The history of the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata goes back from 1887 up to the current importance. It is a sports Argentine club of the city of La Plata, province of Buenos Aires. It was founded on June 3, 1887 as "Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima". Its principal activity is the football and gets out of a jam itself in the First Division of Argentina.
Gimnasia y Esgrima was a champion of División Intermedia of the Argentine Football in 1915, of the Primera División in 1929, and it was runner-up of the Primera División in 1924, during the amateurism. Whereas in the professionalism, Gimnasia was champion of the Copa Centenario de la AFA in 1994 and of the Segunda División in 1944, 1947 and 1952; in addition, it was runner-up of the Primera División in 5 opportunities.[1][2] It has been in the Primera División for 69 seasons, being the eighth club with major permanency in it.
The "Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata" was founded on June 3, 1887 as a civil association, and thus is the oldest surviving football club in the whole of South America.[3] And that's why it's the oldest club participating in the Argentine Football League.[4] Its foundation came barely five years after the creation of the City of La Plata in 1882.On June 3, 1887 after a meeting carried out in the Sala Comercial (located on the street 7, between 46 and 47) of the city of La Plata, there was founded the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima, as a social and sports organization. The above mentioned meeting, or rather, assembly, it was presided by Saturnino Perdriel (the one who was then the first president of the club) and it relied on the presence of more than 50 founding associates. In addition, it was designated a commission formed by Domingo Echeverri, Ramón Lorenzo Falcón, Julio Llanos, Dante Pelanda and Guillermo Pintos, whose purpose was to prepare the preliminary design of statute.[5]
The first sports offered to its members were, as its Spanish name indicates, gymnastics and fencing. Clubs supporting these sports were common among the upper classes at the end of the 19th century (cf. the prior foundation of Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires in 1880). Later on, other disciplines were added, including track and field, football, basketball and rugby.[6]
Saturnino Perdriel, first president, José Muñoz, José M. Ahumada, Pedro Olazábal, Arturo Silveira, Adriano Díaz, Teodoro Granel, Samuel J. Coqué, Alejandro Dillón, Santiago J. Mena, E. Landois, Carlos M. Marenco, Guillermo Pintos, Pedro Bernaté, Enrique Sicardi, M. Piñeiro, Alberto J. Huergo, Juan M. Martínez, Julio Llanos, Ignacio D. Irigoyen, Gensérico Ramírez, Martín Bárcena, Enrique M. Curh, Francisco Alconada, Alberto Albarellos, Arturo Mayol, J. G. González, Juan Bautista Ferreira, Domingo Echeverri, Francisco y Alfredo Madero, Domingo del Carril, Nicolás E. Videla, Luis Monteverde, Pantaleón Molina, Diego J. Villafañe, M. Aráoz, Martín Bermejo, Marcos Bonghero, Dante Pelanda, Estanislao López, Pedro G. Falcón, F. de Basaldúa, José M. Pene, José M. Monsalve, Sergio García Uriburu, Diego Arana, José M. Viñas, Antonio A. Delfino, Francisco Uzal, Mariano Villarino, Andrés Mosquera, José M. Niño and Ramón L. Falcón.
In 1893 there is born the current Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (A.F.A.), founded as the Argentine Association Football League, re-baptized in 1903 as Argentine Football Association, in 1912 like Asociación Argentina de Football, in 1927 like Asociación Amateur Argentina de Football and in 1931 with its current name, initiating this year the professional age.
At the beginning of the 20th century Gimnasia already were taking part, with other institutions as Facultad de Medicina, Porteño, Belgrano and River Plate, in the third division (1905) of the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino. Also it presented a team in the category Juniors (17-year-old minors).
In 1905, Gimnasia had to left the field of the streets 13 and 71, by what it was chosen not to continue practising football, and to devote itself to merely social activities. This caused that it departs from the partners they were leaving of the club, founding other one where the principal activity was the football, which was named club Estudiantes de La Plata. Later, in 1912, a group of football players who were in conflict with Estudiantes de La Plata joined to the Club Independencia. The above mentioned club fused with Gimnasia y Esgrima in 1914, returning this way to the football be practising.
After leaving the football for a few years, after the field of the streets having leave 13 and 71 in the year 1905, it returns to this sports practice in 1912. Three years later it works out champion of the intermediate category and ascends to the first division.
