by Dr. Iain Corness
Andrew Watson, footballer, teacher, painter, TV presenter
and campaigner for social justice, is one of the more interesting
personalities we have in Pattaya. After all, there are not too many of us
who have been in a kibbutz, been bombed in Jerusalem, or played soccer
competitively, even individually, and Andrew Watson has done all of the
above, and more.
Andrew
was born in Camberwell, “the rough end of London,” according to him,
and is the second child in a family of four boys. His father was a
psychiatrist and his mother a sex therapist, both of whom espoused strong
socialist ideals and who encouraged in Andrew what he described as “a
healthy disrespect, and to always look critically at what you are told.”
From that background grew Andrew, with the seeds of
non-acceptance of social injustice implanted at an early age. These
embryonic feelings became more real when he was a young primary school
boy. “I was small and I was always bullied. There was nothing I could do
about it, but I wanted to stop this happening to anyone else.”
His schooling was haphazard, not brought about by the
institutions, but by his (un)healthy disrespect. He would work at subjects
that interested him and ignore the rest. “Lazy little bastard,” was
the phrase he used to describe himself at that stage.
As he came towards the end of his secondary schooling,
he also went to work for a short period in a kibbutz in Israel. He was 17
years old and a young woman caught his eye. “I just saw the person I’m
going to marry,” he told friends. However this was not the time for
undying expressions of calf-love. He had other balls that were more
important. Footballs.
He did have an eye to the future, and began to move
himself towards his own goals. And goals was the operative word, as Andrew
had set himself the task of going to America to play football in the US
league, and to represent that country in the World Cup! I looked quizzical
at this and he replied, “I wanted to play for the States, because they
always got into the World Cup.” Following his own five year plan, he won
a sporting scholarship to a prestigious college in America, to follow that
football dream. There he had three hours of sprint training every morning,
then academic lectures and then another two hours football training in the
late afternoon. He might have made it too, if his testosterone levels had
not been higher than his endorphins! After a year he returned to the UK to
the “girl I left behind” (which was not his kibbutzchik!). However,
fairytales like this only work for TV soapies. It did not work and Andrew
moved to Liverpool to study Fine Art and Drama.
Another watershed in his life and he made some choices,
which were to be neither right or wrong, but ‘different direction’.
“I decided to forget being a footballer and become a painter! I chose
the profession I would make the least amount of money in,” said Andrew
with a laugh.
So he exchanged his football boots for an artist’s
smock and threw himself wholeheartedly into painting. He had no thoughts
of selling his work, but when a friend arranged an exhibition for him and
his paintings sold, he found he had enough money to travel. So life became
his painting, exhibitions and being a tourist. However, this lifestyle was
not looked upon favorably by his parents. “Painting isn’t a proper
job,” was their lament. So he returned to academia, to the famous
university of Cambridge to study Global Politics.
However, Cambridge had a football team, and Andrew
found his old football boots and joined, so that he could play for
Cambridge. “I had no doubts that it would happen,” and then related
his elation at scoring in the final match against Oxford.
Leaving Cambridge, he again put the boots into storage
and went into a private school in London to teach Visual Arts. From there,
he was offered positions in Croyden in the UK or Jerusalem. For someone
like Andrew, this was a no-brainer. He took Jerusalem.
“This was probably the making of me as a person,”
Andrew enthused. “The comparison between romantic Zionism and life for
the Palestinians.” He was in Jerusalem when the bombings started. “You
didn’t know until you got home whether your family was still alive. It
was just too dangerous to live there.”
He got out, exchanging the sands of Israel for the
greenery of Thailand. He began to look at the philosophy of life in this
country, accepting much to the point of now describing himself as being a
Judeo-Christian-Buddhist. For a footballer-painter-teacher this is quite
understandable.
He is now in St. Andrews school here in Pattaya and is
involved in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. “The IB
program excites me. It (in some ways) mirrors the events in my life. My
devotion is to the ideals of the program, including honesty and
idealism.”
Talking with Andrew Watson, you can see the enthusiasm
for life that comes through in his speech and mannerisms, his hands
grasping the air to indicate opportunities similarly grasped. “When a
door has been slammed in my face, I go and do something else – because I
can.” It is obvious that a strong self-belief has carried him through
life’s rough patches, but that is molded by being critical of himself,
almost to the point of pursuit of perfection. He has other beliefs too,
including a peace plan for the Middle East. He has not forgotten the
lessons from being bullied as a child. He may have the answer.
Oh yes, remember his saying that when he was 17 he saw the girl he
would marry? In case you were wondering, eight years later he returned to
the kibbutz and she was there. Yes they did get married, and they are
still married and have two daughters, aged 14 and 6!
