Club Villa Mitre

Villa Mitre

Full name	Club Villa Mitre
Nickname(s)	Villeros, Tricolor
Founded	August 14 de 1924
Ground	El Fortín (Capacity: 5000)
League	Torneo Argentino A
2010 Clausura	8th in Zone C (eliminated)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Club Villa Mitre, is an Argentine football club based in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires Province which currently plays in the Torneo Argentino A which is the regionalised third division of the Argentine league system. The club was named in commemoration of Bartolomé Mitre, President of Argentina between 1862-1868.

Foundation

In 1922, a group of enthusiasts founded the club Marcelo T. de Alvear. They played football with a red, white and black shirt (similar to Chacarita's shirt). His first field was propriety of the Colegio Salesiano San Gabriel. The Reverend Tito Graziani gave the field with the condition that the players entered into church all Sundays. But one day they found that the field located between Catón (Agustín de Arrieta), 14 de Julio, Rivadavia and 12 de Octubre (Alberdi) streets was closed because the youth had not attended church and the Father decided punish them, forcing the dissolution of the team.

On August 14, 1924 the boys turned to reunite, forming the Club Villa Mitre. The first meetings were at Miguel Ise's (one of the founders) home, with Cayetano Apilli, Segundo Piñeiro, Eduardo Cela, Manuel Luque, Emilio Roer, Héctor Castellano, Santos Mordibucci, Vicente Otero, José Casajuana, Vicente Iglesias, Tomas Troncoso, Domingo Gullacci, Tersilio Costa, Ricardo Valli, Manuel Otero, José García, Fernando Cela, Acrata Cuervo, Ramón Mielgo, Marcelo Rodríguez, Pedro Genchi, Argido Robledo, Valerio Spegardi, Marcos Fenoglio, Santiago Pedrocchi, Antonio Estévez, Miguel Pi, Víctor Lombardi, Marcos del Río, Juan Cuadrado, Ángel Genchi, Arturo Mongrovejo, Cayo Iglesias, Feliz Muñoz, Osiris Troncoso and Enrique Chitolini. These 37 young people were the founding members in the steering committee meeting, where Vicente Otero was established as the first president of the institution.

Football campaigns

After some friendly matches, in 1925 Villa Mitre joins Liga del Sur having its first field in Rivadavia and Parera streets. On October 2, 1927 promoted to the first division of the league, wining to Rosario Puerto Belgrano 2-1, with Eloy de Robles as coach. But the promotion didn't materialize this year, because Rosario protested for a match and gave it these points. Then, the team of Punta Alta was declared “the new and authentic champion”. The Liga del Sur want to ascend both teams, but Soraiz, the Villa Mitre's president, said that his club will enter to first division for the front door and rejected the linguistic offer. Finally, Villa Mitre obtains the championship in 1929, and starts in first division next year playing a match with Club Dublin. In this first participation, the "tricolor" finished second.

With the start in the professionalism came the problems and the situation was difficult, because Villa Mitre lost some players and positions in the table. But they managed recover and obtain the Copa Competencia. 10 years after its debut in the first division Villa Mitre earned his first title. In 1940 they were the undisputed champions.

Historically, Villa Mitre had two great periods of success: In 1944 the "tricolor" won everything: Local Championships brightly and, later, were provincial champions, losing only to Newell's Old Boys from Rosario. Was champion in the years 45 and 46 of the Liga del Sur tournaments, the last, undefeated. The second period of glory began after 1991, winning the title this year and getting a string of championships, which lasted until 1995. From there, Villa Mitre began its participation in regional tournaments in the Interior. In those years, the teams of Bahía Blanca were prestigious; because it, the AFA gave to them a place in the Primera B Nacional. For this, it was decided play finals between Olimpo and Villa Mitre, to the best of three. But the “Tricolor” didn't earn his place in the second tier of Argentine football until 1999, when defeated Douglas Haig from Pergamino, in Tandil, for 3-1. It was held at Primera B Nacional a few years but in 2002, after the refurbishment of the tournament, Villa Mitre down to Torneo Argentino A. On May 28, 2006 Villa Mitre returned to the category wining to San Martín de Tucumán, in the stadium of that, for penalties. The “Tricolor” only spent a year, because in 2007 returned to Torneo Argentino A.

Honors

• Torneo Argentino A: 1

Clausura 2005

• Liga del Sur:

Primera División: 1940, 1944, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998 y 2003.

Segunda División: 1929, 1988 y 2002.

See also

• List of football clubs in Argentina
• Argentine football league system

External links

• Official website (Spanish)