The base of the team that achieved the ascent in 1915: Emilio Fernández, Diómedes Bernasconi, Luis Basérico, Ricardo Naón, Roberto Felices, Edmundo Ferreiroa, H. Negri, Angelo Bottaro, Ricardo Gazcón, José Torres Amaral, Manuel Alvarez, Horacio Sancet, José Iglesias, Ernesto Guruciaga, Ignacio Bulla, Pedro Schiaffino, Sebastián Galesio, Clemente Lastra, Sebastián Mansilla, Delfín Derves, Antonio Gismano, Jorge Garbarino, Laureano Spósito Arrieta and Oreste Rutta.
In the final meeting, on December 15, 1915, Gimnasia defeated Honor y Patria by 3:1 and this way it obtains the championship and ascends to the Primera División.
The same year also gains both cups that were in dispute: Competencia Adolfo J. Bullrich Cup and Campeonato Intermedia Cup.[7]
On April 27, 1916, it faces for the first time its classic rival. Disputed in the Estudiantes de La Plata' field, located in the streets 1 and 57, Gimnasia y Esgrima defeats its classic rival for 1:0 and finishes the championship in fourth place behind Racing Club, Platense and River Plate, with 9 victories, 9 ties and 3 defeats. In 1921 Gimnasia would return to obtain the fourth place, behind Racing Club, River Plate and Independiente, product of 23 victories, 6 ties and 9 defeats.
On April 27, 1924 there inaugurates the stadium located in the intersection of the 60th avenue and 118th street, called Estadio Juan Carlos Zerillo. Gimnasia y Esgrima would be kept unconquered in its stadium for 15 months (from its first official meeting until July, 1925).[8] This year achieves the second place, behind San Lorenzo, with 15 victories, 7 ties and 1 defeat.
In 1929 Gimnasia y Esgrima obtains its unique championship amateur of the Primera División, after a campaign that it finished with 14 victories and 3 defeats. The championship of 1929 adopted the modality of dispute of the Copa Estímulo, so the teams where separated in two zones ("even" and "odd"), the title being defined in a game between the winners of every zone.
Gimnasia y Esgrima obtained the first place in the "odd zone", of which they were forming a part: River Plate, Racing Club, Huracán and Estudiantes de La Plata. The "even zone" it was won by Boca Juniors, that qualified this way for the final meeting.
The above mentioned meeting was disputed on February 9, 1930 in the stadium of River Plate of that one at the time (in the intersection of the streets Alvear and Tagle). After being losing 1:0 at the end of the first time, the team formed by Scarpone, Di Giano and Delovo; Rusciti, Santillán and Belli; Curell, Varallo, Maleani, Díaz and Morgada gave turned the result with two Martin Maleani's goals. That year also obtains the championship of Reserve.[9]
It was the first time that a team from La Plata had won a championship organized by an Association recognized by FIFA.
Between December 1930 and April 1931, Gimnasia's team, which later would be known as "El Expreso" (in English, "The Express"), toured Europe and Brazil. Gimnasia became the first Argentine club outside Greater Buenos Aires to compete in Europe, and the first ever to play in Portugal, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Italy.[10][11]
The tour began on December 8, 1930, when the team embarked on the ship "Lutetia", bound for Brazil. There was the first stop in a long time and short tour of football as it disputarían total of 27 meetings over four months duration of the tour, something unusual for that time.[12]
Once in Brazil, there were two matches. The first of them against the Vasco da Gama, who tied at one goal. Four days later came the turn of the Combinado Carioca, and ended with the adverse score 4-0.
Another issue highlighted by these two meetings, is that for the first time the Gimnasia's team played with artificial light, service not yet implemented for the time in the Argentine courts.
After the meeting in Brazilian lands, the "mens sana"'s team heading out to Spain on board the ship "Asturias," in which to spend Christmas 1930.[13]
Newcomers to the "Motherland" and without time to go into local knowledge, the team faced the already mighty Real Madrid FC.
Despite the long trip, the match was 3-2 in favor of Gimnasia, thus becoming the first team in the country to beat Real Madrid CF in their own stadium. The next day, the Spanish press entitled: "The Argentines seem to have been born to play football".[14]
The summary of the match:[15]
Real Madrid: Vidal; Torregrosa, Ochandiano, Bonet, Antoñito, J.M. Peña, Lazcano (Leoncito), Eugenio, Gurruchaga, Galé, L. Olaso.
