El Gasómetro (1916–1981)
Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro
This publication presents an excerpt from Vinicius Soler’s specialization course thesis in Geography, City, and Architecture at Escola da Cidade in 2020, focusing on the intricate interplay between San Lorenzo fans, the Boedo neighborhood, and the historic El Gasómetro stadium.
LA VUELTA PARA BOEDO — A REFLECTION ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF MODERN ARGENTINES WITH THE TERRITORY BASED ON THE COMMITMENT OF SAN LORENZO FANS TO RETURN TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF BOEDO.
SAN LORENZO: URBAN ZONING AS AN IMPOSITION INSTRUMENT OF EXILE TO A FOOTBALL CLUB AND THE DEMOCRATIC FIGHT BACK TO BOEDO, FROM M² TO M²
The history of Clube Altético San Lorenzo de Almagro begins in 1907, in the church at Rua México, 4050, in the Almagro neighborhood in Buenos Aires, with a promise from Father Lorenzo to a group of young people: if they attended church regularly they could use church grounds to practice football instead of playing in the streets. Thus, a few years later, in 1908, the team was founded, bearing the name of the priest and the neighborhood as thanks and respect for the club’s origins.
In 1916, San Lorenzo built its first stadium in the Boedo neighborhood, known as El Gasomentro, exactly 11 blocks from the church where the club was born, at Avenida La Plata, 1700. In the following decades, the club became more and more relevant and popular on the national scene, both in terms of sports, with the achievement of 10 Argentine Championship titles at the stadium, and in terms of representation of the local community of Boedo and the surrounding area, who began to understand San Lorenzo as part of their culture.
During Argentina’s military dictatorship, on June 20, 1977, the team ceded its stadium, Gasómetro, for the first public event of the Association of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, a resistance movement led by mothers whose children were missing due to government acts. This strong popular initiative was not well received by the military government of Commander Augustín Lanusse who, since 1971, had been planning the team’s withdrawal from their home. The zoning plan established the region as a medium-density residential area and proposed the construction of an avenue crossing the Gasómetro (Ordenanza Municipal 36.019, 1980), the main desire was to put an end to the “den of delinquents”. Even during the 1978 World Cup, the stadium was not selected for games, despite being one of the largest and most important in the country. In 1979, under pressure from the military, San Lorenzo said goodbye to Gasómetro.
In 1980 there was a mobilization of fans to open the Gasómetro again, but the request was quickly denied by the city hall of Brigadeiro Cacciatore. In 1983 the construction of the avenue and also the prohibition of subdivision of the lot according to zone 2 established in article 1, point 2.3.3. from Ordenanza Municipal 36,019 were revoked, and from Ordenanza Municipal 38,696, confirming that the greatest interest was the withdrawal of the team. This made it possible to complete the sale of the Gasómetro land for US$900,000, which was later resold to the French chain Carrefour for US$8,000,000. In 1985, the law changed again to allow the first Buenos Aires Carrefour unit at Avenida La Plata, 1700. (Law Nº 40,674, 1985)
Once the team’s expulsion was made official, San Lorenzo spent years playing at home in stadiums borrowed from their rivals. Until 1993, when the club opened its new stadium: Novo Gasologista, in the Bajo Flores neighborhood, approximately 3 kilometers from Boedo. Despite this small achievement, fans continued to look for a return to their origins.
In 2006, a movement was started by fans, partners and directors at the Buenos Aires City Council to press for the return of Boedo. In 2007, laws from the 80s that had ordered the donation of one of the team’s remaining lands were repealed (Law Nº 2,464, 2007), so the address Salcedo, 4220 once again belongs to San Lorenzo. In 2012, after demonstrations by fans, the Historical Restitution Law was approved, declaring the land of the old Gasómetro as a public utility subject to expropriation. (Law Nº 4384, 2012)
In 2014, San Lorenzo and Carrefour announced an agreement regarding the amount to be paid to the supermarket chain for the address on Avenida La Plata, the chain of supermarkets would take part in building a new store, leaving the rest for the new stadium. In order to cover the amount, the club started a donation system from fans, in which each Interested party could help the club by purchasing a symbolic square meter.
The new Proyecto de Rezonificación was presented in 2018 by San Lorenzo directors to enable the construction of the new stadium on Avenida La Plata. Now in a democratic way, the team uses the law in the fight for justice, after so many years of oppressing fans. In 2019, the project reached parliamentary status and the deed was signed that returned the 27,000 m² of land on Avenida La Plata to the club.
SAN LORENZO: THE CLUB’S ASSOCIATION TO THE BOEDO NEIGHBORHOOD
The relationship between the fans and supporters of Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro from the beginning is confusing and helps to understand the historical relationship between the population of the Boedo neighborhood and its territory.
Its foundation at the beginning of the 19th century and the rapid rise of success in football meant that the club quickly became part of the population and gained a place of association with the neighborhood’s imagination, placing itself as one of the factors described as representative of Boedo, together with the artistic expression, literature and political struggle.
Therefore, when he readily associates himself with the imaginary, he adopts the neighborhood’s characteristics for himself through a natural process, since the same people who participated in Boedo’s characteristic activities are the same people who get involved with the club and its activities.
