Club Manuel Belgrano is an

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

club. The rugby team currently plays at Torneo de la URBA Grupo II, the second 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. The hockey team plays at the tournaments organised by the

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 institution is headquartered in the

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

Saavedra, Buenos Aires Saavedra is a barrio or neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located in the Northern end of the city, close to Nuñez, Buenos Aires, Nuñez and Villa Urquiza. Its northern border is Avenida General Paz. Among the main features of the n ...

, while its rugby stadium is located in

Ingeniero Maschwitz Ingeniero Maschwitz, known simply as Maschwitz, is a town in the Escobar Partido of the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It forms part of the urban conurbation of Greater Buenos Aires. This is the small town where International evangelist Luis P ...

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjac ...

. The club has around 700 rugby players and 250 field hockey players registered.

History

In 1955 the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

College Manuel Belgrano registered a rugby team to participate in the tournaments organized by the

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 ...

, under the name of "Los Tábanos" ("The Horseflies"). On October 1, 1958, the club was officially founded as "Club Manuel Belgrano", being soon accepted by the Union and also supported by other clubs such as

Club Atlético San Isidro The Club Atlético de San Isidro (mostly known for its acronym CASI) is an Argentine sports club based in the city of San Isidro in Greater Buenos Aires. Originally established as a football club, San Isidro has gained recognition for its rugby ...

and

Obras Sanitarias Club Atlético Obras Sanitarias de la Nación (mostly known simply as Obras Sanitarias or Obras) is an Argentina, Argentine professional sports club that is located in the district of Núñez, Buenos Aires. Although originally conceived as a rugb ...

. On May 2, 1959, Manuel Belgrano played its first match against Atalaya. The following years the team participated in the "Classification" zone until 1962 when Belgrano proclaimed champion and was promoted to the "Ascenso" level. In 2007 the club reached the first division where they played until in 2011 Manuel Belgrano was relegated to Grupo II, but after one season, Manuel Belgrano promoted again to Grupo I.

Patricio Albacete Patricio Albacete (born 9 December 1981 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine rugby union player. He currently plays for Stade Toulousain in the top level of French rugby, the Top 14 competition. He has also represented the national Argentina team, ...

is the club's most famous player.

José Mostany José Antonio "Pepe" Mostany (born 13 January 1963), is an Argentinian former rugby union player. He was the first Club Manuel Belgrano player to play for the Pumas. Career Mostany played for Club Manuel Belgrano Club Manuel Belgrano is an Ar ...

(1986–87),

(2003–14) and Martín Ignes (2012), were players of the Argentina national team.

References

External links

* m m m m {{Argentina-rugbyunion-team-stub