Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium
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The Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium is a football (soccer) stadium in La Plata, Argentina. It is the past and future home field of Estudiantes de La Plata.
The stadium, named after Estudiantes' president between 1927 and 1932, is located on 1st Avenue between 55th and 57th Streets, and thus is usually known as "1 y 57". It was formally inaugurated on 25 December 1907. The arena saw the 1913 amateur league title as well as the exploits of los profesores ("the professors"), the famous 1930s offensive line of Lauri-Scopelli-Zozaya-Ferreyra-Guayta.
In 1937, a pioneering lighting system was installed, and the stadium became the first major venue in Argentina to host night games.
In its initial incarnation (1907 to 2005) the stadium held up to 28,000 people, mostly standing-room, even though security measures would reduce its actual capacity to about 22,000. Its relatively meager size made Estudiantes use the Bombonera stadium for its Copa Libertadores games, where the loudness of the fans intimidated rivals.
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[edit] Until 2005
The wooden stands behind the goal-lines were standing-room only; the Western side was sitting-room, being separated from 1st Avenue by a row of linden (tilia) trees. The Eastern side was roofed and used to have the best seating arrangements.
The noisiest Estudiantes fans occupied the northern (55th Street) popular, while visiting fans were directed to the southern popular on 57th Street, opposite a technical high school.
Police would cut off traffic on 1st Avenue both before and after the games.
The stadium was home to three Argentine champion teams (1967, 1982/83 Metropolitano, and 1983 Nacional).
[edit] Closure
In September 2005, the stadium was closed down for league games because of new safety regulations that forbid wooden stands. Even though a judicial restraining order exempted Estudiantes from the prohibition, the La Plata city government refused to comply.
This situation started a rift between the club and mayor Julio Alak.
When a modern stadium was built for the city of La Plata, both Estudiantes and Gimnasia decided against relocating their home games. Immediately after the closure, Estudiantes requested permission for upgrading its stadium to no less than 20,000 seats plus 15,000 standing room, but the mayor refused, insisting that the new stadium should be used.
As a stopgap measure, for the 2005 Apertura Estudiantes played its home games in the nearby Gimnasia stadium, and paid Gimnasia a rent of 10% gross income, plus an undisclosed amount for each attending season ticket. For the 2006 Clausura, Estudiantes moved its home games to the Quilmes field.
On April 2006, a new judicial order allowed the re-opening of 1 y 57, but Alak intervened again to avoid this from happening. [1] At this point, Estudiantes management floated the idea of erecting a new stadium in the port town of Ensenada, a few kilometers east of La Plata.
[edit] Agreement and Future Plans
In August 2006 it was reported [2] that Estudiantes and City Hall reached an agreement to rebuild the stands, reducing the capacity to 20,000 sitting spectators. The city stadium will be used for games exceeding the new capacity.
Player Juan Sebastián Verón was instrumental in securing the new stadium agreement. Argentine journalists have indicated that with this intervention (as well as a series of donations to upgrade the club's training facilities in City Bell) he is building his reputation towards a future bid for the club presidency [3].
On October 20 2006, Estudiantes announced that, during the renovation work, it will use the city stadium for home games, as Coprosede (the football security authority) will not grant security clearance for Estudiantes to play home games in Quilmes [4]. Estudiantes fans also became less apprehensive about the city stadium after the historic 7-0 win over Gimnasia on October 2006, and the championship celebrations two months later.
[edit] External links
Google Maps aerial view looking North. The technical school is bottom right. Avenue 1 runs south-west of the stadium and is covered by two rows of linden trees. Estudiantes' stands are to the left. East of the stadium is La Plata's bosque park. Panning right, Gimnasia's stadium becomes visible, less than 1 km to the east of Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium.
Panoramic video of stadium before reconstruction activities began on January 2007. Fans were allowed to enter the stadium and collect mementos such as wooden stands that were slated for discarding. The fans are seen with flags, celebrating the 2006 championship.
