Why Messi's first club was named after a Kent teacher

A football club in Argentina where Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi both played can trace its history back to a teacher from England.

Newell's Old Boys was founded in Rosario and named in honour of Isaac Newell, who emigrated from Kent as a teenager in 1869.

He set up a school in the city and introduced football to students, helping popularise the sport in Argentina.

Newell's son helped found the football club in 1903, four years before his father's death, for staff and alumni.

The club has gone on to win Argentina's top division six times.

Its former players include Messi, who joined the club aged seven and played there for six years, as well as the likes of Gabriel Heinze, Marcello Bielsa and Mauricio Pochettino.

Maradona joined the club for one season towards the tail end of his playing career.

Adrian Pope has been trying to get a statue of Newell in the teacher's home town of Strood for the last 25 years.

"He had a great belief in the value of education and sport," said the campaigner, who learned about the history of Newell's Old Boys when he taught English in Argentina.

A exhibition celebrating the club is housed at the town's sport centre, where football pitches are named after former players of the club.

Medway Council leader Vince Maple said Newell had "become a really recognisable name and a name that we're proud of".

"It's no exaggeration to say football in Argentina wouldn't be what it is today without his influence," he told the BBC.

Pope said: "I'd love to think that in future everybody in Kent and beyond will understand that a teenage emigre from Kent gave his name to arguably the greatest football club in the world."

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