El Gasómetro, officially named San Lorenzo Stadium,
[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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
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 completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...
located in the neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
of Boedo in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
. Inaugurated in 1916, the stadium was the home ground of club San Lorenzo de Almagro
Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...
before they moved to their new venue, Estadio Pedro Bidegain, which is sometimes referred to as ''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, very common at the time. It has a capacity of 75,000 spectators, being the largest stadium of Argentina until the construction of El Cilindro, home venue of Racing Club de Avellaneda
Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...
, inaugurated in 1950.[EL CILINDRO DE AVELLANEDA CUMPLE 65 AÑOS]
on DXTV, 3 September 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.
History
The stadium was inaugurated on May 7, 1916, in a Primera División match between San Lorenzo and Estudiantes de La Plata
( lit. "La Plata Students"), 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, where it has spent most of its histo ...
, 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 6 August in the hospital. Urso had been injured in a match against Estudiantes de Buenos Aires
Club Atlético Estudiantes, usually called Estudiantes de Caseros or Estudiantes de Buenos Aires, is an Argentina, Argentine association football, football club from Caseros, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association football, fo ...
, where he broke some ribs after a collision with an opponent. 7,000 people attended Urso's funeral, with his coffin being carried by his teammates and players of Czech team Teplitzer FK, which was touring Argentina at the time of the funeral.
In June 1928, San Lorenzo acquired the land they rented 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 (), nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' (), represents Argentina in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino ( ...
played its first match at Gasómetro on June 16, 1929, beating Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
2–0 in a friendly match. Both teams faced again on 28 September in a Copa Lipton match, in front of a huge attendance.[
]
Despite 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 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 Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...
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 professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...
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 Group, S.A. (, ), is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, Essonne, Massy, France. It operates a chain of hypermarkets, grocery stores and convenience stores. By 2024, the group had 14,000 ...
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 (, ; ) is a city square and the 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 known as ''Pl ...
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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Estadio Gasometro
gasom
Gasometro