Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club, sometimes known simply as Buenos Aires, is an Argentine sports club based in San Fernando, Buenos Aires.
Having set its official date of foundation on December 8, 1864, the club claims to be the oldest club still in existence in Argentina, according to reports of a cricket match played by the club in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, in 1831.
A highlight of club's history was in 1951 when the Buenos Aires FC (established in 1886 as a rugby union club and founder member of the "River Plate Rugby Championship" (now the Argentine Rugby Union"Hechos históricos de la Unión" at UAR website) merged to BACC, renaming "Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club".
Since then, rugby union became the main sport of the institution.
Rugby's senior squad participates in Top 12, the highest division of the URBA league system.
The club also has a women's field hockey team that plays in the Torneo Metropolitano B (Second Division), organised by the Buenos Aires Hockey Association (AHBA), while the cricket squad competes in the Argentine Cricket Association tournaments.
Other sports practised at BACRC are football and golf.
History
Cricket origins
thumb|left|170px|Buenos Aires C.C. team of 1867
The exact date of establishment of the "Buenos Aires Cricket Club" is not clear because of the fire that destroyed most of the club's facilities and its archives.
Nevertheless, there are records of a cricket match played by members of the club in the Recoleta district of Buenos Aires in 1831, where a flag with the legend "Buenos Aires Cricket Club" was displayed.
That match was covered by English language newspaper The British Packet, published in Buenos Aires.
The first president of the club was British consul Frank Parish, named in 1858.
In April, 1868, BACC played its first club match facing  Montevideo Cricket Club (MVCC) in the city of Montevideo.
BACC won by 156–124.
The rematch was played in Buenos Aires in 1869, where BACC defeated Montevideo again by 174–121.
On 8 December 1864, the club officially inaugurated its game field in Parque Tres de Febrero of Palermo, Buenos Aires, where the Galileo Galilei planetarium is placed nowadays.
That day BACC defeated  team by 85 runs to 31, just 6 days before that ship would be destroyed in a fire on the River Plate, in a freak target practice accident.
In 1877 the BACC played its first match against Rosario Cricket Club.
Football and rugby pioneers
On 26 June 1867, several members of the club met on the Buenos Aires Cricket Club's field in Palermo, Buenos Aires to play what would be the first game of football ever played in Argentina.
The game, had originally planned to be played in La Boca but had to be moved due to floods.150 años del primer partido de fútbol en Argentina by Jorge Gallego on Telam, 20 June 2017
The game was such a success that some members would go on to found the Buenos Aires Football Club, which would be the first football club in South America.
For years to come both clubs would share facilities and members with the BACC playing cricket in the summer and BAFC playing football in the winter."
El fútbol nacional cumple años", Clarín, 20 June 2007"140 años del primer partido de fútbol en la Argentina", by Eduardo Cantaro, 2007
Rugby union rules were first adopted by Buenos Aires FC in 1874  but the club was dissolved one year later.Historia del Fútbol Amateur en la Argentina, by Jorge Iwanczuk.
Published by Autores Editores (1992) –
In 1886 a new a new "Buenos Aires Football Club" was founded as a rugby union club exclusively.
The club played against Rosario AC, being the first time two different clubs ever met for an interprovincial rugby game in the country."
Cuando el Rosario Athletic salió campeón... de fútbol" – CIHF
In 1899, along with Rosario AC, Belgrano AC and Lomas, Buenos Aires FC became a founding member of "The River Plate Rugby Championship", which would later become today's Argentine Rugby Union.
The first Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires championship was created the same year.
Buenos Aires won 8 of the first 15 editions of this tournament.
During the decades of the 1920, 1930 and 1940 the club would not win any title, finding strong resistance in younger clubs; such as CA San Isidro and San Isidro Club, which have won most of the URBA titles to date.
A new foundation
In 1948 the facilities of the BACC were destroyed by the fire (some sources affirm it was intentional although those versions could never be confirmed).
The fire destroyed most of the archives and documents of the club.
Three years later, more precisely on 4 May 1951, both clubs BACC and BAFC decided to merge into one, under the name "Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club"."
El club de rugby más antiguo de la Argentina" at Rugbytime.com , 19 September 2008"Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby Club" at Centro de Documentación, Investigación y Referencia Histórica-Deportiva, June 2009 The recently created club had not a definitive location until 1952 when it moved to the Don Torcuato district, where Buenos Aires CRC established its headquarters.
The club stayed there until 1987, when the lands were sold to Hindú Club.
Buenos Aires would move again that same year to San Fernando, Buenos Aires, where it has remained up to present days.
In 1997 BACRC inaugurated the first purpose-built rugby union stadium in Argentina, erected in Los Polvorines, Greater Buenos Aires.
A total of nine international games were played there by the Argentina national team.
In 2005, the land where the stadium had been built, was sold to a Germany-based company."
Adiós a un escenario de triunfos históricos", Clarín, 4 December 2005 Field hockey
"Surí Hockey Club" was established as a women's field hockey club by a group of former students of the Northlands and St. Hilda's schools.
In 1945 Surí ("rhea" in Quechua languages) began to play the tournaments organized by field hockey association, starting at third division.
After many years playing its home games at different venues due to Surí not having a stadium, the team finally joined BACRC in 1966, changing its name to Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires and its predecessor Surí have been successful teams in Argentine hockey, winning a total of 7 Metropolitano championships between 1962 and 1988, 2 by Surí and 5 by BACRC."
Ganadores campeonatos de primera división" – HSRA website
In 2007 the club inaugurated its synthetic grass hockey field in San Fernando.
The women's field hockey team plays its home games there since then."
Buenos Aires Cricket inauguró una cancha de césped sintético" , El Comercio Online, 12 August 2007"Buenos Aires Cricket & Rugby ya tiene su cancha sintética", La Nación, 14 August 2007 Honours
Cricket
Primera División (18): 1904–05, 1919–20, 1924–25, 1927–28, 1930–31, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1949–50, 1952–53, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1971–72, 1975/76, 1976–77"Todos los campeones 1897–2010" at Argentine Cricket Association website
Rugby union
Torneo de la URBA (10): 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1908, 1909, 1915, 1958, 1959
See also
Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground
Buenos Aires F.C.
Notes
References
External links
Rugby union clubs in Buenos Aires Province Category:Rugby clubs established in 1864 Category:Cricket clubs established in 1864 Category:Cricket teams in Argentina b Category:Football clubs in Buenos Aires Province Category:1864 establishments in Argentina