Gimnasia y Esgrima: Pottazo, Barrio, De Lobo, Conti, Chalu, Belli, Sandoval, Arrillaga, Díaz, De Mario, Morgada.
Subsequently, on January 6, it reached the turn to the FC Barcelona at its stadium. Here too, wore the team led by Alfonso Doce, after defeating the premises by 2 to 1. In this match, was again given a special, who would take the fence was albiazul John Botasso, so the archer alternate Scarpone Felipe, he was given the night off. A couple of hours before the start of the game, Botasso suffered an injury that left him outside the campus, so we had to resort to Scarpone. Despite his physical condition and that the encounter was played with a ball much lighter than usual, the goalkeeper was the figure of the match.
After his tenure in Spain, where he contested a total of seven games, winning five, tying one and losing the other direction the convoy traveled to France where he played just once, falling to the local team Red Star 2-0.
From there, they left due to Germany where a total of ten disputarían friendly. In this country, Gimnasia won four victories, two defeats and the same amount of draws. They knew how to play with very cold, snowy fields completely and to a great fog.
Another historical fact that occurred in Germany, was that when measured against the Combinado Dusseldorf, Leipzig, a special envoy sent to a newspaper of Buenos Aires Argentina radiofoto the first showing a goal by Ismael Morgado.
Upon completion of the program in Germany, the delegation boarded again, but this time headed to Italy. Here, two events are disputed, and both were draws, the Ambrosiana (3-3) and SSC Napoli (2-2).
Italy was the last stop. Although not quite. Naples came back to Barcelona, Lisbon, and from there returned to America to put an end to the tour with three other encounters in Brazilian land.
Departed from La Plata on December 8, 1930 to chair the delegation Mr Mario Sureda platense a well-known journalist and as a coach Rafael "Kid" Lafuente, after great boxer of the city.
Alfonso Doce was the technical director and businessman, left them in the French steam of Lutetia as would be expected to debut in Brazil, the delegation comprised: Felipe Scarpone, Evaristo Delovo, Julio Di Giano, Vicente Ruscitti, José María Minella, Antonio Belli, Miguel Currell, Jesús Díaz, Arturo Naón, Juan González e Ismael Morgada de Gimnasia; plantel reforzado con Juan Botasso (Argentino de Quilmes), Pedro Chalú (Ferro Carril Oeste), Oscar Tarrio (San Lorenzo), Leonardo Sandoval y Juan Arrillaga (Quilmes) y Attilio Demaría (Estudiantil Porteño).
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Already in the professional stage, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata entered in the history of Argentine soccer with a famous team known as "El Expreso" (The Express). The "1933 Express" comfortably won the first round of the First Division championship. In the second round, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata led the championship, until he faced Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo de Almagro. In these matches, Gimnasia was subject to openly biased arbitrations.[18][19] In the latter game, the referee Rojo Miró favoured so blatantly San Lorenzo that the Gimnasia players famously refused to continue with the charade, and "went on strike." They simply sat on the field, while San Lorenzo scored unopposedly, before the referee terminated the game with a 7-1 outcome. The 1933 team ended in the fourth place (San Lorenzo was the champion) with a record of 21 victories, 4 draws and 9 defeats.[20] However, the legendary Express had been born, and it never left the memory of its fans. The top scorer of The Express was Arturo "El Torito" Naón with 33 goals.[21]
In 1934, Gimnasia finished in ninth place after securing 14 wins, 10 draws and 15 defeats, with Arturo Naón as scorer with his 25 goals. The following year, the team finished in the number 13 position, where the highlights were the victories River Plate (6:4), Platense (8-2) and the champion Boca Juniors (1:0).[22][23][24]
During the decade of the 40s, Gimnasia had an erratic performance, which cost him two drops at the Primera B (second division). In 1943 Gimnasia made a bad campaign, where it finished in last position and descends to the second division of professional soccer in Argentina. The following year, Gimnasia through 31 victories, 4 draws and 5 defeats, achieved the first place, obtaining this way the second division championship and promotion to the first. In 1945, the newly promoted team, finished the championship in the last place to suffer like this again declining. Gimnasia remained in the Primera B during the first two seasons (1946 and 1947). In 1947, the team was crowned champion after 25 wins, 7 draws and 6 defeats and returned to the first division. In 1948 the team again made a bad campaign, which comes last in the table of positions, but in that year there were no declines. The following two years, Gimnasia made modest campaigns.[25][26][27]
In 1951, the Gimnasia's first team finished last in Leaderboard and fell of category again. In 1952 it was crowned champion of the second division and returned to first division. During the remaining years of the decade (1953–1960), Gimnasia disputed all the championships of first division finishing most of the times by the middle of the table of positions.[27][28][29]
This Cup, of friendly character, was disputed in 1960 and was organized by the club Estudiantes de La Plata. It was called "Gobernador de la Provincia de Buenos Aires Dr. Oscar Alende Cup", in honoring the governor Oscar Alende. The cup was quadrangular the international one, in which there took part Estudiantes, Gimnasia, Club Nacional de Football and Club Atlético Peñarol, the latter being the two main football clubs from Uruguay.[30]
Gimnasia won both meetings against the Uruguayan teams: 5:2 to Nacional and 1-0 to Peñarol. Whereas Estudiantes lost its respective games for 0-1 and 2-5.
