1.
Rugby union
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Rugby union, known in some parts of the world simply as rugby, is a contact team sport which originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is between two teams of 15 players using a ball on a rectangular field with H-shaped goalposts on each try line. Historically an amateur sport, in 1995 restrictions on payments to players were removed, World Rugby, originally the International Rugby Football Board and from 1998 to 2014 the International Rugby Board, has been the governing body for rugby union since 1886. Rugby union spread from the Home Nations of Great Britain and Ireland, early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Countries that have adopted rugby union as their de facto national sport include Fiji, Georgia, Madagascar, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Rugby union is played in over 100 countries across six continents, there are 101 full members and 18 associate members of World Rugby. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1987, takes place four years with the winner of the tournament receiving the Webb Ellis Cup. The Six Nations Championship in Europe and The Rugby Championship in the Southern Hemisphere are major annual competitions. The origin of football is reputed to be an incident during a game of English school football at Rugby School in 1823. Although the evidence for the story is doubtful, it was immortalised at the school with a plaque unveiled in 1895, despite the doubtful evidence, the Rugby World Cup trophy is named after Webb Ellis. Rugby football stems from the form of game played at Rugby School, Old Rugbeian Albert Pell, a student at Cambridge, is credited with having formed the first football team. During this early period different schools used different rules, with pupils from Rugby. Other important events include the Blackheath Clubs decision to leave the Football Association in 1863, despite the sports full name of rugby union, it is known simply as rugby throughout most of the world. The first rugby football international was played on 27 March 1871 between Scotland and England, by 1881 both Ireland and Wales had representative teams, and in 1883 the first international competition, the Home Nations Championship had begun. 1883 is also the year of the first rugby tournament, the Melrose Sevens. During the early history of union, a time before commercial air travel. The first two notable tours both took place in 1888—the British Isles team touring New Zealand and Australia, followed by the New Zealand team touring Europe, All three teams brought new styles of play, fitness levels and tactics, and were far more successful than critics had expected. After Morgan began singing, the crowd joined in, the first time a national anthem was sung at the start of a sporting event, in 1905 France played England in its first international match
2.
DirecTV
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DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider based in El Segundo, California and is a subsidiary of AT&T. Its satellite service, launched on June 17,1994, transmits digital television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America. Its primary competitors are Dish Network and cable television providers, DirecTV provides television and audio services to subscribers through satellite transmissions. Services include the equivalent of local television stations, broadcast television networks, subscription television services, satellite radio services. Subscribers have access to hundreds of channels, so its competitors are cable television service, most subscribers use reception antennas which are much smaller than the first generation antennas, which were typically a few yards across. Advances in antenna technology, including fractal antennas, have allowed a reduction in antenna size across all industries. Receiving equipment includes a dish, an integrated receiver/decoder and a DirecTV access card. Consumers who purchase DirecTV subscribe to various packages of DirecTV programming for which the subscriber pays a monthly fee, additional monthly fees may include a protection plan, DVR, additional receivers, HD channels, and other premium channel packages. A subscriber also can order pay-per-view and video on demand events, all programming distributed by DirecTV is delivered to its broadcast centers in Castle Rock, Colorado, and Los Angeles, where it is then digitized and compressed. The resulting signal is encrypted by DirecTV to prevent its unauthorized reception, DirecTV then transmits these signals to several satellites located in geostationary orbit. As of the quarter ended September 30,2012, DirecTV U. S. had 19.981 million subscribers, for the same period, DirecTV Latin America ended with 9.666 million subscribers and revenues of US$1.577 billion. In addition to serving residences, DirecTV offers service to bars, restaurants, hotels, dorms, the company also offered mobile service for cars, boats, and RVs as well as aircraft in cooperation with Connexion by Boeing. On November 30,2016, DirecTV Now, an internet streaming TV service was launched, in 1953, Howard Hughes created the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, to which he transferred full ownership of Hughes Aircraft. Ostensibly created as a medical research foundation, HHMI was accused of being used by Hughes as a tax shelter. Following Hughes death in 1976, HHMI was incorporated in 1977, in 1984, the court appointed a new board for HHMI, which proceeded to sell off Hughes Aircraft to General Motors on December 20,1985, for an estimated $5.1 billion. General Motors then merged Hughes Aircraft with its subsidiary Delco Electronics to create Hughes Electronics Corporation, the new subsidiary was initially composed of four units, Delco Electronics Company, Hughes Aircraft Company, Hughes Space and Communications Company, and Hughes Network Systems. Stanley E. Hubbard founded United States Satellite Broadcasting in 1981 and was a proponent for the development of direct-broadcast satellite service in the United States. USSB was awarded five frequencies by the FCC, at the coveted 101 degree west satellite location, Hughes Communications, Inc. was also awarded 27 frequencies at the same 101-degree location
3.
