John Sutherland Mackay

John Sutherland Mackay (26 March 1848 – 31 March 1924) was a Scottish medical doctor who worked for Rio Tinto and presided over Rio Tinto FC, one of the first football teams formed in Spain.

Early life and education John Sutherland Mackay was born in Latheron, Caithness, on 26 March 1848, as the son of Wilhelmina Sutherland and Reverend John Mackay, an ordained minister in the Free Church of Scotland and Anglican priest. This club eventually gave birth to a football team, the so-called Rio Tinto FC, and indeed, there are reports of football games between Rio Tinto and Huelva as early as 1882, but these teams were never officially established, so there is no legal record of their existence. Inspired by Rio Tinto FC, his younger brother went on to create the Sociedad de Juego de Pelota , which organized football and cricket games, usually between his compatriots living in Riotinto and crews of the British ships who docked in the port of Huelva, ranging from sailors to captains through officers. After a few years of consolidating these sports practices, he co-founded Recreativo de Huelva and on 18 December 1889, a sports club originally intended to provide physical recreation for the Rio Tinto mineworkers to improve their health.

As for John, he was awarded the Order of Isabella the Catholic for his medical services in Spain, and was later employed as a medical officer in Fife.

Death Mackay died as an unmarried man in Newington, Edinburgh, on 31 March 1924, at the age of 76.