Old Georgian Club
 | |
| Full name | Old Georgian Club |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | Dragón |
| Headquarters | Palermo, Buenos Aires |
| Ground | Quilmes, Greater Buenos Aires [1] |
| Founded | 28 April 1908 |
| Club colors |
(White, Red, Navy Blue) |
| Activities | Cricket, Football, Rugby union |
| Chairman | Robert Watson |
| Website | oldgeorgianclub.com.ar |
Old Georgian Club is an Argentine sports club located in Palermo, Buenos Aires. Founded in 1908 by alumni of St. George's College of Quilmes, the club sees itself as a pillar of Buenos Aires' British community.
Originally a rugby union club, the club expanded its activities to cricket and football.[2]
History
On April 28, 1908, headmaster of St. George's college Joseph Stevenson, and sixteen alumni established Old Georgian Club. The rugby team entered the River Plate Rugby Union Championship (current Argentine Rugby Union) in 1935, winning the 1937, 1938 and 1939 championships.
Rugby was incorporated as sport into the St. George's College of Quilmes, Buenos Aires, in 1921. Two years later, the first match between the St. George's students and former alumni (self-named "Old Georgian") was played.
The team affiliated to the Argentine Rugby Union in 1935, and due to its high performances Old Georgian was invited to play in first division in 1936. The first match at the top level was played on May 11, 1936 against Pacific Club (today San Martín) winning 11-5.
Rugby team was specially successful during the 1930s, winning three Torneo de la URBA consecutive championships between 1937 (remaining unbeaten) and 1939, which would be the club's only titles. Argentine newspaper La Prensa published about those achievements: "With this victory, Old Georgian has established as the best rugby academy of our country" [3]
When the World War II began, many players departed from the club to fight for Great Britain. From 1936 to 1954 many Old Georgian players were called to play for the national team.[3]
By the 1970s it became increasingly difficult to find enough players to field competitive teams, although the club was able to tour Kenya in 1973, playing against several teams including Scorpions RFC. By 1978 the practice of rugby had been abandoned. Efforts were made in 1995 to resume playing but this revival was short-lived and ended in 1997. Since 2011 the club has rebuilt its rugby team, initially with alumni from St George's College. In 2012 the Dragón came back to action, an Old Georgian team was registered again in the URBA Tournament.
In 2015, OG had two teams competing in URBA junior tournaments. By 2016, four Old Georgian teams compete in URBA: a First Division team, an "Intermedia" division team, and M17 and M15 teams, The First Division team is unbeaten in its league (Group IV) and has strong chances of promoting to Group III in 2017. The Intermedia team is also leading its tournament unbeaten The club's aim is to get a first division team back into the senior tournament, and to have teams competing in all age categories. The Head Coach of the First Division team is Santiago Gòmez Cora, head Coach of Pumas's seven-a-side team[4]
In cricket, Old Georgian is member of the Asociación Argentina de Cricket and plays in the national league. Many old Georgians have played for the Argentina national cricket team.
Honours
Rugby union
- Torneo de la URBA (3):
- 1937, 1938, 1939