In the last date Gimnasia tied with Estudiantes 2-2. This way on February 13 of 1960 Gimnasia were crowned champion of the Gobernador Alende Cup, in the stadium of its classic rival in 57 and 1.[31]
In 1962, Gimnasia ranked third in the First Division championship with 16 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats. This was a good campaign team platense that after a patchy start, managed to remain unbeaten for 15 dates (between the 9th day of the first round and 10th in the second round) with 9 consecutive wins (including the 15th day of the first and the 9th round of the second), to lead the championship dates to before its completion.[32]
The team was led by Uruguayan Enrique Fernández Viola until the match with Estudiantes, who lost by 0:1 in a local, so he left his charge. Eliseo Prado assumed the interim leadership until Adolfo Pedernera took over the team. Pedernera lasted in charge until three dates before the end of the tournament and the post was occupied by an interim Infante.
The scorer of the team was Alfredo "Tanque" Rojas with 17 goals, followed by Bayo Diego with 10 goals. Gimnasia managed to score 47 goals, and received 28 goals, leaving a positive balance of 19 goals.
The starting eleven for the team were: Carlos Minoian; Pedro Galeano and José Marinovich; Walter Davoine, Daniel Carlos Bayo and Domingo Lejona; Luis Ciaccia, Héctor Antonio or Eliseo Prado, Alfredo "Tanque" Rojas, Diego Francisco Bayo and "Huaqui" Gómez Sánchez. Also played in the first team: Francisco Gerónimo (goalkeeper), Antonio López, Héctor Trinidad, José Perillo, Natalio Sivo, Jorge Mallo, Antonio Arena and Hugo Carro.
In 1963, Gimnasia finished the championship in 13th position, at just three points from the last position. The highlight of that season was the victory of the derby by 5:2, with goals from Ciaccia, Gómez Sánchez, Diego Bayo and 2 from "Tanque" Rojas. The following year Gimnasia ended in the same position.
In 1965, Gimnasia finished the penultimate Leaderboard, above Chacarita Juniors by just one point. In 1966, Gimnasia improved its performance and finished the championship in 8th position with 13 wins, 13 draws and 12 losses.
After almost a decade alternating good and bad performances, there were realized restructurations in the accomplishment of the championships organized by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino (AFA). These were the "Metropolitano", with the teams affiliated directly to the AFA divided in two zones, and the "Nacional", in whom some teams affiliated to the AFA were taking part and whom they classified under the first positions of the Metropolitano. The rest of the teams was taking part in the "Promocional" and in the "Reclasificatorio", together with other teams that were representing other leagues of the country.
In the first year, 1967, Gimnasia y Esgrima devoted itself champion of the "Promocional" tournament.
One of the teams most remembered by the group of football fans is "La Barredora".
