The Buenos Aires Football Club (frequently abbreviated as "BAFC") was an Argentine

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club from

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 ...

, considered the first football club not only in Argentina but in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. Although BAFC was founded to play association football, the club would then adopt the rules of rugby union.

History

By 1867 there was a wide British community living in Buenos Aires. Most of them had established there coming from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as managers and workers of the British-owned railway lines that operated in Argentina. British citizens founded social and sports clubs where they could practise their sports, such as bowls,

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 str ...

, football,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

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 it ...

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 ...

amongst others. The "Buenos Aires Football Club" was founded on Thursday 9 May 1867 in Temple street, known today as Viamonte, in the city of

.''Historia del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina'', by Jorge Iwanczuk. Published by Autores Editores (1992) – "140 años del primer partido de fútbol", by Eduardo Cántaro
/ref>''Historia de Fútbol de AFA: Orígenes 1891/1899'', by Carlos Yametti. Published by Edición del Autor (2011) – The founding members were railway workers who all came from northern England, specially brothers Thomas and James Hogg. The founding committee was formed by: Thomas Hogg, 24 years old, born in

Skelton, York Skelton is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of the City of York, in North Yorkshire, England. It is north-north-west of the city of York, west of Haxby, and on the east bank of the River Ouse. Skelton was in the ancient roy ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

; his brother James Hogg, 26 years old, born in

, Yorkshire; Thomas Jackson, 29 years old, born in Cumberland; Thomas Barlow Smith, 21 years old, born in

Stoney Middleton Stoney Middleton is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. It is in the White Peak area of the Peak District southeast of Eyam and northwest of Calver, on the A623 road at the foot of the limesto ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

; and Walter Heald, secretary, 29 years old, born in

Pendle Pendle may refer to: * Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England ** Pendle (UK Parliament constituency) * Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England ** Forest of Pendle, hilly landscape surrounding the hill * Pendle College of the University of Lancaster * ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

. Likewise, the rules of the club were as follows: # The club be called "The Buenos Aires Football Club". # The committee of four be elected to manage the affairs of the Club. # The subscription for the present season be $ 30 currency. # The

rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education * Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule pert ...

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

be adopted with some slight modifications. The first match had to take place on 25 May 1867 and was advertised in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

daily newspaper ''The Standard'', published in Argentina: Predio del Campo de Deportes del Buenos Aires Cricket Club

Due to poor weather conditions, the game was cancelled, being postponed for June 20, when finally the first match in Argentine football history was contested. The venue was the

Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground The Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground was a cricket field in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The ground, located in the Palermo district, gained historic relevance because the first football (in 1867) It is recorded that in 1868 two matches were also played. In one of them, the Rojos defeated Whites by 2–1. In 1870 the club was dissolved due to the yellow fever epidemic that killed about 8% of the inhabitants of Buenos Aires. On April 25, 1873, the club was re-established under the same name and presided by Thomas Hogg as he had done with its predecessor. On June that year the BAFC played its first match since its second foundation. The game was held in the

Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground The Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground was a cricket field in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The ground, located in the Palermo district, gained historic relevance because the first football (in 1867)''El Origen Británico del Deporte Argentino'', by Víctor Raffo (2004) – Despite following the football association rules (although slight modifications had been introduced), most of the members preferred to follow the

rules, using the hands instead of their feet. That was because those members came from different cities of England, where football in each was played in a different way, often using the hands instead feet, or both. Therefore the members of BAFC played the game as they did in the towns of their birth, being a mix of football and rugby with no defined rules. As a consequence, on 13 May 1874 the club called its members to discuss the point "4" of its rules. On Thursday, 14 May 1874, the members met to discuss which rules they should follow. After the debate they finally decided to adopt the

laws of rugby union The laws of Rugby Union are defined by World Rugby (originally the International Rugby Football Board, and later International Rugby Board) and dictate how the game should be played. They are enforced by a referee, generally with the help of two ...

. That same day the first game under the rugby rules was played at David Mathven's country house, in

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, limited ...

."1867: 140º Aniversario del primer partido de fútbol disputado en Sudamérica"
by Víctor Raffo, 2007 The teams were called "Equipo de Mr. Trench" and "Equipo de Mr. Hogg". This is considered the first rugby union match ever played in Argentina. Although some historians say the club was dissolved in 1875, the club continued its activities during that year, even adopting the football association rules again, because of the serious injuries caused during the matches previously contested (that had been played under the rugby union code). In 1876 the football association rules were kept but carrying the ball with hands was allowed. On May 7, 1876, the club returned to rugby union code. The last reported matches of the BAFC were in 1881, when the team played friendly rugby matches against Zingari Cricket Club and

Montevideo Cricket Club The Montevideo Cricket Club (abbreviated "MVCC") is a Uruguayan sports club based in Montevideo, established in 1861 by English immigrants. Its predecessor had been the now defunct "Victoria Cricket Club", founded in 1842.

Notes

Due to there were at least two more clubs named "Buenos Aires Football Club", the origins of those institutions must be cleared to avoid confusions: *

Buenos Aires Football Club (1886) The Buenos Aires Football Club (frequently abbreviated as "BAFC") was an Argentine rugby union club founded in Buenos Aires. Established in 1886 it was predecessor of current Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club. Buenos Aires FC was also a foundi ...

: Formed by a group of students from the Buenos Aires English High School of Belgrano, Buenos Aires as a

club. This club was a founding member of "The River Plate Rugby Football Union" (current

Unión Argentina de Rugby The Argentine Rugby Union ( es, Unión Argentina de Rugby, abbreviated "UAR") is the governing body for rugby union in Argentina. It is a member of World Rugby, with a seat on that body's Executive Council, and a founding member of Sudamérica Ru ...

having won 8

Torneo de la URBA The URBA Top 13 (formerly "Torneo de la URBA", named "Top 13" since the 2022 season)football championship held in Argentina, being its only participation in an official competition. It is believed that the team was formed exclusively to play the tournament, with no further records about its activities in subsequent years. The team's jersey was red and white in vertical stripes.

References

External links

*{{Commonscatinline Defunct football clubs in Buenos Aires Defunct Argentine rugby union clubs Association football clubs established in 1867 Rugby clubs established in 1867 Rugby union clubs in Buenos Aires 1867 establishments in Argentina 1881 disestablishments in Argentina British association football clubs outside the United Kingdom Diaspora sports clubs in Argentina British Argentine