Abdón Porte

Abdón Porte

Personal information
Date of birth	1893
Place of birth	Libertad, Durazno Department, Uruguay
Date of death	5 March 1918(1918-03-05)
Place of death	Montevideo, Uruguay
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1910	Colón
1911	Libertad
1911–1918	Nacional	207
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Abdón Porte (1893 - 5 March 1918) was an Uruguayan footballer. He played as defensive midfielder. Nicknamed El Indio he won many titles with his club Nacional, and also a Copa América with the Uruguay national team. He committed suicide on March 5, 1918, after shooting himself in the center of the field at Estadio Gran Parque Central, an incident still remembered by the sport community of Uruguay.^[1]

Biography

Club career

Porte with the Nacional jersey.

Porte arrived in Montevideo in 1908, where he played for Colón, then moving to defunct club Libertad. He was later transferred to Nacional, debuting on March 12, 1911,^[2] v. Dublin F.C. Porte played as a right back.

Playing for Nacional, Porte gained notability being also team's captain. He was defined as a fierce midfielder and good at stopping rival players and heading the ball. He played a total of 207 games for Nacional, winning 19 titles with the club.^[3]

Porte was cited by writers Xosé de Enríquez in his book Hacia el Campo van los Albos^[4]

"(Porte) was a typical defensive man of combative style: tenacious, centre-back of a brilliant period of Uruguayan football. Abdón Porte was notable, with well-known defensive and collaborative extraordinary virtues that will be remembered for a long time by older fans. He was a good guy, "friend of his friends"; gauchazo for doing good. Calm on the field although rivals kick him until he breaks.

— Luis Scapinachis ^[5][6]

Porte would play his last match v. Charley F.C. (Nacional won by 3-1) before committing suicide one day later.

International career

Porte was a member of the Uruguay squad that won the 1917 South American Championship but did not play a game at the tournament.^[7]

Death

Before starting the 1918 season, Nacional's committee decided to replace Porte by defender Alfredo Zibechi as starting player, sending Porte to the bench due to his poor performance during the last games played with the club. On March 4, Nacional played Charley F.C., winning by 3-1 with Porte playing the entire match at a good level. That night, executives and players met at the club headquarters for a celebration as it was usual by then. Porte left the club at 1:00 a.m. and took a tram to the Estadio Gran Parque Central, Nacional's venue.

Once Abdón Porte arrived to Parque Central, he went into the centre of the field and shot himself. His body and a suicide note were found the next morning.^[8] Few hours after, a dog found his body, drawning it to his master, Severino Castillo. Porte's body had two letters, one for the president of Nacional and the other to a relative.^[9]

"Dear Doctor José María Delgado: I ask you and other members of the committee to take care of my family and my dear mother, as I did. Goodbye, dear friend of life"

— Letter to the president of Nacional, José M. Delgado.^[6]

People of Uruguay was shocked with the news. Porte was buried at Cementerio de La Teja.^[6] Montevideo Wanderers offered Nacional to play a friendly match for the benefit of Porte's family while the rest of Uruguayan clubs expressed their solidarity to Nacional.^[10]

"Nacional was Porte's ideal, he loved the club like a believer loves his faith, like a patriot loves his flag"

— Numa Pesquera, Nacional's executive.^[10]

Legacy

Writer Horacio Quiroga inspired on Porte's death to write his short tale, Juan Polti, published in 1918 on Atlántida magazine of Buenos Aires.^[11] Other Uruguayan writer, Eduardo Galeano, remembered Porte in the short tale "Muerte en la cancha", from his book El Fútbol a Sol y Sombra.^[8]

"After the game v. Charley, the Nacional committee decided that Alfredo Zibechi would play as centre back. Porte would be replaced. He would be a substitute player. He could not stand the impact: he wrote a letter, went to Parque Central (which had been a theatre for Porte's greatest achievements) and put an end to his life on the old field, where he had played brilliantly.(...) Five days later, Nacional played v. Wanderers F.C. in solidarity with Porte's family. We attended that game, where the remember of the Indio floated among us. When the attendance set their distraught eyes to the midfield... they were looking for Porte. We had seen many times there; He had felt asleep there. Maybe the old mindwill tower is still looking at that point"

— Chronicle by Uruguayan journalist Diego Lucero.

The club named "Abdón Porte" the western stand of Gran Parque Central.^[12] On March 2008 the Uruguayan Post Office printed a stamp honoring Porte.^[13] On August, 2013, Nacional's supporters made a mosaic with the face of Abdón Porte.^[14]

Honors

Clubs

(All titles won with Nacional):

• Primera División (4): 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917
• Copa Competencia (4): 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915
• Copa de Honor (5): 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917
• Tie Cup (2): 1913, 1915
• Copa de Honor Cousenier (3): 1915, 1916, 1917
• Copa Aldao (1): 1916

National team

• Copa América (1): 1917

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abdón Porte.

Uruguay squad – 1917 South American Championship winners (2nd title)
Balmelli  Bartolazzo  J. Benincasa  M. Benincasa  Couture  Foglino  Garrido  Gradín  Marán  Castro  Mongelar  Montes  Pacheco  Pérez  Piendibene  Porte  Rodríguez  Romano  Saporiti  C. Scarone  H. Scarone  Somma  Tognola  Urdinarán  Vanzzino  Varela  Villar Coach: Platero