In 1970, Gimnasia y Esgrima managed to qualify to dispute the semi-final of the "Campeonato Nacional" against Rosario Central, who had occupied the first position of the zone "A". Gimnasia y Esgrima for its part had classified second in the zone "B", behind Chacarita Juniors. At the same time happened a conflict between the football players and the leaders of the club for economic motives, which led the President Oscar Venturino to presenting the third division. The final result was 3:0 for the team rosarino.[33][34][35]
The team was shaped for: Hugo Orlando Gatti; Ricardo Rezza, José Bernabé Leonardi, José Masnik, Roberto Zywica, Roberto Gonzalo; Héctor Pignani, José Santiago, Delio Onnis, José Néstor Meija, Jorge Castiglia. José Varacka was the coach.[36][37]
After a forgetful performance in the Campeonato Metropolitano, the wolf must play the quadrangular to determine three decreases of that year against Platense, Chacarita Juniors and Atlanta. With 3 won games, 1 drawn and 2 lost, 7 goals to favor and 8 in against, Gimnasia descends to the Second category.[38]
In that tournament Carlos Dantón Seppaquercia successed the most rapid goal into the Argentine league of football. Against Club Atlético Huracán after 5 seconds on March 18, 1979.[39][40][41]
The base team was: Vidallé; Magallán, Pellegrini, Sergio Castro and Alí; Tutino, Avelino Verón and García Amaijenda; Cerqueiro, Montagnoli and Forgués. DT: Antonio Ubaldo Rattín. Also played: Carlos Dantón Seppaquercia, Oscar Perez, Restelli, Labaroni, Cragno, Villarreal, Gutiérrez, Solari and Esquivel.
Gimnasia remained in the Primera "B" from 1980 up to 1984. The first year obtained the fourth place in the table of positions after obtained 19 victories, 8 ties and losing the remaining 11 games. The team was directed by Roberto Iturrieta during the first dates and then his position was occupied by Jose Santiango.
In 1981 it obtained the seventh place with 14 victories, 17 ties and 11 defeats, what it left the team without possibilities of achieving the ascent. In this tournament the scorer of the team was Jorge "Potro" Domínguez with 17 goals.
In 1982 it worked out first from the group A with 17 victories, 15 ties and 10 defeats. This way it classified to play the octogonal for the ascent, but it was eliminated after losing by penalties in the semi-final against Temperley. Gimnasia was the most scorer team of the tournament with 73 goals, and its main scorer was again Jorge "Potro" Domínguez with 21 goals.
And in 1983, Gimnasia had a very weak campaign that positioned it in the last position with 8 victories, 15 ties and 19 defeats.
In 1984, Gimnasia achieve the longed return to the First Division after obtaining the third place in the table of positions with 18 victories, 10 ties and 14 defeats, qualifying this way to dispute the Octogonal for the second ascent to First "A".[42] In the octogonal formed part Racing Club, Argentino de Rosario, Club Atlético Tigre, Defensores de Belgrano, Club Atlético Lanús, Nueva Chicago and Deportivo Morón.
Gimnasia eliminated of the octogonal in quarters of final Argentino de Rosario after tying 1:1 as visit, and to win 2:1 at home. Then, in the semi-final it faced Defensores de Belgrano achieving a tie 2:2 as visitor and a victory 1:0 at home. By this way, it reached the final instance where it managed to conquer in two opportunities Racing Club (3:1 as visitor and 4:2 at home). After these victories, Gimnasia returned to First Division in 1985 and has been playing there ever since.[43]
The team was conformed by football players as Ricardo "el pulpo" Kuzemka, Carlos Carrió and Osvaldo Ingrao, whereas its trainer was Nito Veiga. The scorers of the team were Carlos Carrió and Osvaldo Ingrao with 12 goals each one and Gabriel Pedrazzi with 10 goals.
In 1992, Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata qualified for the first time to an international cup, as it was the Conmebol, organized by the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol.
In the first phase traveled to Chile to face O'Higgins which tied 0-0, then in the rematch in the city of La Plata, Gimnasia won by 2-0 and classified for the quarterfinals; and in this instance had to deal with Peñarol of Uruguay, which tied with 0-0 as a visitor and a 3-1 victory in the stadium of the forest.
In the semifinal he had to dispute the classification to the final against Club Olimpia of Paraguay. Both matches (home and away) finished tied at zero and the classification was decided by a penalty kicks. The Paraguayan team made the difference in the penalty kicks and classified to the final with a score 0-3, leaving out the "platense" team.
