Colin Calder

Biography

Colin Bain Calder was born on 16 April 1860 in Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty, in the Scottish Highlands. His middle name, Bain, came from his mother's family. His father, Alexander Bain, was a well-known cabinetmaker, and the family was comfortable until his father died. After that, money got tight.

His mother worked as a seamstress, and they moved into a poorhouse. At age ten, Calder was still in school and living with his mother. By the time he turned twenty-one, he was working as a coach painter at a carriage works, and the family's situation had improved. He then moved to Rosario, Argentina, to work for the British-owned Central Argentine Railway.

By 1889, when he was twenty-nine, he had become manager of the railway's paint shop. He was also a local champion of football. Before 1889, Calder and his secretary, Chamberlain, asked the railway company to provide land for football matches. The company agreed, and on 24 December 1889, Calder was elected the first president of the newly formed Central Argentine Railway Athletic Club, later renamed Rosario Central.

He gave a fiery speech in favor of football and against cricket, the other sport the British had brought to Argentina. He served as president until 1900. His eleven years in office make him the club's third longest-serving president, after Víctor Vesco and Federico Flynn.