Argentina
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Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a federal republic in the southern half of South America. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2, Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the second largest in Latin America, and the largest Spanish-speaking one. The country is subdivided into provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system, Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The earliest recorded presence in the area of modern-day Argentina dates back to the Paleolithic period. The country has its roots in Spanish colonization of the region during the 16th century, Argentina rose as the successor state of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, a Spanish overseas viceroyalty founded in 1776. The country thereafter enjoyed relative peace and stability, with waves of European immigration radically reshaping its cultural. The almost-unparalleled increase in prosperity led to Argentina becoming the seventh wealthiest developed nation in the world by the early 20th century, Argentina retains its historic status as a middle power in international affairs, and is a prominent regional power in the Southern Cone and Latin America. Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, the third-largest in Latin America and is a member of the G-15 and it is the country with the second highest Human Development Index in Latin America with a rating of very high. Because of its stability, market size and growing high-tech sector, the description of the country by the word Argentina has to be found on a Venice map in 1536. In English the name Argentina probably comes from the Spanish language, however the naming itself is not Spanish, Argentina means in Italian of silver, silver coloured, probably borrowed from the Old French adjective argentine of silver > silver coloured already mentioned in the 12th century. The French word argentine is the form of argentin and derives of argent silver with the suffix -in. The Italian naming Argentina for the country implies Argentina Terra land of silver or Argentina costa coast of silver, in Italian, the adjective or the proper noun is often used in an autonomous way as a substantive and replaces it and it is said lArgentina. The name Argentina was probably first given by the Venitian and Genoese navigators, in Spanish and Portuguese, the words for silver are respectively plata and prata and of silver is said plateado and prateado. Argentina was first associated with the silver mountains legend, widespread among the first European explorers of the La Plata Basin. The first written use of the name in Spanish can be traced to La Argentina, a 1602 poem by Martín del Barco Centenera describing the region, the 1826 constitution included the first use of the name Argentine Republic in legal documents. The name Argentine Confederation was also used and was formalized in the Argentine Constitution of 1853. In 1860 a presidential decree settled the name as Argentine Republic
4.
Rosario, Santa Fe
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Rosario is the largest city in the province of Santa Fe, in central Argentina. It is located 300 km northwest of Buenos Aires, on the shore of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third most populous city in the country, and is also the most populous city in Argentina that is not a provincial capital, with a growing and important metropolitan area, Greater Rosario has an estimated population of 1,276,000 as of 2012. One of its main attractions includes the architecture that has been retained over the centuries in hundreds of residences, houses. Rosario is the city of the Rosario Department and is located at the heart of the major industrial corridor in Argentina. The city is a railroad terminal and the shipping center for north-eastern Argentina. Ships reach the city via the Paraná River, which allows the existence of a 10-metre-deep port, the Port of Rosario is subject to silting and must be dredged periodically. Exports include wheat, flour, hay, linseed and other oils, corn, sugar, lumber, meat, hides. Manufactured goods include flour, sugar, meat products, and other foodstuffs, the Rosario-Victoria Bridge, opened in 2004, spans the Paraná River, connecting Rosario with the city of Victoria, across the Paraná Delta. Because it plays a role in agricultural commerce, the city finds itself at the center of a continuing debate over taxes levied on big-ticket agricultural goods such as soy. Along with Paraná, Rosario is one of the few Argentine cities that cannot point to an individual as its founder. The citys patron is the Virgin of the Rosary, whose feast day is October 7, the asteroid 14812 Rosario was named in its honor. In 1689, captain Luis Romero de Pineda received part of the lands of the Pago de los Arroyos by royal decree, before that, the area was originally inhabited by Calchaquí tribes in reducciones, a kind of missions founded by Franciscans. These missions were attacked and destroyed by hostile tribes of the Chaco region. Romero de Pineda established the first permanent settlement, an estancia — intended as farmland, in 1719 the Jesuits bought another part and established Estancia San Miguel. The area was still so scarcely populated that it had no authority, it was ruled from the provincial capital. In 1724, another settlement was initiated by Santiago de Montenegro, who set up a mill, drew plans for the future town, built a chapel. The area of control of local government extended northward from todays Rosario
5.
