Diario La Nación
- Yesterday's luncheon in honor of the heads of the foreign delegations
- THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONGRESS MET IN EXTRAORDINARY SESSION LAST NIGHT
- AT YESTERDAY'S TRAINING, THE BOLIVIAN TEAM LEFT A GOOD IMPRESSION
On 11 October 1926, the eve of the South American football championship in Santiago, La Nación reported on the build-up to the tournament. The Football Federation of Chile gave a luncheon at the Club Hípico for the heads of the visiting delegations. Foreign Minister Antonio Huneeus joined the gathering and presented the delegates to the President and the Cabinet, and the delegations invited the government to attend the matches. A report on the South American Congress listed match dates and referees, called the committees to meet and summoned referees and team captains to a briefing on the new laws of the game, and named the trophy donors, among them the Foreign Ministry. A training report praised Bolivia's forwards Méndez and Alborta after a 7–1 practice win and predicted that the team, though no colossus, would give Chile's players plenty to do.
This reading covers three passages from a partially legible page: the luncheon report, a fragment of the Congress report and the closing part of the Bolivian training report. The supplied OCR was badly corrupted, and the binding cuts off the left edges of several columns. As a result, the guest list breaks off at "Juan", and the Congress and training passages begin or end with fragments that run in from other columns. The October date of the Bolivia–Argentina match is unclear and is kept as "1 [?]" as in the source. Other lines of the Congress list with unclear numbers were left out.
Translation
Yesterday's luncheon in honor of the heads of the foreign delegations
At midday yesterday the Football Federation of Chile gave a luncheon in the dining rooms of the Club Hípico for the heads of the sporting delegations visiting us. While the guests were lingering at table after the meal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Antonio Huneeus, arrived in the dining room. After being introduced to the members of the delegations, he invited them to the Club's hall of honor, where Mr. Huneeus presented the delegates to His Excellency the President of the Republic and members of the Cabinet. Before leaving, the delegations officially invited His Excellency and the Ministers to attend the international contests, and they gladly accepted. The following persons attended the luncheon: Messrs. Héctor R. Gómez, Cesar Seoane, Rafael J. Mieres, Aníbal Tejada, Antonio Mattos, Humberto Zarrille, Adolfo Gana, L. Machado Ribas, Aldo Cantoni, Juan
THE SOUTH AMERICAN CONGRESS MET IN EXTRAORDINARY SESSION LAST NIGHT
Celleri, Argentine. October 1 [?]: Bolivia v. Argentina. Referee Mr. Tejada, Uruguayan. October 17: Chile v. Uruguay. Referee Mr. Celleri. October 19: Argentina v. Paraguay. Chilean referee. (Name not yet fixed.) 2nd. To summon the various committees appointed at the inaugural session for today at 3 P.M. 3rd. To summon, at the same hour, the referees and the captains of the teams in order to brief them on the new laws of the game. 4th. At the request of the Argentine delegates, to convene the Congress for today at 9:30 P.M. tournament. Indeed, valuable trophies have been offered by the Asociación Deportiva El Llano, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Don Rafael Benguria.
AT YESTERDAY'S TRAINING, THE BOLIVIAN TEAM LEFT A GOOD IMPRESSION
In the second half, Simonetti scored a goal after a short run down his wing, against five scored by the whites. When the contest came to an end, the score favored the Bolivians by seven goals to one. On the whole, the match did not lack meritorious play, and the moves of the visiting forward line were loudly applauded, especially those of its centre, Méndez, who has a powerful shot at goal. The outside left, Alborta, also has an astonishing facility for shooting at goal. The defence is well balanced and acts with complete assurance. Finally, the left man is reliable and very well timed when he intervenes. In short, the Bolivian team's performance left a good impression. Without being a colossus, it will give our boys plenty to do. the international forward line, who through Carrasco,
Context
The tournament that brought the delegations to Santiago
The delegations honored at the Club Hípico luncheon had come for the South American Championship that Chile hosted from 12 October to 3 November 1926, so the luncheon took place two days before the opening match and was reported on the eve of it. Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay joined the hosts. Brazil withdrew before the start, which left only five of the six CONMEBOL members in the competition. The tournament was a single round robin, so each delegation was to play every other team once in Santiago. The paper presents the gathering as more than a sporting courtesy. The Football Federation was the host, but Foreign Minister Antonio Huneeus came to present the delegates to the President and the Cabinet, the delegations formally invited the government to the matches, and the Congress report lists the Ministry of Foreign Affairs among the trophy donors.