The AFA organized in 1993 a cup-style (elimination) tournament named Copa Centenario ("Centennial Cup"), to celebrate its hundredth anniversary. Each first division team played its derby rival in two rounds in a double elimination system. Gimnasia eliminated its classic rival Estudiantes 1–0 with a goal by Guillermo Barros Schelotto, and qualified for the next round after a 0–0 tie in the return match. Then, Gimnasia successively eliminated Newell's Old Boys, Argentinos Juniors and Belgrano de Córdoba to win the "round of winners". River Plate won the "round of losers" and qualified for the final, with Gimnasia having home court advantage.[44]
Gimnasia won the final 3–1 with goals by Hugo Romeo Guerra, Fernández and Guillermo Barros Schelotto. River's goal was scored by Villalba. Gimnasia's winning team included Lavallén; Sanguinetti, Morant, Ortiz, Dopazo, Fernández, Bianco, Talarico, Gustavo Barros Schelotto, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Guerra.[45]
In 1994, Gimnasia traveled to Japan to play the Sanwa Bank Cup, which was invited by the J-League to be the champion of the Centennial of the AFA Cup. The cup will be played in one game and had to play against the champion of the J-League, the Verdy Kawasaki (now known as Tokyo Verdy).[46]
The match was played in the National Stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and ended regular time with a 2-2 tie, and was defined with penaltys, where Verdy Kawasaki won 4-2.
With veteran coach Carlos Timoteo Griguol at the helm, Gimnasia took second place in the 1995 Clausura tournament, repeating the performance in 1996 and 1998.[47][48][49] At the reinauguration of Boca Juniors' stadium (La Bombonera) on May 5, 1996, Gimnasia defeated the home team by 6–0.[50][51][52] Also took second place in 2002 (coached by Ramaciotti).[53][54]
Gimnasia also obtained second place in 2005 under Pedro Troglio's management, after an excellent campaign that had them fighting neck to neck with Boca Juniors until the very end of the championship. These strong showings allowed Gimnasia to take part in the top club-level competitions in South America: the Copa Sudamericana during the 2006 and 2007 editions of the Copa Libertadores.[55]
On September 10, 2006, during the halftime of a match against Boca Juniors, club president Juan José Muñoz confronted (and allegedly threatened) referee Daniel Giménez, who called off the match immediately, with Gimnasia leading 1-0. Muñoz was suspended for six months by the football association[56] but was confirmed in his post by the club's board.
On October 15, 2006, Gimnasia suffered their worst derby defeat ever, a 7-0 Estudiantes victory. It was the first derby played in the new La Plata city stadium with Estudiantes as home team. A few days later, Gimnasia was eliminated from the Copa Sudamericana by the Chilean Colo Colo, in a match so marred by Gimnasia's violence that Argentine Football Association's president Julio Grondona wrote a letter of apology to the president of the ANFP (the Chilean football federation).[57]
The pending second half against Boca Juniors was played on 8 November 2006. Boca Juniors scored four goals and won the match. After the match, Troglio and some of the players hinted that the team had received death threats from a fraction of their own supporters, who wanted to benefit Boca in its championship bid against Gimnasia's archrivals Estudiantes. Nevertheless, Estudiantes obtained the title in the end.[58]
La Plata District Attorney Marcelo Romero opened a criminal case and cited some club players and officers to testify. Player Marcelo Goux refused to play the next match and quit the team;[59] he was soon followed by fellow players Martín Cardetti and Ariel Franco. Many articles condemned Muñoz's handling of the situation, accusing him of lying to the press, and of treating violent fans as his protégés.[60]
After a string of losses in the local championship and the Copa Libertadores, there were renewed calls for Muñoz to resign.[61] Coach Troglio felt the burden of responsibility and quit his post on April 2, 2007.[62] Gimnasia hired first famed Colombian trainer Francisco Maturana, and then Julio César Falcioni, both with limited success.[62]
In the December 2007 election, Muñoz did not run, and the candidate he supported lost to the opposition. New club president Walter Gisande hired former player Guillermo Sanguinetti as team coach and tried to convince former players, notably Diego Alonso and Guillermo Barros Schelotto, to return to Gimnasia. Only Alonso, who was playing in China, made the leap.
Sanguinetti quit after a string of bad results that left Gimnasia in serious danger of relegation. Under new coach Leonardo Madelón, team results improved markedly, and as of the beginning of the 2009 Clausura tournament, Gimnasia is better positioned to stay in the Primera level.
