Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata is a sports club in La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina, mostly known for its successful basketball team of the 1970s and 1980s and for its professional football team.

The rest of this article is related to the football team.

History

The team was founded in 1887; it is the oldest Argentine first division side. In 1905, a group of students who felt left out by the management founded a second club, rivals Estudiantes de La Plata.

Gimnasia was relegated in 1979 but returned to the top division a few years later.

In 1995 Gimnasia took second place in the league championsip, and in the next year it repeated this performance; the championship title was denied to them at the last day of the 1996 season. Those were the two most successful seasons ever, with coach Carlos Timoteo Griguol at the helm.

The performances of the last several years have been inconsistent. Due to the averaging system used in Argentina, the team is in danger of relegation at the end of the current season.

Stadium

The stadium is known as el Bosque (the forest) and is located in the La Plata park of the same name. It has a capacity of roughly 20,000.

Even though a new stadium has been built for the city of La Plata, neither Gimnasia nor rivals Estudiantes have moved their home games.

Fan Base

Within the city of La Plata and its environs, the Gimnasia fan base is identified with the working class and is reputed to be larger than the (mostly middle-class) Estudiantes constituency. There are very few Gimnasia fans outside the La Plata area.

Nicknames

Gimnasia is called el lobo (the wolf) because its stadium is inside the bosque (forest). Another nickname, Mensanas, derives from the Latin slogan Mens Sana in Corpore Sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body). These are the preferred nicknames used by fans and the press.

Triperos (intestine-handlers) is sometimes deemed offensive, but some fans wear it with pride. It stems from the fact that many supporters worked in the meat processing plants of nearby Berisso . Curiously, the same nickname is used for the population of Porto.

The fans' collective calls itself la 22. It is reputed to follow the convention in Argentine quiniela (quiniella) where the number 22 means "the crazy one".

List of Famous Players

• Hugo Orlando Gatti
• Dominguez
• Alberto José Márcico
• Guglielminpietro (Guly)
• Sosa

External Links

• Official Web Site