Bernabé Ferreyra

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Bernabé Ferreyra

Full name	Bernabé Ferreyra
Date of birth	February 12, 1909
Place of birth	Rufino, Argentina
Date of death	May 22, 1972 (aged 63)
Playing position	Forward
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1927-1932 1932-1939	Tigre River Plate	? (?) 185 (187)
National team
1930-1937	Argentina	4 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of July 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Bernabé Ferreyra (February 12, 1909 – May 22, 1972) was an Argentine football forward, and one of the first professional players in Argentine football to reach great popularity, having a movie biography.

Ferreyra was born in the city of Rufino, Santa Fe. In 1927 he started his football career at Club Atlético Tigre club, when Argentine football was still amateur. In 1932 he transferred to River Plate, for an unheard of amount in those days.^[1]^[2] He played until retirement in1939.

Throughout his career he was know as The Mortar of Rufino^[3]^[4], due to his capacity as a striker and his strong kick. He was also known as La Fiera (Spanish for The Wild Animal).

He obtained 3 local leagues as player, all of them in River Plate, in 1932, 1936 and 1937. In the 1932 League tournament he was the top scorer with 43 goals, this also gave him the title of top scorer in South America.^[5]^[6] He was briefly in the Argentina National Team, but did not get to play in any FIFA World Cups.

Ferreyra is one of the few Argentine professional footballers with an average of more than 1 goal per match, having made 206 goals in 197 games from the beginning of the professional era in 1931 to his retirement in 1939. His fame and striking strength was such that the newspaper Crítica gave a prize to the first goalkeeper that played Ferreyra without receiving a goal.^[7]

He married Juanita in 1936 and had two children, Bernabé Daniel and Carlos Alberto. He retired from football in 1939, at an early age of 29 years.^[8]