Harry Souttar looked to the sideline during every match he could, scanning the crowd for a familiar face—not just any face, but the one that made him want to be better on the pitch. For most of his young career, that face belonged to his older brother Aaron, who came to watch whenever he could, whether it was school football, boys' club, or matches further down the line. "I'd always love it," the 27-year-old says now. "Playing and looking at the side and seeing him there, I was always trying to impress him."
This World Cup in North America should have been different—a chance for both brothers to compete at the highest level of global football together, honoring the memory of a man who shaped them both. Harry represents Australia through his mother, Heather, who was born there. His younger brother John, 29, plays for Scotland. But Aaron, their oldest brother, cannot be there. His illness and death have cast a shadow across what should be pure celebration, yet in grief, the family has discovered something unexpected: a bond that distance and different lives once strained.
Before his breakthrough in international football, John endured serious injury troubles throughout a career that carried him from Dundee United through Hearts and into Rangers. When he returned from one lengthy setback and scored his first Scotland goal in a World Cup qualifying match against Denmark, he knew immediately who that goal was for. "My brother Aaron, he's at home," John said in November 2021, his voice carrying the weight of recent loss. "He couldn't make it tonight, but that was for him because he helped me a lot during my rehab."
Now both brothers carry Aaron with them in ink—tattoos etched on their skin to remind themselves daily of the impact he had and continues to have. Harry, a Leicester defender who spent last season on loan at Sheffield United, and John, a fellow centre-back whose career has stretched across Scottish football's top clubs, will wear those marks into the World Cup tournament. The brothers had hoped to be drawn in the same group, but instead the family will split their attendance between matches in the United States and Canada—a logistical heartbreak offset slightly by the fact that they're both here at all.
What Aaron would have done is vivid in Harry's mind. "He would be over here with his pals in a pub, drinking all day and playing a bit of golf," Harry says, painting a picture of the life his brother should have lived.
The loss has reshaped how the two brothers relate to each other. With Harry playing in England and John in Scotland, they hadn't spoken much before grief intervened. Now texts and calls come regularly, conversations about random things that feel precious precisely because they almost didn't happen. "When Aaron became ill, it did bring me and John a lot closer together, certainly after his passing as well," Harry reflects. "Not that me and John were never that close or anything like that, but with me living in England and him playing in Scotland, we didn't really speak a lot. The one good thing to come from it, if you could say it's a good thing, would be that it's brought me and John closer."
Both brothers kick off their World Cup schedules on Sunday, with Scotland facing Haiti early in the morning, directly followed by Australia taking on Turkey. "It's just great that we're both here," Harry says, the pride in his voice unmistakable. "I know John missed out on the Euros a few years ago, which he was absolutely gutted about. I'm absolutely over the moon that he's here. And it's one that the family are all filled with pride with. For me, I'm proud of him as well."