Bernabé Ferreyra
|
Ferreyra in 1936 while playing for River Plate. | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | February 12, 1909 | ||
| Place of birth | Rufino, Argentina | ||
| Date of death | May 22, 1972 (aged 63) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1927–1932 | Tigre | 43 | (45) |
| 1930–1931 | → Vélez Sársfield (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 1932–1939 | River Plate | 185 | (187) |
| National team | |||
| 1930–1937 | Argentina | 4 | (0) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Bernabé Ferreyra (February 12, 1909 – May 22, 1972) was an Argentine association football forward. He was one of the first professional players in Argentine football to reach great popularity, to the point that he had a movie biography.
Playing career
Club
Bernabé Ferreyra debuted at 14 in Jorge Newbery, a local club from his home town. At the age of 18 he went to BAP, a club of Junín, Buenos Aires Province. His senior career started in 1926 playing for Newell´s Old Boys, when Argentine football was still amateur. Then he went to Tigre. He scored four goals to El Porvenir in his debut match. He was given on loan to Huracán for a tour to Brazil, where he played eight matches scoring 11 goals also when Argentine football was still amateur .
Between 1930 and 1931, Tigre loaned him for free to Vélez Sársfield, to play with the club during their Pan-American tour.[1] He scored 38 goals with the team during the tour.[1]
In 1932, Ferreyra was transferred from Tigre to River Plate for a record transfer fee of 23,000 pounds.[2][3] He kept this record for a total of 17 years – the longest unbroken time period for this record.
His first match with River was on March 13, 1932 facing Chacarita. River won 3–1 and Ferreyra scored 2 goals. Bernabé played a total of 185 matches for River, scoring 187 goals, with an average of 1.01 goal per game.[4] He obtained 3 local leagues as player, all of them in River Plate (1932, 1936 and 1937). In the 1932 league tournament, he was the top scorer with 43 goals. This also gave him the title of top scorer in South America.[5]
Ferreyra's last match played was on May 11, 1939 against Newell's Old Boys. The match ended 2–2 and Ferreyra did not score. He retired at the early age of 29 and never accepted being a coach.[6]
Ferreyra, along Valeriano López and Arthur Friedenreich, are the only American professional footballers with an average of more than 1 goal per match. Bernabé totaled 206 goals in 197 games from the beginning of the professional era in 1931 to his retirement in 1939.
His fame and striking strength was such that the newspaper Crítica gave a prize to the first goalkeeper that played Ferreyra without receiving a goal.[7]
National team
Ferreyra debuted in Argentina national football team on May 25, 1931, facing Uruguay in a Copa Lipton match, although he did not play well and was criticized by journalists. His run at national team was brief and he did not participate in any FIFA World Cups.
Personal life
Ferreyra was born in the city of Rufino, Santa Fe Province. He married Juanita in 1936 and had two children, Bernabé Daniel and Carlos Alberto.
Throughout his career he was known as "El Mortero de Rufino",[6][8] due to his capacity as a striker and his strong kick. He was also known as La Fiera (Spanish for "The Wild Animal").
Quotes
In words of some teammates and famous players and Bernabé Ferreyra himself:[4]
| “ | My brothers persisted in telling me I had to be the stronger shooter in town. They made me kick the ball from morning to afternoon, every day. They used to encourage me shouting: 'Harder, even harder!' | ” |
| “ | I prefer to retire from football before football retires from me | ” |
| “ | 'So you are "La Fiera" (The Fierce): I wanted to meet you', said Carlos Gardel to Ferreyra, who answered: 'No, master, it is you who are "La Fiera" when singing' | ” |
| “ | Bernabé was an exceptional player: his rivals had to work on him twice as much as with other players. For all of us, his teammates, he made things easier. But as a man, he was valued more. Bernabé earned as much money as he wanted but he was not concerned with keeping it. He gave other people a lot of money, without asking for anything in return. When he shook your hand, you could be sure that you had a friend for the rest of your life .(José Manuel Moreno) | ” |
References
- 1 2 "Historia del Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield" (in Spanish). VelezSarsfield.net. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
- ↑ Historical Soccer Transfers Archived June 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Feature Article – World Soccer News
- 1 2 Idolos de River Plate: Bernabé Ferreyra
- ↑ http://goalscorers.narod.ru/Most_successful.htm
- 1 2 http://www.rufinoweb.com.ar/noticia.asp?idn=2307[]
- ↑ River Plate Online – Bernabé Ferreyra Archived April 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ El Diario/LA PRENSA OnLine Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bernabé Ferreyra. |
- Bernabé Ferreyra biography on River Plate website
- Futbol Factory profile at the Wayback Machine (archived October 20, 2007)
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