The San Lorenzo de Almagro Stadium (popularly known as Estadio Gasómetro)
[San Lorenzo y el Gasómetro, un exilio de 40 años]
by Cristian Dellocchio on Página/12, 2 Dec 2019 was a football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
located 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, ...
of Boedo
Boedo is a working-class ''barrio'' or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The neighborhood and one of its principal streets were named after Mariano Boedo, a leading figure in the Argentine independence.
It is the home of San Lorenzo de A ...
in 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 ...
. Inaugurated in 1916, the stadium was the home ground of club San Lorenzo de Almagro
Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, commonly known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or simply San Lorenzo (in English: ''Saint Lawrence''), is a sports club of Argentina in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team ...
before they moved to their new venue, , which is sometimes referred to as "Estadio Nuevo Gasómetro" ("New Gasometer"), in 1993. The stadium had a capacity of 75,000 people.[El Gasómetro (San Lorenzo) on Viejos Estadios blogsite]
The stadium was nicknamed ''Gasómetro'' due to its exterior facade that reminded of a gas holder
A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressu ...
, very common at the time. It has a capacity of 75,000 spectators, being the largest stadium of Argentina until the construction of Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón
The Estadio Juan Domingo Perón, popularly known as ''El Cilindro de Avellaneda'', is an association football stadium located in the Avellaneda district of Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. The stadium is the home venue of Racing Club.
The stadium ...
, home venue of Racing Club de Avellaneda
Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered o ...
, inaugurated in 1950.[EL CILINDRO DE AVELLANEDA CUMPLE 65 AÑOS]
on DXTV, 3 Sep 2015 Racing's stadium had a capacity of 100,000 spectators, then reduced to 66,000 in the 1990s. The stadium was one of the venues for the 1929 South American Championship
The twelfth edition of the South American Championship was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1 to 17 November 1929. The 1928 edition was postponed due to the participation of Chile, Uruguay and Argentina in the 1928 Summer Olympics held in A ...
.
History
The stadium was inaugurated on May 7, 1916, in a Primera División match between San Lorenzo and Estudiantes de La Plata
Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...
, won by San Lorenzo 2–1. During the first years of the 1920s the club built a grandstand with roof. In August 1922, the stadium hosted the funeral of player Jacobo Urso, died on August 6 in the hospital. Urso had been injured in a match v Estudiantes de Buenos Aires
Club Atlético Estudiantes, usually called Estudiantes de Caseros or Estudiantes de Buenos Aires, is an Argentine football club from Caseros, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Primera ...
, where he broke some ribs after a collision with a rival. 7,000 people attended Urso's funeral, with his coffin being carried by his teammates and players of Czech team Teplitzer FK
Teplitzer FK was a Czechoslovak football club from the town of Teplice, which played seven seasons in the Czechoslovak First League. It was founded in 1903 as a football club associating local German population. The club was the first from Czecho ...
, which was touring Argentina at the time of the funeral.
In June 1928, San Lorenzo acquired the land (rented until then) and started a new refurbishing on it. The new structures used for the exterior changed the face of the stadium, resembling a gas holder so it would be soon nicknamed ''Gasómetro''. The 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 ...
played its first match at Gasómetro on June 16, 1929, beating 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 ...
2–0 in a friendly match. Both teams faced again on September 28 in a Copa Lipton
The Copa Lipton or Copa de Caridad Lipton was a football friendly competition contested between Argentina and Uruguay national teams. The competition was held 29 times between 1905 and 1992.
History
The trophy was donated by the Scottish tea ...
match, in front of a huge attendance.[
]
Despite of being the largest stadium of the time, the huge attendance frequently surpassed the stadium's capacity. In 1935, San Lorenzo announced they were planning to acquired a land to build a new stadium for 150,000 spectators. The land was located only 20 blocks from the Gasómetro. Nevertheless, the project was soon abandoned and never relaunched.[
In 1936, San Lorenzo installed the first lighting system in the stadium. Lights were mounted on four columns placed on the four sides of the field. Three years later, the old grandstand with roof was replaced and the stadium extended its capacity to 75,000. During the end of the 1930s, the Gasómetro hosted three games of ]Copa Aldao
The Copa Ricardo Aldao (English: ''Ricardo Aldao Cup''), popularly called Campeonato Rioplatense and Copa Río de La Plata, was an official AFA- AUF football club competition contested annually, albeit irregularly, between the league champions of ...
, the most important competition in South America by then.
The club's debt grew in the 1970s and they were forced to sell the ground to the government in 1979, who subsequently sold it to Carrefour
Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, which ...
supermarket. The last match played at the Gasómetro was hosted on December 2, 1979. San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...
tied 0–0 in a 1979 Torneo Nacional match. The stadium was demolished two years later.[
]
Return to Boedo
After the stadium was closed, San Lorenzo fans made several attempts to get the former land back to the institution. In 2008, the Legislature of Buenos Aires approved a project of "Historic Restitution" of the Avenida La Plata land. In 2010, supporters of the club carried the project of Historic Restitution to the National Legislature. The project included the expropriation of the land on Avenida La Plata (where French chain Carrefour
Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, which ...
had built a supermarket there) and the restitution to Club San Lorenzo. On March 8, 2012, 100,000 people met at Plaza de Mayo
The Plaza de Mayo (; en, May Square) is a city square and main foundational site of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was formed in 1884 after the demolition of the Recova building, unifying the city's Plaza Mayor and Plaza de Armas, by that time know ...
to claim for the law, which was finally approved on 15 November 2012.
On April 4, 2014, the club signed an agreement with Carrefour which stated that the land would be restituted to San Lorenzo, with the club and the supermarket sharing the land. In April 2019, Carrefour announced that the supermarket on Avenida La Plata would be closed permanently.Carrefour cerrará su sucursal de Avenida La Plata el 6 de mayo
25 Apr 2019
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio Gasometro
Sports venues in Buenos Aires
Gasometro
Copa América stadiums
Multi-purpose stadiums in Argentina