Buenos Aires Football Club (1886)

The Buenos Aires Football Club (frequently abbreviated as "BAFC") was an Argentine rugby union club founded in Buenos Aires. Established in 1886 it was predecessor of current Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club. Buenos Aires FC was also a founding member of the Argentine Rugby Union and one of the most successful rugby clubs in Argentina, winning eight River Plate Rugby Union (current "Torneo de la URBA") championships from 1900 to 1915.

This article is about the rugby union club founded in 1886. For the pioneer football club founded by Thomas Hogg, see Buenos Aires Football Club.
See also: Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club
Buenos Aires FC
Full nameBuenos Aires Football Club
Founded10 June 1886 [1][2]
Dissolved4 May 1951 (1951-05-04)
(merged into Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club)
Ground
LeagueTorneo de la URBA
1950(unknown)

History
Buenos Aires FC in 1891
Buenos Aires FC in 1922, as covered by El Gráfico magazine

The club was established on 10 June 1886 in the Buenos Aires English High School by a group of rugby enthusiasts who wanted their own place where they could practise the sport they loved. On 24 June the club played its first match against a team formed by employees of the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway ("Ferrocarril del Sud").[1]

Buenos Aires FC is regarded to have played the first inter-clubs rugby game in Argentina, when it faced Rosario AC in the city of Rosario on 28 June 1886.[4] On 12 July a second game was played between clubs, Buenos Aires FC being the winner.[5]

In 1899, along with club Belgrano, Rosario, Lomas and Flores,[3] Buenos Aires became founding member of the "River Plate Rugby Championship", which would become today's Argentine Rugby Union.[6] Buenos Aires would also open the first season of the recently created championship, playing Lomas, which defeated Buenos Aires by 11-4.[7] Lomas would finally win the first title at the end of the season.[5]

Buenos Aires later became one of the most successful clubs of Argentina, winning eight championships of 16 contested (five of them consecutively from 1900 to 1904).

After a fire that destroyed the facilities both clubs shared, Buenos Aires FC merged with Buenos Aires Cricket Club in 1951 to form Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club.

Honours

Rugby union
1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1908, 1909, 1915

Clarification

Due to there were at least two more clubs named "Buenos Aires Football Club", the origins of those institutions must be cleared to avoid confusions:

  • The first Buenos Aires Football Club, established in 1867 and recognized as the first football club not only in Argentina but in South America. Having adopted the association football rules at first, the club then switched to rugby union rules in 1874,[1][8] until it was dissolved in the 1880s.[9]
  • In 1891, a third "Buenos Aires Football Club" took part of the first association football championship held in Argentina, being its only participation in an official competition. It is believed that the team was formed exclusively to play the tournament, with no further records about its activities in subsequent years. The team's jersey was red and white in vertical stripes.[8]

Notes
  1. The 1899 championship fixture indicated that BAFC played its home venues at Lomas.[3] It is unknown if the club continued using that venue in successive years.

References
  1. Historia del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina, by Jorge Iwanczuk. Published by Autores Editores (1992) - ISBN 9504343848
  2. "50 años del Buenos Aires Football Club" by Hugo Mackern on El Gráfico #877, 2 May 1936
  3. Fundación del River Plate Rugby Union Championship on Atlético del Rosario website, 18 Apr 2019
  4. "Cuando el Rosario Athletic salió campeón... de fútbol" - CIHF Archived 2014-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ""Historia del Club" at BACRC website". Archived from the original on 2014-09-13. Retrieved 2013-01-22.
  6. "Hechos históricos de la Unión" at UAR website
  7. "Leslie Corry Smith, el primer referee oficial de Argentina", by Rubén Ayala at Lomas AC website Archived 2013-02-19 at Archive.today
  8. Historia de Fútbol de AFA: Orígenes 1891/1899, by Carlos Yametti. Published by Edición del Autor (2011) - ISBN 978-987-05-9773-5
  9. El Origen Británico del Deporte Argentino, by Víctor Raffo, published by Gráfica MPS (2004) - ISBN 987-43-8107-8
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