Belgrano Athletic Club
Belgrano Athletic Club is an Argentine amateur sports club from Belgrano, Buenos Aires. One of Argentina's oldest institutions still in existence, Belgrano was one of the four clubs that founded the Argentine Rugby Union in 1899. The senior team currently competes at Top 12, the first division of the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires league system.
Belgrano Athletic was one of the most prominent teams during the first years of football in Argentina, having won three domestic league titles, one national cup and two international cups. Belgrano's arch-rival during those years was Alumni, also from Belgrano neighborhood. Belgrano disaffiliated from the Argentine Association in late 1910s, focusing on rugby union and other sports. Football is no longer practised at the club.
Belgrano's field hockey team currently takes part of Metropolitano championships organised by the Buenos Aires Hockey Association.
The club's facilities are divided between two locations: its main building sited in Belgrano and another one located in Pilar.
Apart from the sports mentioned above, several activities are practised at the club nowadays, such as bowls, cricket, gymnastics, pilates, squash, swimming, tennis and yoga.
History
The beginning: Football
There are records of a football match played by the members of the "Club Inglés de Belgrano" in 1894, where Belgrano Athletic Club was officially founded on 17 August 1896.Belgrano AC participated in the Primera División from 1896 to 1916. The squad won three league titles in 1899, 1904 and 1908, and also won a number of other tournaments including domestic cup Copa de Honor and international competitions Tie Cup and Copa de Honor Cousenier.
Belgrano Athletic played one of the earliest football rivalries against Belgrano neighbours Alumni, the most successful team of Argentine until its dissolution in 1911. Both teams were so strong that they won all of the thirteen league titles contested between 1899 and 1911.
Belgrano AC would achieve a historic victory over River Plate, defeating the Millonario 10–1 in 1912. That was the worst defeat of River Plate in club's history.
Despite of being one of the most notable football teams during the first years of that sport in Argentina, Belgrano was relegated from the Argentine Primera División, along with Quilmes in 1916.
Belgrano never returned to the first division, and the club later disaffiliated from the Argentine Association, focusing on the practise of other sports, mainly rugby union.
Rugby union
Belgrano Athletic rugby union team is one of the most successful teams in the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires, having won a total of 10 provincial titles. In 1899, along with club Buenos Aires, Lomas, Flores and Rosario AC, Belgrano became a founding member of the "River Plate Rugby Championship", the origin of today's Argentine Rugby Union.The first title obtained in rugby union was in 1907, playing 16 matches with 13 victories, 1 drew and only 2 lost. The team scored 233 points and only received 29 at the end of the tournament. That same year the club built the stadium's grandstands with a capacity of 600. In 1909 the Government of Argentina approved the statute of the club.
Its main rivals are Belgrano district's other big club, Alumni. In 2016, Belgrano won its 11° URBA championship after 48 years without league titles. Belgrano defeated former champion Hindú at the final, played in San Isidro.
Cricket
The first recorded cricket match held on the clubs cricket ground came when the Northern Suburbs and the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1912. First-class cricket was first played there in 1927 when Argentina played the Marylebone Cricket Club. Five further first-class matches were played there, the last of which saw Argentina play Sir TEW Brinckman's XI in 1938. Still in use to the present day, the ground held matches in the South American Championships and the Americas Championships in recent times, as well as hosting matches in the 2009 ICC World Cricket League Division Three.Uniform evolution
It is believed that the first Belgrano A.C. football squad wore black and gold shirts, as they were depicted in early team photos. In 1907 the club adopted the Central Argentine Railway corporate colors as most of the club members were employees of that company. In 1919 Belgrano A.C. changed its colors again, adopting the maroon and gold as the railway had changed its colors shortly before.Notes:
- 1 This uniform has been worn as the away kit for the rugby team in recent years.
Honours
Cricket
- Primera División : 1902-03, 1905–06, 1906–07, 1907–08, 1908–09, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1914–15, 1918–19, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1926–27, 1928–29, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1958–59, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2015–16
Football
Domestic
- Primera División : 1899, 1904, 1908
- Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires : 1907
- Copa Bullrich : 1905
International
- Tie Cup : 1900
- Copa de Honor Cousenier : 1907
Rugby union
- Torneo de la URBA : 1907, 1910, 1914, 1921, 1936, 1940, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 2016
Field hockey
- Metropolitano Primera División : 1942, 1946, 1949, 1974
Notable athletes
- Carlos Edgard Dickinson, former football captain that scored the first Argentina national football team goal ever in an official match. It was against Uruguay on 20 July 1902. Argentina won 6–0.
- Arturo Forrester, the first Argentine footballer to score against a British team. It was in the match v Southampton FC, when the English side toured on South America in 1904.
- A.C. Addecott, former football captain.
- Arnold Watson Hutton, forward, previously in Alumni, also international with Argentina.
- Jeannette Campbell, silver medalist swimmer at the 1936 Olympics.
- Lisandro Arbizu, former rugby union footballer for Los Pumas.
- Magdalena Aicega, former field hockey captain of Las Leonas.
- Rosario Luchetti, current field hockey player of Las Leonas.