With this context, San Lorenzo grows nationally, consolidating itself as one of the biggest and most successful football teams in Argentina, and presents itself as a club strongly linked to its neighborhood and its fans. This relationship was physically consolidated at the beginning of the 19th century, with the construction of the iconic El Gasologista stadium, on Avenida de La Plata, in the heart of Boedo, demarcating a territory and building an environment strongly linked to the club and its fans.
When the military dictatorship, in an authoritarian manner, took possession of the club’s stadium and gave it to the supermarket chain, a movement of struggle by fans and neighborhood residents began to regain territory and recover the culture of the Boedo neighborhood, despite construction in “Nuevo Gasometro”.
The character of artistic expression and political struggle that the neighborhood and the fans have always carried was manifested through the works of Boedo’s artistic groups and the fans’ chants and demonstrations, during the games and in the streets.
The songs created by the fans, in a murga rhythm, became frequent and served as the basis for everyone to come together in favor of the cause, always addressing the neighborhood and the relationship with the club, as we see in the lyrics of the songs that exemplify the following issue.:
“Y dale alegria alegria a mi corazón (And give joy to my heart)
La vuelta para Boedo es mi obsesión (The return to Boedo is my obsession)
Tener una cancha como la del tablón (Have a stadium like el tablón)
Y en Avenida La Plata salir campeón (And on Avenida La Plata become champion)
.
Vamos a volver Al barrio que a San lorenzo lo vio nacer (We are going to return to the neighborhood where San Lorenzo was born)”
“Vengo del barrio de Boedo (I come from the Boedo neighborhood)
Barrio de murga y carnaval (Murga and carnival neighborhood)
Te juro que en los malos momentos (I swear to you that in bad times)
Siempre te voy a acompañar (I will always follow you)”
.
“Cuervo sos mi alegria (Cuervo you are my joy)
Mi locura, vos sos mi vida (My crazyness, you are my life)
A Boedo vamos a volver (To Boedo We’re going to come back)
Por la vuelta todo daria daria Ciclon (For the return, I would give you everything Ciclon)
Donde juegues yo voy a estar hasta la muerte (Wherever you play I will be there until death)
Hoy tenes que ganar que Boedo es un carnaval (Today you have to win because Boedo is a carnival)”
The struggle of San Lorenzo and its fans involved street and stadium demonstrations, political discussion and negotiation and social mobilization, and resulted in the club’s return to Boedo, with the acquisition of land and the future construction of the Papa Francisco Stadium, honoring one of its illustrious fans, with no confirmed opening date yet.
The historian and activist of the “Vuelta Totala Avenida La Plata”, one of the movements that discussed the retaking of the stadium territory, Adolf Res, in the printed edition of the newspaper El Sanlorencista in July 2019, described the completion of the return to Boedo as follows:
Los Sanlorencistas, volvemos al lugar donde nuestros fundadores decidieron que debía estar nuestra gloriosa instituición. Pensar em ser protagonistas de este momento de la historia, nos debe enorgullecer como Sanlorencistas, decía esse gran poeta Juan Gelman em su destierro de nuestra pátria, em su exilio europeo em los tempos de la ditadura: “Estoy desterrado de vos, mis piespisan otras tierras y la cosa es que viva yo em otras tierras sin mentirme, sin mentir” y créame que me sentí tan identificado com nuestro Gasómetro, porque desde aquel último dia hábil de 1982, cuando tras jugar um picado dentro del Gasómetro a lo ancho de la cancha, nos informaron que se terminaban las actividades, em Avenida de la Plata, sentí el exílio de mi tierra, entonces como decía Juan Gelman, yo pisé otras tierras pero no podia mentirme, el Sábado 29 de junio, volví a pisar nuestra Tierra, por primera vez desde que somos outra vez dueños, fue para uma nota com Fox Sports, me temblaron las piernas, se me hizo um nudo em la garganta, sentí em mi corazón los años de exilio, miré lo que hasta el 5 de mayo fue Carrefour y esboce uma sonrisa, después llego la nota, mi primer nota dentro del futuro, Nuevo Viejo Gasómetro. (…)
Es el momento de festejar, de llorar, de emocionarse, pero también de continuar la lucha para complir com nuestro sueño inicial del Estadio em Avenida La Plata.
The Sanlorencistas, we return to the place where our founders decided our glorious institution should be. Thinking about being protagonists of this moment in history should make us proud as Sanlorencistas, said that great poet Juan Gelman in his exile from our homeland, in his European exile in the times of dictatorship: “I am banished from you, my feet tread on others lands and the thing is that I live in other lands without lying to myself, without lying” and believe me, I felt so identified with our Gasómetro, because since that last business day of 1982, when after playing a game inside the Gasómetro across the court, they informed us that the activities were ending, on Avenida de la Plata, I felt exile from my land, then as Juan Gelman said, I stepped on other lands but I couldn’t lie to myself, on Saturday June 29, I stepped on our Earth again, For the first time since we became owners again, it was for a story with Fox Sports, my legs trembled, a lump formed in my throat, I felt in my heart the years of exile, I looked at what until May 5th was Carrefour and I smiled, then the note arrived, my first note in the future, New Old Gasometer. (…)
It is the time to celebrate, to cry, to get excited, but also to continue the fight to fulfill our initial dream of the Stadium on Avenida La Plata.
