Vélez Sarsfield Pan American Tour 1930-31

The tourists in Mexico - the familiar V strip was adopted in In 1933, the jerseys shown here were the original red, white and green stripes.

It was quite an undertaking.
Boca Juniors had toured Europe for 4 months in 1925. In 1930 Vélez Sarsfield embarked on a tour of the Americas that occupied 6 months.With a budget of 10,000 pesos and a daily allowance of 250 pesos per man, the party traveled up the west coast of South America, through the Panama canal to Mexico, Cuba and the USA before retracing their route.
Vélez Sarsfield had finished 15th in the huge 36 team Primera División of 1930. It was a transitional period in Argentine football- the next domestic season saw the introduction of professionalism, Vélez finishing 9th in an 18 team division. (Boca Juniors were champions on both occasions).
The tour party was made up of the following players:

Clelio Caucia	Norberto Arroupe
Eleuterio Forrester	Saúl Quiroga
Manuel De Saa*	Alberto Alvarez
Alfredo Sánchez	Ernesto Garbini
Rodolfo Devoto	Eduardo Spraggon
Guests:
Fernando Paternoster (Racing) *	Carlos Volante (San Lorenzo de Almagro)*
Bernabé Ferreyra (Tigre) *	Geronimo Díaz (Newell's Old Boys )*
Alberto Chividini (Estudiantil Porteño)*	Agustín Peruch (Newell's Old Boys)
Francisco Varallo (Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata) *

* Argentine internationals.

The guests were a distinguished group - Paternoster and Varallo had played in a World Cup Final.
Varallo recalled the long sea voyage:
 We’d train on the ship, and got so used to it that when we were on the ground, it seemed like everything around was still moving!
Bernabé Ferreyra couldn't stop scoring  wherever he played. On this tour he averaged more than a goal a game. The following year he joined River Plate , becoming the World's most expensive player, the astronomical fee remaining unbeaten for 20 years.

Chile
30.11.30	Colo-Colo	2	4	Vélez Sarsfield
07.12.30	Combinado Valparaíso	1	3	Vélez Sarsfield
08.12.30	Colo-Colo	2	2	Vélez Sarsfield
13.12.30	Everton	0	1	Vélez Sarsfield
Peru
20.12.30	Universidad de Lima	3	5	Vélez Sarsfield
Cuba
01.01.31	Juventud Asturiana	1	3	Vélez Sarsfield
04.01.31	Fortuna	0	6	Vélez Sarsfield
11.01.31	Sp.Centro Gallego	0	3	Vélez Sarsfield
Mexico
18.01.31	Germania	1	3	Vélez Sarsfield
25.01.31	Marte	3	5	Vélez Sarsfield
01.02.31	Atalante	1	1	Vélez Sarsfield
05.02.31	Asturias	1	4	Vélez Sarsfield
08.02.31	Atalante	2	4	Vélez Sarsfield
USA
21.02.31	New York Stars	1	3	Vélez Sarsfield
22.02.31	Fall River	5	2	Vélez Sarsfield
23.02.31	Hakoah All Stars	1	3	Vélez Sarsfield
Cuba
03.03.31	Juventud Asturiana	1	1	Vélez Sarsfield
Peru
15.03.31	Alianza	1	1	Vélez Sarsfield
19.03.31	Combinado de Huacho	0	9	Vélez Sarsfield
23.03.31	Alianza	1	2	Vélez Sarsfield
29.03.31	Atlético Chalaco	1	7	Vélez Sarsfield
02.04.31	Universidad de Lima	0	3	Vélez Sarsfield
05.04.31	Alianza	3	3	Vélez Sarsfield
Chile
15.04.31	Combinado Valparaíso	0	3	Vélez Sarsfield
22.04.31	Colo-Colo	2	3	Vélez Sarsfield

P	W	D	L	F	A
25	19	5	1	84	33

Scorers:

Ferreyra	38*
Varallo	14
Quiroga	8
Alvarez	7
Spraggon	6
Peruch	5
Devoto	3
Garbini	1

*37 in some sources.

1931 

El Primer Millonario

In 1931 when professionalism was legalized in Argentinian football, River paid Club Sportivo Buenos Aires 10,000 pesos for Carlos Peucelle . The following season they laid out 35,000 pesos for Bernabé Ferreyra. The club became known as Los Millonarios- Peucelle was El Primer Millonario- the first of the millionaires.
By the time he joined River  the 23 year old Peucelle had played in the 1930 World Cup Final (scoring in the semi final and the final) and been a part of  Argentina's successful 1929 Copa America team.  Domestic success came with River, 4 Premier Division titles and a further Copa America winners medal in 1937.
Peucelle was notoriously versatile;  he could play effectively in just about any outfield position, and gloried in the nickname Barullo (something akin to commotion).

Transfers

After the legalization of professionalism in 1885, the players were theoretically in a position to sell their labour  to whoever they wished. To ensure that the balance of power in the relationships between clubs (businesses) and their players (the workers) remained firmly in favour of the clubs, the FA introduced  the ‘retain and transfer’ system, which  gave clubs a great deal of power over the players. Once signed, having collected a maximum fee of £10, the player effectively became the property of the club.

The first player to be transferred for over £100 (£9,000)*  was Willie Groves (Scotland) who went from West Bromwich Albion to Aston Villa in 1893.

Andy McCombie(Scotland) was transferred from Sunderland to Newcastle United  in February 1904 for a fee of £700 (£61,000)*

Alf Common (England) was the first four figure player.

In February 1905, he moved from Sunderland to Middlesbrough for £1,000 (£86,879)*

1913 George Utley (England), from Barnsley to Sheffield United  £2,000 (£180,000)*

1913 Percy Dawson (England), from Heart of Midlothian  to Blackburn Rovers £2,500 (£225,000)*

1922 Syd Puddefoot (England), from West Ham to Falkirk  £5,000 (£192,500)*

1922 Warney Cresswell (England), from South Shields to Sunderland £5,500 (£211,750)*

1925 Bob Kelly (England), from Burnley to Sunderland  £6,550 (£ 310,700)*

1928 David Jack (England), from Bolton to Arsenal  £10,890 (£534000)*

1932 Bernabé Ferreyra (Argentina), from Tigre to River Plate  £23,000 (£1,230,500)*

* approximate 2012 value in brackets.