The Montevideo Cricket Club (abbreviated "MVCC") is a

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 ...

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 ...

based in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, established in 1861 by English immigrants. Its predecessor had been the now defunct "Victoria Cricket Club", founded in 1842. Historia del club at official website
, retrieved 1 February 2013 Montevideo has been ranked 8th as the oldest rugby union club (and the first outside Europe) by the World Rugby Museum of

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

."Decano entre decanos" by Claudio Barragán & Gustavo Castro at El Area website
/ref> Apart from football and rugby, the other sports currently practised at the club are

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 ...

speed badminton Crossminton (previously known as Speed Badminton) is a racket game that combines elements from different sports like badminton, squash and tennis. It is played without any net and has no prescribed playground, so it can be executed on tennis cou ...

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 MVCC proper was founded on 18 July 1861. The club is recognised as the oldest sports club of Uruguay, having been the pioneer in the practise of

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 ...

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 ...

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

. In 1868, the MVCC played its first international

game against Argentine Buenos Aires Cricket Club. It is the oldest international match registered in South America and was played on MVCC's ground in La Blanqueda. The MVCC played its first

match in 1878, between MVCC and a visiting ship. This was the first organised match in Uruguay. In 1881, the MVCC played its first club match against the

Montevideo Rowing Club Montevideo Rowing Club is an Uruguayan sports club located in the city of Montevideo. Originally established as a rowing club, the institution also hosts the practise of basketball, futsal, gymnastics, handball, judo, karate, tennis and olympic ...

. MVCC also took part of the first international match involving an Uruguayan football squad, when faced the "Buenos Aires Team" at Montevideo in 1889."Museo del MVCC" on MVCC website
/ref> In 1983, the MVCC first played the

Club Universitario de Buenos Aires Club Universitario de Buenos Aires, commonly known for its acronym CUBA, is an Argentine sports club with headquarters in the autonomous city of Buenos Aires. Universitario hosts the practise of a large variety of sports and activities, includin ...

(C.U.B.A.), and has played them annually ever since. In 1974 and 1975, the MVCC swimming teams won the summer championships in swimming and diving. The ladies'

team won the local championships in 1987, 1989, 1993 and 1997, and men's team won its first championship in 2000. The club also competes in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

, and

Ground

Its original ground was known as "La Blanqueada" or the "English ground", but in 1889, it moved from its original location to make way for a

military hospital A military hospital is a hospital owned and operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a ...

to a new site nearby. This was also known as "La Blanqueada" or the "New Ground" to distinguish it from the original site. The new site was purchased by debentures that members bought. The MVCC moved a third time in 1945 to near the town of

Sayago Sayago is a ''comarca'' (county, but with no administrative role) in the province of Zamora in central Spain. Geography The ''comarca'' is located at the southwest of the Zamora Province. The main geographical characteristic is the isolatio ...

. It moved for a fourth time to Carrasco, in 1955, where fields were shared by

The British Schools of Montevideo The British Schools of Montevideo is a private, coeducational, non-profit school, which aims to give an intensive bilingual education, combining the Uruguayan national curriculum with an English language program. Educational programs and gover ...

. In 1996, the MVCC moved yet again to Solymar on the outskirts of Montevideo. Montevideo Cricket Club in history
, p4, retrieved 31 August 2009

Rugby

English cricket clubs were the incubators of rugby in South America, although rugby has survived much better in these countries than cricket has.Richards, p54, Chapter 2 ''Practising the Games of the Anglo-Saxon...'' It has been claimed that MVCC played

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league. Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...

as early as 1865, but the first certain match was between Uruguayans and British members of the MVCC in 1880. One observer, apparently disdainful of the Britons mixing with the "natives", found it: :"''...at the same time sublime and ridiculous...

hat the A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

young sons of distinguished families practising the games of the Anglo-Saxon in their youth and young Englishmen of blond Albion, face to face ... and on all sides erepeople strangely dressed who ran and shouted, pushed, fell, rose and finished by joining to form now a circle, now a pyramid, now a compact mass in which one could only distinguish heads without shoulders, legs without bodies and hands without arms.''" Carlos E. Cat, also known as "Charlie", was a member of the MVCC, and was also president of the club in 1946. In 1950, the

Campeonato Uruguayo de Rugby The Campeonato Uruguayo de Rugby – named "Copa Amarok" due to sponsorship reasons, is the main competition of Uruguayan rugby union league system. It includes the first, second and third division competitions. It was played for the first time ...

was inaugurated and continues today. The first game was between the MVCC, and

Carrasco Polo Club Carrasco Polo Club is a Uruguayan sports club from the Carrasco, Montevideo, Carrasco neighbourhood of Montevideo. Its name references directly the polo team and the fact that Carrasco has one of Uruguay's leading equestrian centres. Apart from pol ...

. MVCC had some success in the 1950s, winning the national title three times. In recent years however, the club has had to live in the shadows of Montevideo's two powerhouses: Carrasco Polo Club and

Old Christians Club Old Christians Club, or simply Old Christians, is an Uruguayan sports club from the Carrasco neighbourhood of Montevideo. The club is known mostly for its rugby union team that became famous around the world due to the 1972 Uruguayan Air Force ...

Honours

Rugby union

* Campeonato Uruguayo (3) :: 1951, 1953, 1956

References

Bibliography

* Richards, Huw ''A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union'' (

Mainstream Publishing Mainstream Publishing was a publishing company in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1978, it ceased trading in December 2013.Charlotte WilliamsMainstream to cease publishing 1 March 2013, The Bookseller.com' (Retrieved 30 December 2016) It was ass ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, 2007, )
''The Development of Rugby in the River Plate Region: Irish Influences''
by Hugh FitzGerald Ryan in "Irish Migration Studies in Latin America", Society of Irish Latin American Studies.

External links

Official site
{{Rugby union in Uruguay Sport in Montevideo Uruguayan rugby union teams Uruguayan cricket clubs Football clubs in Montevideo Sports clubs established in 1861 Multi-sport clubs in Uruguay Uruguayan field hockey clubs 1861 establishments in Uruguay British immigration to Uruguay Field hockey clubs established in 1861