The 1899 River Plate Rugby Union Championship was the inaugural season of the first

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club championship held in Argentina, organised by the "River Plate Rugby Union" (current Argentine Rugby Union). It was contested by the five founding members of the RPRU: Belgrano,

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

Lomas Lomas (Spanish for "hills"), also called fog oases and mist oases, are areas of fog-watered vegetation in the coastal desert of Peru and northern Chile. About 100 lomas near the Pacific Ocean are identified between 5°S and 30°S latitude, a nort ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, and

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

.Fundación del River Plate Rugby Championship
on Club Atlético del Rosario, 10 April 2019

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an club Montevideo C.C. was invited to take part of the competition but they declined to participate due to the long travel time to Argentina by ship. In the inaugural game, Lomas defeated Buenos Aires by 11-4. Lomas would be the first Argentine champion, winning the title at the end of the season.

Teams

Results

List of matches played in the season. Some results are missed (w=indicates win, l=indicates lost). Rosario A.C. entered directly in the semifinals. Buenos Aires FC played its home matches at Lomas.

First round

Semifinals

Final

The final was played at

Flores Old Ground The Flores Old Ground (also known as "Old Polo Ground" or "Old Polo Field" or "Flores Polo Ground") was the stadium of defunct Flores Athletic Club. Located in the barrio of Caballito, Buenos Aires,''Historia del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina'', ...

Caballito, Buenos Aires Caballito (; Spanish for "little horse") is a '' barrio'' (neighborhood) of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It is the only ''barrio'' in the administrative division ''Comuna'' 6. It is located in the geographical centre of the city, limite ...

. All proceeds were donated to the British Hospital of Buenos Aires. In a match where both teams showed to be equalled in strength of play, Lomas won the game when they were awarded a free-kick that captain F.H. Jacobs scored for a 3–0 win.

Aftermath

It was the first and only championship contested by Flores A.C.Fundadores
by Jorge Búsico, 11 April 2018 A pioneer in several sports disciplines in Argentina, Flores A.C. had played its first match on 19 July 1896, against Buenos Aires F.C. In 1907 Flores Athletic sold some of its facilities to neighbor

Club Ferro Carril Oeste Club Ferro Carril Oeste, known simply as Ferro Carril Oeste or familiarly, Ferro, is an Argentine sports club from the neighbourhood of Caballito, Buenos Aires. Although many activities are hosted by the club, Ferro is mostly known for its footb ...