Cup holders Germany, 1-0 in their opening game. Rising through their group which included Germany, South Korea, and Sweden, recording a famous 1-0 victory against the old holders Germany in the process. They eventually went out in the last 16 losing to Brazil. But how did Mexican football develop? 

In 1821 Mexico gained independence from Spain, after the Mexican War of Independence. The war of independence had left the country in dire need of development, particularly industrialisation of their mining industry. Meanwhile, Cornwall, at the start of the nineteenth century, had some of the largest and most profitable mines in the whole of Europe. As time passed, the price of tin and copper was depreciating. This was due to the globalisation of trade which flooded the market with tin and copper. This meant that many highly skilled miners were left jobless as mines could no longer afford to keep their employees. Therefore, to find a job, many miners went abroad to places such as South Africa, Australia and the United States -places in desperate need of skilled miners. It is thought that during the period of 1861 to 1901 around 250,000 people emigrated from Cornwall, many of them being miners. Some of these miners arrived in Mexico.

In 1825, a group of approximately 60 Cornishmen – mainly from the area of Cambourne and Redruth – set off from Falmouth with 1,500 tonnes of mining equipment to Mexico. Many Cornish migrants moved to Hidalgo, a region rich in silver (approximately 50km north east of the capital, Mexico City). Thus, many small Cornish communities sprung up in the Hidalgo region. Cornish migrants brought with them their culture, religion, pasties (which is another story) and many sports, including (of course) football. At the turn of the century, an Athletic Club was formed, by the Cornish diaspora, in Pachuca (eastern Mexico) – called the Pachuca Athletics Club. Originally they practised football only as an unorganised hobby during their free time while working at the mines owned by William Blamey. Alfred C Crowle was the man who first introduced the sport to the Mexican mine workers, bringing the first proper footballs and explaining the rules. The primary sport of the club was football and it became the first football team in the whole of Mexico. Football soon started to spread across the region and wider Mexico. For a while, there were only local regional leagues, 

In the early 1900s, football was used as a method to "indoctrinate modern labor practices" such as teamwork and competition within a set of rules upon the Mexican workers. By 1902, a five-team league emerged with a strong English influence. Many of the early football teams were affiliated with corporations. By 1907 the first National League was formed.  

Football had captured the hearts of the Mexican people, all thanks to the Cornish Miners, from Redruth and Camborne, who brought the beautiful game to Mexico.  Pachuca Athletic club ended up being one of the founding members of the top league of Mexican football and won it for the first time in 1917 under Alfred C. Crowle – a son of a Cornish expatriate miner from St Blazey. He would also later go on to win two further championships with Pachuca and manage Mexico’s International team to the first international trophy in 1935 at the Central American and Caribbean Games. Club de Fútbol Pachuca is based in Hildago,  it is one of the oldest football clubs in the Americas, and was one of the founding members of the Mexican Primera. (see map)

Pachuca Athletic club remains one of the most historic clubs in Mexico and is now, after recent success in club continental trophies (such as the Copa Sudamericana), one of the most successful teams in Mexico. Further, Mexican football’s premier division (‘Liga MX’) is seen as not only the best football league in North America but one of the best in the whole of the Americas. 

In the 2017-18 season, Liga MX had an average attendance of over 24,000 which makes it one of the most attended leagues in the world. The Mexican national team has participated in 17 out of 21 World Cups games and have won the CONCACAF Championship/Gold Cup the most times, with 10 titles. To think this all started with some Cornish expats’ miners having a kick about! below, National team 2022.

This is the logo owned by Mexican Football Federation (FMF) for Liga MX Femenil

Pachuca club nearest to Gulf of Mexico