Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
amateur
sports club
A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports.
Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...
from
Belgrano, Buenos Aires
Belgrano is a northern and leafy '' barrio'' or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Location
The barrio of Palermo is to the southeast; Núñez is to the northwest; Coghlan, Villa Urquiza, Villa Ortúzar and Colegiales are to the sout ...
. One of Argentina's oldest institutions still in existence, Belgrano was one of the four clubs that founded the Argentine Rugby Union in 1899. The senior team currently competes at Top 12, the first division of the
Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires
The Buenos Aires Rugby Union ( es, "Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires"), usually referred as URBA, is the Argentine governing body that organises and controls the rugby union in the Buenos Aires Province (including the main district, Buenos Aires a ...
league system.
Belgrano Athletic was one of the most prominent teams during the first years of
football in Argentina
Association football is the most popular sport in Argentina and part of the culture in the country. It is the one with the most players (2,658,811 total, 331,811 of which are registered and 2,327,000 unregistered; with 3,650 clubs and 37,161 offi ...
national cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League. For most of the competition's history, the draw has ...
and two international cups. Belgrano's arch-rival during those years was
Alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
, also from Belgrano neighborhood. Belgrano disaffiliated from the Argentine Association in late 1910s, focusing on rugby union and other sports. Football is no longer practised at the club.
Belgrano's
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
Buenos Aires Hockey Association
The Buenos Aires Hockey Association ("Asociación de Hockey de Buenos Aires" - AHBA) is the Argentine amateur governing body that regulates the practice of field hockey over the Buenos Aires autonomous city and its urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (a ...
.
The club's facilities are divided between two locations: its main building (Sede Virrey del Pino) sited in Belgrano and another one located in Pilar (Anexo Pinazo).
Apart from the sports mentioned above, several activities are practised at the club nowadays, such as
bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
,
contract bridge
Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...
,
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
,
squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
,
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
, and
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
.
History
The beginning: Football
There are records of a football match played by the members of the "Club Inglés de Belgrano" in 1894, where Belgrano Athletic Club was officially founded on 17 August 1896.
Belgrano AC participated in the Primera División from
1896
Events
January–March
* January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers.
* January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
* January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...
to
1916
Events
Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* ...
1904
Events
January
* January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''.
* January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
* ...
and 1908, and also won a number of other tournaments including domestic cupCopa de Honor and international competitions
Tie Cup
The Tie Cup Competition (also known as Copa de Competencia Chevallier Boutell) is a defunct international football tournament played between representatives of the Argentina and Uruguay Associations. It was one of the earliest international footbal ...
(in 1900) and
Copa de Honor Cousenier
The Copa de Honor Cusenier was an international football club competition which was played 13 times between representatives of the Argentina and Uruguay associations between 1905 and 1920.
History
The trophy was donated by "E. Cusenier Fils Auné ...
(1907).
Belgrano Athletic played one of the earliest football rivalries against Belgrano neighbours
Alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
, the most successful team of Argentine until its dissolution in 1911. Both teams were so strong that they won all of the thirteen league titles contested between 1899 and 1911 (that was the last year of Alumni football team competing in Argentine league, being officially dissolved in 1913).
Belgrano AC would achieve a historic victory over River Plate, defeating the ''Millonario'' 10–1 in
1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
. That was the worst defeat of River Plate in club's history.
Despite being one of the most notable football teams during the first years of that sport in Argentina, Belgrano was relegated from the Argentine Primera División, along with
Quilmes
Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Río de la Plata, Rio de la Plata, in the , on the south east of the Greater Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and it is the seat of the Quilmes Partido, eponymous county. With a population of 230 ...
in
1916
Events
Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* ...
.
Belgrano never returned to the first division, and the club later disaffiliated from the Argentine Association, focusing on the practise of other sports, mainly
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 ...
.
Rugby union
Belgrano Athletic rugby union team is one of the most successful teams in the
Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires
The Buenos Aires Rugby Union ( es, "Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires"), usually referred as URBA, is the Argentine governing body that organises and controls the rugby union in the Buenos Aires Province (including the main district, Buenos Aires a ...
