The Club was founded on 11 May 1918, by a group of university students as a means of fostering camaraderie in a politics-free environment. The founders had been members of the Young Men's Christian Association who, in 1917, were sanctioned by the Association's board of directors for participating in a basketball game that ended in a fight.^[3] Membership was initially restricted to university students. The first president of the institution was Dr. Carlos P.Waldorp.^[4]

On 31 October 1918, the club acquired a house on Viamonte street of Buenos Aires, which became the headquarters of Universitario. From 1933 to 1948 the club hosted its activities at the club Obras Sanitarias.^[4] In 1948, Universitario acquired land in the Villa de Mayo district of Greater Buenos Aires, which it uses to host some outdoor activities.

It is believed that rugby was first played at the club because of the friendship between members of Club Atlético San Isidro and the founders of Universitario. The first rugby captain was Oscar Mena, who had previously played in San Isidro. Mena served as a coach of junior divisions in addition to playing on the senior team.^[4]

Universitario first registered its rugby team with Unión del Rugby del Río de la Plata (today Argentine Rugby Union) in 1919. Initially the team only played friendly matches, debuting against Lomas with a victory of 16–3. Universitario also played games against San Isidro and Belgrano AC.

Universitario began to play in official competitions in 1922, starting in the second division of the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires. The first official game was on 15 May 1921, with Universitario defeating Huemac by 11–0. Universitario won every game in its opening season, leading to a championship win as well. This promoted Universitario to the top division of Argentine rugby. Only two players of that initial team had experience playing rugby, Julio Dellepiane Rawson and Rodolfo de Surra, who had played in San Isidro and Eastbourne College of England respectively.^[4][5]

First championship edit

Universitario won its first title in the first division in 1931. During the season, Universitario scored 213 points (43 tries), receiving 77. The team won 14 of 16 games, with a loss to the standing champions San Isidro by 25–0 with 7 tries conceded, and 1 game drew against Gimnasia y Esgrima de Buenos Aires).

The catastrophic defeat to San Isidro (CASI) created great concern inside the club. To change the attitude of the players, Paco Torino, leader of club's sports committee, wrote a letter to each one of them with these words: "If you really don't want that CUBA be defeated like that again, you should better go to the practice and gymnastics class at the club."

— Hugo Mackern, Argentine journalist specialized in rugby

Universitario recovered from their defeat by San Isidro, winning all games in the second round, including a victory against San Isidro by 12–6.^[4]

At the international level, Universitario played several matches against teams outside Argentina. These teams included the Junior Springboks in 1932 and 1959, an Oxford & Cambridge combined team in 1948, 1956 and 1965, the Ireland national side in 1952, and the "Gazelles" from South Africa in 1966. in 1965, Universitario won the title in all divisions (first to fifth, including reserve teams).

Return to glory edit

Universitario would not win another title until 2013, 43 years after its last title. In 2006 and 2007 the team reached the semi-finals, but in 2010 and 2011 the team was nearly demoted to a lower division. In 2011, to remain in the top division, Universitario had to play a match against Lomas.^[6]

In 2013 Universitario won its 14th championship, defeating Hindú by 11–9 in San Isidro.^[7] That same year Universitario became the national champion when winning the Nacional de Clubes after defeating Rosarian team Duendes by 21–20 at a final match played in Villa de Mayo.^[8][9][10]

Notable rugby union players edit

• Natalio Botana ^[a]
• Alfredo Davicce ^[b]
• Fernando de la Rúa^[18]
• Eduardo Pavlovsky ^[18]
• Lino Palacio^[19]
• Rolando Hanglin
• 'Che' Guevara

At present, the club has several branches across Argentina:

• Headquarters, known among members as "Viamonte" due to its address, 1560 Viamonte Street, located in the neighborhood known as "Tribunales".
• Palermo, in the park section of that quarter, on Avenida Figueroa Alcorta. The land had been occupied by the Argentine Air Force until October 1963, when the Government of Buenos Aires donated it to the club.^[20][21]
• Núñez, located in the homonymous neighbourhood, which opened in 1959.^[22]
• Villa de Mayo, in Malvinas Argentinas Partido, approximately 30 km NW of the city of Buenos Aires. Universitario settled there after the club had to leave its facilities in Palermo, Buenos Aires, which belonged to the Club Obras Sanitarias.^[23]
• Cabaña El Arbolito (Little Tree Cabin), located near Nahuel Huapi Lake, 80 km outside of Bariloche. The land was donated by the government of Argentina in 1931.^[21][24]
• Catedral, placed in the major tourism centre of Bariloche.^[25]
• Fátima, sited in the homonymous city of the Pilar Partido. This branch was built due to the increasing number of members needing another place to play golf. Facilities (located in a gated community) were finished in 1991.^[26]

Universitario is a Gentlemen's club, with women being considered adherent members.^[27] As adherents, women are excluded from decision-making processes, and their access to the main headquarters is restricted to only the restaurant and the library. The sports and activities are exclusively available to men. The statute of Universitario (written in 1921) does not mention that women are not allowed in the club,^[18] however the club leadership interprets that the word "member" does not apply to women, limiting them to the adherent role.^[18]

If a member dies, their adherents (wives and daughters) can only can access to the club with special permission from the governing committee. If a member gets a divorce, their adherent (ex-wife) is banned from the club.^[18]

The club has been accused of supporting several de facto governments of Argentina.^[18][28] In 1953, then President of Argentina Juan Domingo Perón took over the club.^[18][28] In the official history of the club it was stated that "The government of Gral. Pedro Aramburu repaired the abuse committed".^[29] In 1968, some members of the committee celebrated the 50th anniversary of the club with members of the military government led by dictator Juan Carlos Onganía.^[18]

In 2023, the visiting Terenue rugby team accused Universitario of "punching and gouging" during a match.[1] Terenure were on a three-match tour in Argentina, but their opening game was called off after 25 minutes, with the Terenure leading 7-0.

Basketball edit

• Copa E.W. O'Farell (1): 1927
• Torneo Nacional (3): 1934, 1940, 1944

Rugby union edit

• Torneo de la URBA (15): 1931, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 2013, 2021
• Nacional de Clubes (1): 2014

• Official website  
• Universidad de Buenos Aires website