Estadio Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry


Estadio Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverri, formerly known as Estadio Ferro Carril Oeste, is a stadium located in the Caballito district of Buenos Aires. It is the home venue of Club Ferro Carril Oeste. The stadium, opened in 1905 and located close to Caballito station of Sarmiento Line, has a current capacity of 24,442.
Inaugurated on 2 January 1905, Ferro Carril Oeste is the oldest football stadium of Argentina and the second in South America after Estadio Gran Parque Central.
Because of being located near the geographic centre of Buenos Aires, several former clubs used it as their home venues. Some of them were Alumni, Barracas AC, San Lorenzo, Argentinos Juniors, among others.
The stadium also hosted test matches played by the Argentina national rugby union team during the 1970s and 1980s, where Argentina played Ireland, New Zealand, France and Australia among others. In Ferro Carril Oeste, Argentina achieved notable wins over Australia and France, and a celebrated 21–21 tie vs the All Blacks in 1985.

History

The stadium was built on a land granted by the manager of Buenos Aires Western Railway in 1905. That same year the first wooden grandstand was built. The first official match was played here on 21 April 1907, when Ferro C. Oeste and Plate tied 2–2. In 1906, the first official grandstand was built. Due to being linked with the Western Railway company, the club hosted several sports activities in 1907 to celebrate the 50th. anniversary of first railway line in Argentina.
some years earlier
The first notable event hosted by the stadium was the 1907 Tie Cup final where Alumni defeated Uruguayan side CURCC 3–1. As Alumni did not have own venue, the team played its home matches at Ferro C. Oeste between 1907 and 1909. Although Ferro C. Oeste played in the Second Division, its stadium was a frecquent venue for several Primera División matches by other teams.
When the Flores Athletic Club disbanded in 1907, Ferro Carril Oeste acquired some of its facilities such as tennis and paleta courts. In September 1931, the official grandstand was completely destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt. During the 1930s, the club got materials in change for football players. Some transfers made that way were Federici to Huracán and Arcadio López to Boca Juniors. In this case, the club received a whole wooden grandstand that had been part of the old Boca Juniors stadium. Two years later, Boca Juniors opened La Bombonera, made of concrete. The wooden grandstand was located on Martín de Gainza street.
Apart from football, the stadium was used for midget car racings from the 1940s to the 1960s. In 1970, the club built a gymnasium under the official grandstand, which was inaugurated in 1972.

Concerts

Since the 1980s the Ferro Carril Oeste stadium has hosted a large amount of artists performing there, mostly rock bands.
Local rockstar Charly García gave his first concert as soloist there in 1982, with an attendance of 25,000 people.
The first international artist to have performed at Ferro was British band The Cure in 1987, in a caotic concert that finished in a riot where hooligans and policemen fight inside and outside the stadium. During the following years, several artists performed in the stadium, having hosted three editions of the Monsters of Rock metal festival, in 1995, 1997 and 2005.
Some of the most notable local bands performing at Ferro were Riff, Rata Blanca, Soda Stereo and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.