Argentina glamour match bid wins new backing | Ross-shire Journal | News

Argentina glamour match bid wins new backing

HOPES of a glamour friendly between Ross County and one of the top soccer clubs in
South America rose this week.
Rosario
Central football club, a premier league club from Argentina, whose first
president was Dingwall native Colin Bain Calder, hinted they may be prepared to play
the Dingwall club in what would be "an unforgettable
match".

Jonathon McColl and Margaret Paterson

study the gravestone of Alexander Calder
in St Clement's Churchyard.

Federico J Bollero Calder, the great-grandson of the club's founder contacted the civic leaders in the county town last month
to invite
them to share in the club's 120th anniversary celebrations, which were held last week.
Since our story about the intriguing link appeared in these pages on November 20, Mr Bollero Calder has been back in touch. In his letter
he said he was going to meet Rosario's president Mr Bazn to discuss what he had learned about the club founder's genealogy. He went
on to say, "The idea of playing a friendly match with your local club is something that Mr Bazn mentioned, it would
be an unforgettable
match."
Local councillors and council officials were delighted to learn of the connection between the town and
the football club and sent a
message of goodwill. They have also promised to send over Ross County memorabilia.
At the time of the initial approach, local councillor Margaret Paterson said she was excited about the prospect of a 'friendly' match
between the teams. She also called for any relatives of Mr Calder who still live in the area to
come forward.
Cllr Paterson said, "Unfortunately, no relatives of
Mr Calder have been in touch up to now. However, I've had a lot of positive response
from members of the public who are quite excited by the connection. We also received a response from Mr Bollero Calder who thanked
us for our message. We intend keeping in touch with him and forging strong links with the football club. We are awaiting news of the
club's 120th celebrations, which was called 'Dingwall' in honour of their former president."
Since the news broke about the link between Dingwall and Rosario Dingwall historian, Jonathan McColl has been in touch by letter (see
letters page November 20) to confirm the grave of Mr Calder's father, Alexander Calder, who died in 1863 is in St
Clement's graveyard.
Mr McColl said, "I doubt if any of Mr Calder's relatives are still in the area. His mother and a three of his siblings followed him to
Argentina while his brother John went to Canada. His oldest brother Ronald was a school teacher in London and had
a large family. The
chances are there are still a number of siblings and descendants there."
Ross County chairman, David Siegel said, "We would welcome the idea of a glamour friendly - that would be absolutely tremendous for
the people of Dingwall. I'm not sure if they would be prepared to come over here for just one game - I suppose they would need to
arrange other games on a tour. As far as I'm aware there has been no contact between the clubs but I would be perfectly willing to
speak to them if the situation arose."

http://www.ross-shirejournal.co.uk/News/Argentina-glamour-match-bid-wins-new-backing-7097.htm[11/07/2015 03:32:01 p.m.]