The Congress's referee list compared with the matches as played
The surviving fragment of the Congress report gives Bolivia v. Argentina, on a partly illegible October date, to the Uruguayan referee Tejada, who also appears on the luncheon guest list. It gives Chile v. Uruguay on 17 October to an Argentine named "Celleri" and Argentina v. Paraguay on 19 October to a Chilean referee whose name had not yet been chosen. Match records show that Tejada did referee Argentina's 5–0 win over Bolivia, played on 16 October. Chile and Uruguay did meet on 17 October, but the referee was the Chilean Pedro José Malbrán. The records list two Argentine referees, Juan Pedro Barbera and Norberto Luis Gallieri. Gallieri took charge of the opening match, and the paper's "Celleri" is probably a variant spelling of his name. Argentina's 8–0 win over Paraguay came three days after 17 October, on the 20th rather than the 19th. Six referees covered the ten matches, and three of them had refereed at earlier championships. The plan announced on the eve of the tournament therefore changed both in personnel and in dates. The same report called referees and captains together to explain the new laws of the game before play began.
Bolivia's debut and the training report in hindsight
The Bolivian team the paper watched in training was making the country's first appearance in the championship. Its first international match came on 12 October against Chile, and the hosts won 7–1, with four goals from David Arellano. That was the same score as the practice match the paper described, with the result reversed. Bolivia then lost to Argentina 0–5, to Paraguay 1–6 and to Uruguay 0–6, and it took 23 years and 26 matches before the team won a match in the competition. The sources disagree on when the Bolivian federation was founded. One places it in 1925, a year before the debut, and says Bolivia joined FIFA in 1926. The other says the federation was founded only in 1926. The paper's reference to five goals scored by "the whites" fits the fact that Bolivia's first uniforms were all white. The paper's verdict that the team was no colossus but would give "our boys" plenty to do proved generous as a forecast.
Original
El almuerzo de ayer en honor de los jefes de las embajadas extranjeras
El almuerzo de ayer en honor de los jefes de las embajadas extranjeras A mediodía de ayer la Federación de Football de Chile ofreció un almuerzo en los comedores del Club Hípico a los jefes de las embajadas deportivas que nos visitan. En los momentos en que los comensales estaban de sobremesa, llegó al comedor el Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, señor Antonio Huneeus, el que después de ser presentado a los miembros de las embajadas, los invitó al salón de honor del Club, donde el señor Huneeus hizo la presentación de los delegados a S. E. el Presidente de de la República y miembros del Gabinete. Antes de retirarse las delegaciones, invitaron oficialmente a S. E. y señores Ministros a presenciar las justas internacionales, a lo que accedieron gustosos. Al almuerzo asistieron las siguientes personas: señores Héctor R. Gómez, Cesar Seoane, Rafael J. Mieres, Aníbal Tejada, Antonio Mattos, Humberto Zarrille, Adolfo Gana, L. Machado Ribas, Aldo Cantoni, Juan
EL CONGRESO SURAMERICANO SE REUNIO ANOCHE EXTRAORDINARIAMENTE
Celleri, argentino. Octubre 1 [?]: Bolivia v. Argentina. Arbitro señor Tejada, uruguayo. Octubre 17: Chile v. Uruguay. Arbitro señor Celleri. Octubre 19: Argentina v. Paraguay. Arbitro chileno. (Aún no se ha fijado nombre). 2. o Citar para hoy, a las 3 P. M., a las diversas comisiones designadas en la sesión inaugural. 3. o Citar a la misma hora, a los jueces y capitanes de los equipos para ponerlos en antecedente de las nuevas leyes de juego. 4. o A petición de los delegados argentinos convocar al Congreso para hoy, a las 9. 30 P. M. torneo. En efecto, han ofrecido valiosos trofeos la Asociación Deportiva El Llano, el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y don Rafael Benguria.
EN EL ENTRENAMIENTO DE AYER, EL CUADRO BOLIVIANO DEJO BUENA IMPRESION
En la segunda etapa, Simonetti obtuvo un goal después de una corta corrida por su ala, por cinco que lograron los blancos. Cuando la brega llegó a su término, el score favorecía a los bolivianos por siete tantos contra uno. En general, la brega no careció de acciones meritorias, siendo muy aplaudidas las jugadas de la línea delantera visitante, en especial su eje, Méndez, quien posee un potente shoot al arco. El puntero izquierdo, Alborta, también tiene una facilidad asombrosa para tirar al arco. La defensa es homogénea y actúa con completa seguridad. Finalmente, el izquierdo es seguro y muy oportuno para intervenir. En resumen, la actuación del cuadro boliviano dejó buena impresión. Sin ser un coloso, dará bastante qué hacer a nuestros muchachos. la línea delantera internacional, los cuales por intermedio de Carrasco,
Source: Source: Internet Archive