Copa Ricardo Aldao

As we have seen , the tradition of trans Platense football dates back to 1889, and Argentine and Uruguayan teams had been playing each other since Albion crossed the river to play Retiro and Belgrano in 1896.

During the first quarter of the 20th century there was something of a mania for copas contested by leading teams from the 2 republics. 
The Copa Ricardo Aldao (also known as the Copa Rio de la Plata and the Campeonato Rioplatense) was established by Dr. Ricardo Camilo Aldao, president of Federación Argentina de Football (1912-1914) and Asociación Argentina de Football  (1918-1919). He was also the president of the Buenos Aires club Gimnasia y Esgrima.
The initial edition of the Cup was due to take place in 1913. Federación Argentina de Football champions Estudiantes took on Liga Uruguaya winners River Plate. Or did they? According to Argentinian historian Miguel Bionda (author of Historia del Fútbol Platense) Estudiantes won 4-1 (in a match played at Montevideo on 17.05.14). Contemporary newspaper reports state that  the game was either abandoned or not played at all due to torrential rainfall. It is speculated that Snr.Bionda has misattributed the result of one of three friendlies played between Estudiantes and River Plate in 1913.

The cup was definitely contested in 1916. On December 3rd at Buenos Aires Nacional defeated Racing Club de Avellaneda 2-1. Both clubs enjoyed a period of considerable dominance in domestic football. Racing won seven consecutive championships from 1913 to 1919.
In 1917 the same two sides drew 2-2 in Montevideo. The trophy was awarded to Racing Club as they were the visitors. 




In 1918 Racing Club defended the trophy successfully on home soil, defeating Peñarol 2-1.
1919 saw a home town victory for Nacional, defeating Boca Juniors 3-0. The same clubs met again on the opposite side of the River Plate in 1920. Nacional again emerged victorious, by 2-1.

The competition then became somewhat sporadic.
San Lorenzo de Almagro travelled to Montevideo and defeated Rampla Jniors (1-0) in 1927.
In 1928 Peñarol won the trophy with a 3-0 win over Huracan at Buenos Aires.

The competition was revivied in the 1930s. Club Athletico River Plate of Buenos Aires enjoying successive wins over Peñarol in 1936 and 1937.

Racing Club de Avellaneda

 Racing Club de Avallaneda traces its origins to Football Club Barracas al Sud, formed in 1901 by students at  Colegio Nacional Central, reputedly the first club to be formed by native born Argentinians rather than British incomers. 
After some internal wrangling over colours and the like the club became consolidated as Racing Club in 1903, taking its name from the Parisian team.
Racing Club joined the  Argentine Football Association in 1905. they were promoted to the Primera División in 1910.
During the following decade they enjoyed a period of spectacular dominance in the league.
Here are the statistics from the 7 consecutive seasons in which Racing Club won league titles:

	P	W	D	L	F	A
1913	20	17	1	2	52	6
1914	12	11	1	0	42	7
1915	25	23	2	0	96	5
1916	21	15	4	2	39	10
1917	20	16	3	1	58	4
1918	19	17	2	0	49	9
1919	13	13	0	0	43	10
totals	130	112	13	5	379	51
		86%			2.91	0.39

1913-18: Asociación Argentina de Football (up until there were 2 Leagues, Asociación Argentina de Football  and Federación Argentina de Football these merged in 1915)

1919: Asociación Amateurs de Football (this was a dissident league)

Ohaco

The leading crack at Racing during this era was  Alberto Ohaco. In 11 seasons at the club he won 19 trophies, including 8 league championships (7 in succession). He was league top scorer for 4 seasons in a row (1912-1915). In all he scored 244 goals in 278 league matches. 

Ferencváros tour of South America 1929

The South American Hungarian Journal welcomes Ferencváros

Two shots of Amsel Ignác in action on 21.07.29 

28.07.29

In the summer of 1929 the Hungarian club Ferencváros toured South America. The tour proved a popular attraction. The highlight for the tourists was a 3-2 win over the Olympic champions Uruguay. Ferencváros, winners of the Mitropa Cup in 1928, had 16 internationals in the 17 player squad.