, having won a total of 10 provincial titles. In 1899, along with club
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 Union Championship on Atlético del Rosario website, 10 Apr 2019 and Rosario AC, Belgrano became a founding member of the "River Plate Rugby Championship", the origin of today's Argentine Rugby Union."Hechos históricos de la Unión" at UAR website /ref>
The first title obtained in rugby union was in 1907, playing 16 matches with 13 victories, 1 drew and only 2 lost. The team scored 233 points and only received 29 at the end of the tournament. That same year the club built the stadium's grandstands (commonly made of woods by the time) with a capacity of 600. In 1909 the Government of Argentina approved the statute (rules) of the club.
Its main rivals are Belgrano district's other big club,
Alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
. In 2016, Belgrano won its 11° URBA championship after 48 years without league titles. Belgrano defeated former champion Hindú at the final, played in San Isidro.
Cricket
The first recorded
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
match held on the clubs cricket ground came when the Northern Suburbs and the
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
in 1912.
First-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
was first played there in 1927 when
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
played the Marylebone Cricket Club. Five further first-class matches were played there, the last of which saw Argentina play Sir TEW Brinckman's XI in 1938. Still in use to the present day, the ground held matches in the South American Championships and the Americas Championships in recent times, as well as hosting matches in the 2009 ICC World Cricket League Division Three.
Uniform evolution
It is believed that the first Belgrano A.C. football squad wore black (or dark grey) and gold shirts, as they were depicted in early team photos. In 1907 the club adopted the
Central Argentine Railway
The Central Argentine Railway, referred to as CA below, (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Central Argentino) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, British companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company had been establish ...
corporate colors (red, green and silver) as most of the club members were employees of that company. In 1919 Belgrano A.C. changed its colors again, adopting the brown (specifying "
chocolate
Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...
Belgrano's home venue (popularly known as "Virrey del Pino" because of its location on Virrey del Pino and Superí streets in Belgrano) host rugby and cricket match. After some time playing on Pampa and Melián streets, the club acquired that land in 1902 to two of its members, Charles Dickinson (who was also a notable footballer of the club) and Roberts.
The first grandstands were built with wood from surplus railway material. By 1910, the field had an official grandstand, with roof,"Belgrano" on Viejos Estadios named "Donald Forester", which has remained up to present days.
1904
Events
January
* January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''.
* January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
* ...
Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires
The Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires was an Argentine official football cup competition. It was contested fourteen times between 1905 and 1920.
This cup was played by teams from Buenos Aires and Rosario (which belonged to Liga Rosarina ...
(1): 1907
*
Segunda División
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...
(1): 1902
*
Copa Bullrich
The Copa de Competencia Adolfo Bullrich, or simply Copa Bullrich, was an official football tournament held from 1903 to 1934 in Argentina. From 1905 to 1915 the championship was contested by clubs playing in the second division of Argentine league ...
(1): 1905
International
*
Tie Cup
The Tie Cup Competition (also known as Copa de Competencia Chevallier Boutell) is a defunct international football tournament played between representatives of the Argentina and Uruguay Associations. It was one of the earliest international footbal ...
(1):
1900
As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...
*
Copa de Honor Cousenier
The Copa de Honor Cusenier was an international football club competition which was played 13 times between representatives of the Argentina and Uruguay associations between 1905 and 1920.
History
The trophy was donated by "E. Cusenier Fils Auné ...
* Carlos Edgard Dickinson, former football captain that scored the first
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina.
Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and S ...
goal ever in an official match. It was against
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 ...
on 20 July 1902. Argentina won 6–0.
* Arturo Forrester, the first Argentine footballer to score against a British team. It was in the match v
Southampton FC
Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...
Arnold Watson Hutton
Arnold Pencliffe Watson Hutton (20 August 1886 – 29 July 1951) was an Argentine footballer who played as a striker for Alumni and Belgrano A.C. As an international, he played for the Argentina national team.
Other sports practised by Hutt ...
(1911–13), forward, previously in
Alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
, also international with Argentina.
*
Jeannette Campbell
Jeannette Morven Campbell (8 March 1916 – 15 January 2003) was a naturalized Argentine swimmer who won the silver medal in the 1936 Summer Olympics. She was the first Argentine female to participate at the Olympic Games.
Early life
She ...
Lisandro Arbizu
Lisandro Arbizu (born September 29, 1971 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine rugby union footballer. He plays at fly-half or inside centre. He began playing for the local traditional club Belgrano Athletic Club and was one of the first Argentine pla ...
Magdalena Aicega
María Magdalena Aicega Amicarelli (born November 1, 1973 in Buenos Aires) is a retired field hockey player from Argentina, who won the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and the bronze medal a ...
, former
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...