The Mar del Plata Rugby Union (), abbreviated URMDP, is the organisational body that rules the game of

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...

town and cities of the south of

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. The stadium of Villa Marista is used for rugby matches played by the Union representative side. Apart from Mar del Plata, the Union has teams from the cities of Balcarce, Dolores,

Mar de Ajó Mar de Ajó is a coastal city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, and is located in the southern end of the seaside La Costa Partido (the Coast District). The region is known as the Tuju Corner (Rincón del Tuyú). Etymology It owes its name to ...

, Miramar,

Necochea Necochea is a port and beach city in the southwest of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast, along the mouth of the Quequén Grande River, from Buenos Aires and southwest of Mar del Plata. T ...

Tandil Tandil is the main city of the homonymous partido (department), located in Argentina, in the southeast of Buenos Aires Province, just north-northwest of Tandilia hills. The city was founded in 1823, and its name originates from the '' Piedra M ...

and

Villa Gesell Villa Gesell is a seaside resort city in Villa Gesell Partido, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It was founded in 1931, with the intention of turning a dune field into a timber plantation.

. The union was founded in 1951, and become a member of the

Argentine Rugby Union The Argentine Rugby Union (, 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 Rugby. The UAR organises all the ...

that same year.

History

One of the first rugby union games held in Mar del Plata was played in 1925 by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

''Repulses crew and a team composed of employees of

Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) () was one of the ''Big Four'' Indian gauge, broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 and the f ...

that travelled to Mar del Plata specially for the occasion. A chronicle published on local newspaper ''La Capital'' described the match as follows:''La Capital'' newspaper, 5 Sep 1925 The Mar del Plata Rugby Club was the pioneer in the city, having been established on 13 July 1944. Some of the enthusiasts that made the arrangements for its foundation were Rodolfo Tonneti, José Galarce, and Alberto Hernández, some of them with a past in clubs

Curupaytí Curupaytí Club de Rugby is an Argentine rugby union club located in the Hurlingham district of the homonymous partido. The squad currently plays in Primera División A, the second division of the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires league system. ...

and Hindú. The first committee was formed in Hernández's house, appointing Rómulo Tamini as president of the club. The team started to practise at the beach, then moving to Campo Municipal de Deportes (Municipal Sports Field). In the spring of 1945,

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 ...

clubs

CUBA Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and

Pucará The Pucará culture was an archaeological culture which developed in Qullaw, along the north-western shore of Lake Titicaca. It was characterized by a hierarchy of smaller centers and villages scattered throughout the northern basin of the Titi ...

visited the city. As the city did not have other club than Mar del Plata RC, it only played friendly matches with clubs from neighbor cities such as Independiente (

), Ita-Carú and Duperial. On 25 May 1949 a tournament was held in the city, with Mar del Plata RC, Curupaytí, Pucará 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 ...

. To help the spread of the sport in the city, rugby union was added to programs of Nacional, Comercial and Industrial Schools, with the collaboration of

Physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher Carlos Vecchio. In 1950 the first "Marplatense" championship was held, with Mar del Plata RC and the aforementioned schools contesting the competition. One year later, Bigua RC (a club founded by Jorge Alvear, another teacher of Peralta Ramos Institute) added to competitions. Other clubs added later would be General Pueyrredón and Escuela de Artillería Antiaérea (then renamed "Santa Bárbara"). In August 1951 the first

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

competition was organised as part of the "Second Olympic Games of Mar del Plata", with 13 teams. All the matches were held in the Municipal Park. That would be the first step to form a body, "Unión de Rugby de Mar del Plata", on 27 October 1951 with Alberto Hernández (that had also been the first president of pioneer Mar del Plata RC in 1944) as president. The emblem chosen was a

four-leaf clover The four-leaf clover is a rare mutation of the common three-leaf clover that has four Leaflet (botany), leaflets instead of three. According to traditional sayings, such clovers bring good luck, a belief that dates back to at least the 17th cent ...

with the founding members (Mar del Plata RC, Comercial, Nacional, Industrial and Bigua) colors, red, green, light blue and dark blue. At the beginning of 1952, two rugby fields were built in Parque Camet. Those fields (currently owned by the Municipality) have been used as Mar del Plata RC venue up to present days.

Clubs

Affiliated clubs as of July, 2019:Clubes
on URMP website

Competitions

Clubs from URMDP compete in "Torneo Regional Pampeano" (TRP), contested by teams from the Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires South and Buenos Aires West Unions.Fixtures del Torneo Regional Pampeano
/ref> The last TRP winner is Sociedad Sportiva of

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanc ...

.Mar del Plata Club se quedó con las manos vacías
by Hugo Palavecino on ''La Capital'', 27 Jul 2019 The TRP is composed of two stages, "Clasificatorio" and "Campeonato". The first stage is contested by 8 teams, playing in a single

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

. At the end of the tournament, the six best placed teams qualify for the "Torneo Campeonato A", playing in a double round-robin where the team that totalised most points is crowned champion. TRP also has second and third divisions (named "TRP B" and "TRP C" respectively). Only two clubs from Mar del Plata has won this competition to date, Sporting (five times) and Mar del Plata RC (four times). There is also a

women's rugby A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

competition. The URMDP representative side competed in defunct

Campeonato Argentino The Campeonato Argentino de Mayores (also known as Campeonato Argentino) was an annual rugby union competition held in Argentina for provinces of Argentina, provincial teams. The Campeonato Argentino was strictly amateur, and only players from l ...

, having won its only title in

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Union Marplatense de rugby de Rugby MdP Sport in Mar del Plata Rugby union in Buenos Aires Province 1951 establishments in Argentina Sports organizations established in 1951