Tour party:
Players
 Siflis Geza (Yugoslavia)
Furmann Karoly (Hungary)
Berkessy Elemér (Hungary)
Takács Josef (Hungary)
Turay Jozef (Hungary)
Toldi Geza (aka Tunigold) (Hungary)
Kovacs Karoly
Takács Geza  (Hungary)
Obitz Gabor (Hungary)
Tancos Mihaly (aka Tanzer) (Romania & Hungary)
Bukovi Marton (Hungary)
Kohut Vilmos (Hungary)
Lyka Antal (Hungary)
Szedlacsik Ferenc (Czechoslovakia & Hungary)
Rázsó Izidor (Rothenstein Mor) (Hungary)
Amsel Ignác (Hungary)
Hungler Janos (Hungary)
Papp Lajos (Hungary)


Coach

István Tóth

Others
Sándor Bródy

30.06.29	Sao Paulo Select	1	2	Ferencváros
Such selection XIs were a staple of Brazilian football, and they often had the quality of a national side.
04.07.29	America	1	1	Ferencváros
América were 1928 Carioca champions.
07.07.29	Rio Select	3	3	Ferencváros
11.07.29	Brazil	2	0	Ferencváros
Played at Laranjeiras. A lot of new faces in the Brazil team, but a strong line-up.  Toldi was sent off.
14.07.29	Palestra Italia	5	2	Ferencváros
The club now known as Palmeiras, originating in São Paulo's Italian community.
21.07.29	Uruguay	2	3	Ferencváros
In-between 2 World Championships the Celeste were caught out here. In a game in which substitutes were used, Fradi took the lead in the 6th minute. The visitors were 3-0 on 40 minutes. The halftime whistle went after 43 minutes and the interval lasted 20 minutes. In the last minutes Uruguay pulled it back to 3-2 when the ref awarded a penalty for a foul that was committed a metre outside the box. The second half was 49 minutes long, but Uruguay couldn’t find an equaliser.
25.07.29	Montevideo Select	1	4	Ferencváros
The Montevideo selection featured 7 players from the 1928 Olympic winning team.
28.07.29	Uruguay	3	0	Ferencváros
Revenge for the Olympic champions. Hungarian reports criticised the tour management for agreeing to a rematch and suggest that there was no way that Uruguay would be defeated twice in a week, hinting at some dirty play from Andrade in particular. Uruguay convincing winners though.
01.08.29	River Plate	3	4	Ferencváros
The opponents were CARP (not the Montevideo club) the tourists crossed La Plata a few times in the course of their journeys.
03.08.29	Penarol	2	0	Ferencváros
Champions of Uruguay.
05.08.29	Racing Club	1	2	Ferencváros
Racing Club de Avellaneda.
10.08.29	Argentina	2	0	Ferencváros
A game played by public demand. 3 months later Argentina would become South American champions in   Buenos Aires. Here it was 0-0 until the 80th minute.
13.08.29	Racing Club	1	2	Ferencváros
17.08.29	Sao Paulo	2	1	Ferencváros

P	W	D	L	F	A
14	6	2	6	24	30

Juan Botasso

The elegance of Argentine goalkeepers during the 1920s and 30s is a subject we have touched on before.
 This photograph shows how Juan Botasso continued that tradition. Botasso was just 1.69 m.
Remarkably his only 2 international appearances were a World Cup semi final and final.
Botasso inspired a Tango, Cortina Metálica (metal curtain)  composed by Padula and Zamora.

Bottaso played for Argentino de Quilmes (1927-1930) before joining
Racing Club de Avellaneda. After 8 years with Racing he returned to Quilmes and played a further 8 seasons in the second division.

Fernando Paternoster

A button badge presented by an automobile dealers in Buenos Aires showing  Fernando Paternoster of 
Racing Club de Avellaneda. joined Racing from Club Atlético Atlanta in 1923. 
A left back who liked to get forward on the wing, Paternoster's clean, elegant style earned him the nickname El Marqués (The Marquis) . He was also Known as Flaco (Skinny).
His 16 match international career (1928–30) saw him win a South American Championship (1929) but finish on the losing side in both an Olympic and World Cup Final.