The new management also campaigned for a return to its traditional ground at El Bosque. Starting April 2008, the stadium underwent a structural engineering evaluation after all security measures requested by authorities were put in place.[63] On June 2008, Gimnasia was allowed to play again at El Bosque; the return took place in a match against Lanús, the last game of the Clausura 2008 championship. Mayor Pablo Bruera has indicated that the city will let Gimnasia buy or lease some city-owned lands for erecting a sports complex.[63]
Throughout more than 120 years of history, the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata has had 55 Presidents, elected individuals who took on the responsibility of steering the Institution. Many of them contributed to the growth of the club over the years. Some of them have remained more vivid in the fans' memory for their achievements or outstanding works.[66]
Saturnino Perdriel was the founder and first president of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. Mr. Perdriel was a merchant during the first few years of the city of La Plata, in addition to being a civil servant at the Treasury Department of the Province of Buenos Aires. He died prematurely in 1888, after one year as Club president.[67]
Nowadays, the President of Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata is chosen by its associates, by means of general elections that take place every three years.[68] Any club member over 18 years of age, and with at least three years membership of the Club, have a right to vote. Members with over seven years membership have a right to be elected to the Club governmental body, the Management Commission or "Directory".
The current President of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata is Mr. Walter Gisande, who won the 2007 elections over Mr. Gabriel Pellegrino for 16 votes.[69][70][71]
Below is detailed how is composed the management board of the Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata elected in 2007:[72]
The club have not always had its own stadium, before 1924 the team played in different courts. Also, at present, due to problems with the Juan Carlos Zerillo Stadium, the team is forced to play matches of high concurrence at the Ciudad de La Plata Stadium.[73]
Here are the places where locally made (without regard to temporary situations):
It should be noted, however, that the stadium's club remains the Juan Carlos Zerillo Stadium, which is owned by the club. At present, after the steering committee headed by Gisande arrangements made at the security agency Co.Pro.Se.De enabled the stadium for matches of minor visitor attendance.
The official historical uniform of Gimnasia y Esgrima is based on the colours displayed in the club shield, as established in the institutional statute.
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Titular
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Alternative
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In the first years of the institution, the colors adopted were white and light blue, seeking to highlight the fact that it was an Argentine club. The first vest used by the team had vertical white and light blue stripes.[74]
In 1905, it was decided to change the colors to make it distinct from Racing Club. This resulted in a vest with vertical stripes of white and navy-blue color.[74]
Finally, in 1910, the design was modified, changing the vertical stripes into the horizontal band of navy-blue color over a white jersey, which has been used ever since.[75]
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1903
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1905
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1910–present
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The following table details the companies that provided the team's apparel, and sponsored the team, from the years 1980 and 1990 respectively:
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During the year 2009, the apparel of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata will be provided by Kappa, and jerseys by La Nueva Seguros.[88]
The Clásico Platense (La Plata derby) is the nickname given to the match between La Plata's two main football teams: Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata and Estudiantes de La Plata.
The first official derby took place as part of the Asociación Argentina de Football First Division Championship on August 27, 1916. On that occasion, Gimnasia won 1–0 over Estudiantes, with an owngoal of Ludovico Pastor.[89]
The first derby of the professional era took place on June 14, 1931. Since then, they have played 142 official matches in tournaments organized by the Asociación del Fútbol Argentino. To date, Estudiantes has won 48 times, with 207 goals, and Gimnasia has won 44 times, with 190 goals. There have been 50 draws.[90]
Between August 12, 1932 and September 9, 1934 Gimnasia won five consecutive La Plata derbies, the longest run of victories in that derby to date. On June 25, 1963 Gimnasia obtained a 5–2 victory, this being the best result so far against Estudiantes. On the other hand, its worst result was a 7–0 defeat on October 15, 2006.[92]
A curiosity among the derbies occurred on April 5, 1992, when Gimnasia won over Estudiantes 1–0 at the latter's stadium. On that date, as the stands erupted and Gimnasia's fans shouted in celebration at the goal being scored, the seismograph of the local Astronomical Observatory registered a low-intensity seismic event. That goal was scored by the Uruguayan José Perdomo on a freekick, and it has been known ever since as "El gol del terremoto" ("The earthquake goal").[91][93][94]