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ESTUDIANTES DE
LA PLATA
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Estudiantes de La Plata is a sports club in La Plata, Buenos Aires province,
Argentina, with a history of achievement in professional football.
History
The club was founded in 1905 by students who felt left out by the management
of Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata, which favored indoor games over football.
Its jersey had red and white vertical stripes honoring the Alumni team that
dominated Argentine football in these years, with black pants and gray socks.
In the early days, the team wore a blue blazer on top of the jersey when
entering the pitch.
The stadium opened on 25 December 1907. Before the advent of professionalism,
Estudiantes won the 1913 league title.
When professionalism was adopted in Argentina in the 1930s, Estudiantes had
a fearsome attacking line: Lauri-Scopelli-Zozaya-Ferreyra-Guayta, known as
los profesores (the professors), still regarded as one of Argentina's all-time
finest (Guayta went on to play for the Italy team that conquered the 1938
World Cup). The Sbarra brothers (Raúl and Roberto) were feared defensive
players.
The 1950s saw the rise of Garcerón, Urriolabeitia, Antonio, and striker
Pellegrina.
In the 1960s, Miguel Ignomiriello coached the under-19 team known as la
tercera que mata (the killer juveniles), which was to become the basis,
together with a few acquisitions, of the team coached by Osvaldo Zubeldía
that won the 1967 Metropolitano championship. (1967 was the first year in
which the season was divided into two championships).
Estudiantes thus became the first club outside the "five greats" (Boca
Juniors, River Plate, Racing Club, Independiente, and San Lorenzo) to obtain
professional titles. Other "small" clubs such as Chacarita Juniors and Vélez
Sarsfield were to follow suit in the coming years.
The team went on to secure the Copa Libertadores for three times in a row
(1968 to 1970), and the 1968 Intercontinental Cup against Manchester United.
It lost the series against AC Milan (1969) and Feyenoord (1970).
The last part of the Zubeldía era was marred by the antics of some players.
Following a very violent Intercontinental match against Milan, the entire
team was arrested on orders from Argentine President Juan Carlos Onganía; in
an unprecendented step, goalkeeper Poletti was suspended for life. Because
of several such events, it became a cliché to refer to Zubeldía's football
as el antifútbol.
The captain of the Zubeldía team was Carlos Salvador Bilardo who graduated,
along with teammate Raúl Madero, from the University of Buenos Aires Faculty
of Medicine. It was maybe the only successful professional side ever to
count two doctors among its stars.
After graduation, Bilardo retired and got involved in medical research and
in his family's furniture business. Soon he started to coach, alternating
between Argentine and Colombian sides. He coached Estudiantes in 1982, when
the team won the Metropolitano championship. Under his successor Eduardo
Luján Manera, also a member of the Zubeldía team, the team won the next
tournment as well (the 1983 Nacional). Both wins were at the expense of a
star-studded Independiente.
Bilardo went on to coach the Argentine national team that won the 1986 World
Cup and reached the final of the 1990 edition. Both performances relied
strongly on the talent of Diego Maradona, but Bilardo's tactics (such as
playing with two stoppers and no laterals) were also hailed as innovative.
Estudiantes was relegated in 1994, only to return to the top division on the
very next season. Its performances ever since have been uneven; the club
became more known as the breeding ground for such players as Martín Palermo
and Juan Sebastián Verón.
Stadium and Training Grounds
The Jorge Luis Hirschi stadium has room for 27,000 and is located on Avenue
1, between 55 and 57 streets, in central La Plata. It features wooden boards
(used mostly for standing on) on three of its four sides. The remaining side
is roofed and has better seating arrangements.
The noisiest fans ocupy the northern popular (opposite 55 street), while
visiting fans are welcome in the southern popular. The police usually sets
up security operations including troopers on horseback, cutting traffic on
Avenue 1 both before and after the games.
Even though a new stadium has been built for the city of La Plata, neither
Estudiantes nor rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima have decided on moving their home
games.
The training grounds are located at City Bell, a few kilometres to the north
of La Plata.
Fan Base
Due to its international successes, by the late 1960's Estudiantes had
followers in all of Argentina. Some remained true to its colors in good
times and bad, giving the club a country-wide fan base.
Within the city of La Plata and environs, Estudiantes is regarded as the
club of the middle class, while rival side Gimnasia y Esgrima is identified
with the working class.
In the 1983 presidential election, Estudiantes fans were, together with
their peers from Vélez Sársfield, the first to voice their support for
(eventual winner) Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín and against the Peronistas.
Estudiantes fans are usually on friendly terms with supporters of small
clubs from the South side of Greater Buenos Aires that make it to the top
divisions. This was especially true of Temperley and Lanús.
Nicknames
The legend has it that the early training fields were infested with rats,
and the players spent much time and effort chasing after them. Hence the
classic nickname, pincharratas (rat-stabbers), which is sometimes shortened
to pinchas. This nickname extends to the fans.
Some claim that the "rat-stabbing" actually refers to the laboratory work
done by the many Medicine students among the club's early members.
The fans also call the team el león (the lion).
List of Famous Players
Lauri
Scopelli
Zozaya
Manuel Ferreyra
Guayta
Roberto Sbarra
Raúl Sbarra
Garcerón
Urriolabeitia
Antonio
Pellegrina
Alberto Poletti
Aguirre Suárez
Manera
Flores
Conigliaro
Echecopar
"Cacho" Malbernat
Dr. Carlos Salvador Bilardo
Dr. Raúl Madero
Carlos Pachamé
Juan Ramón Verón
Vicente Pernía
Rubén Oscar Pagnanini
Rubén Horacio Galletti
Franco Frasoldatti
Abel Ernesto Herrera
Sergio Fortunato
José Luis Brown
Miguel Angel Russo
Julián Camino
Alejandro Sabella
Hugo Ernesto Gottardi
Marcelo Antonio Trobbiani
José Daniel Ponce
Martín Palermo
Rubén Capria
Juan Sebastián Verón
Luciano Galletti
Leonel Scaloni
Prátola
Ernesto Farías
José Sosa
Marcelo Carrusca |
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