Santa Fe Province
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The Province of Santa Fe is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, together with Córdoba and Entre Ríos, the province is part of the economico-political association known as the Center Region. Santa Fes most important cities are Rosario, the capital Santa Fe, Rafaela, Villa Gobernador Gálvez, Venado Tuerto, Reconquista, and Santo Tomé. The adult literacy rate in the province is 96. 3% The aboriginal tribes who inhabited this region were the Tobas, Timbúes, Mocovíes, Pilagás, Guaycurúes and they were nomadic, lived from hunting, fishing and fruit recollection. In 1573 Juan de Garay founded the city of Santa Fe in the surroundings of present town Cayastá, but the city was moved in 1651 and 1660 to its present location. In 1812 the lawyer and general Manuel Belgrano created and displayed for the first time the Argentine flag on the banks of the Paraná River and this period was short lived, since that same year Candioti died and central government reestablished the dependent government. However, in 1816, the caudillos Mariano Vera and Estanislao López deposed the governor delegate and proclaimed the sovereignty of the province, during the civil strifes of 1820, Santa Fe troops were decisive in the defeat of Buenos Aires centralist army. So, in time, López gradually became the Federations Patriarch, after Lópezs death it was his secretary and right hand, José María Cullen the one elected governor. These two parties had many strong electoral contests with the conservative parties. After the Electoral Reform of Roque Sáenz Peña in 1912, the UCR reached the government, during this time, more precisely in 1919, the National University of the Littoral was founded. In 1932 it was the PDP who got the governors seat, the contentious 1958 elections brought an ally of President-elect Arturo Frondizi to power in Santa Fe, Dr. Carlos Sylvestre Begnis. The tunnel, most of which runs under the massive Paraná River, is the longest in Argentina, forced to resign after conservative pressure drove Pres. Frondizi from office in 1962, Begnis had the satisfaction of seeing Hernandarias open in 1969, Santa Fe suffered the violence of the late 70s and the depression of the 1980s more than most other provinces. It continued to languish economically during the prosperous 1990s, as the revalued Argentine peso put pressure on its productive sectors, touching bottom around 2002, its economy has grown by 7% a year since then. Most of the consists of green flatlands, part of the humid Pampas. There are low sierras to the west, the south presents lower temperatures, averaging 14 °C, and slightly less precipitations. Thunderstorms are common, and so are heat waves what can bring temperatures up to 40 °C and these are often interrupted by cold fronts that bring crisp, cool weather from the south. March brings cooler nights in the south, and April brings comfortable weather, with highs ranging from 22 °C in the south to 26 °C in the north, winter is dryer in the west of the province and wetter in the east
6.
Belgrano Athletic Club
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Belgrano Athletic Club is an Argentine amateur sports club from Belgrano, Buenos Aires. One of Argentinas oldest institutions still in existence, Belgrano was one of the four clubs that founded the Argentine Rugby Union in 1899, the senior team currently competes at Grupo I, the first division of Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires. Belgrano Athletic was one of the most prominent teams during the first years of football in Argentina, Belgranos arch-rival during those years was Alumni, also from Belgrano neighborhood. Belgrano disaffiliated from the Argentine Association in late 1910s, focusing on rugby union, Association football is no longer practised at the club. Belgranos field hockey team takes part of Metropolitano championships organised by the Buenos Aires Hockey Association. Apart from the sports detailed below, several activities are practised at the nowadays, such as bowls, cricket, squash, swimming. The club facilities are divided between two locations, its main building sited in Belgrano and another one located in Pilar. The facilities at Belgranos headquarters include a rugby union pitch, a field hockey pitch, twelve tennis courts, an olympic size swimming pool. The facility in Pilar has three full size pitches, six youth pitches another hockey pitch and another swimming pool. There are records of a match played by the members of the Club Inglés de Belgrano in 1894. Belgrano AC participated in the Primera División from 1896 to 1916, the squad won three league titles in 1899,1904 and 1908, and also won a number of other tournaments including National cup Copa de Honor Cousenier in 1907 and international Tie Cup in 1900. Belgrano Athletic played one of the earliest football rivalries against Belgrano neighbours Alumni, both teams were so strong that they won all of the thirteen league titles contested between 1899 and 1911. Belgrano AC would achieve a victory over River Plate, defeating the Millonario 10–1 in 1912. That was the worst defeat of River Plate in clubs history, despite of being one of the most notable football teams during the first years of that sport in Argentina, Belgrano was relegated from the Argentine Primera División, along with Quilmes in 1916. Belgrano never returned to the first division, and the club disaffiliated from the Argentine Association, focusing on the practise of other sports. Belgrano Athletic rugby union team is one of the most successful teams in the Unión de Rugby de Buenos Aires, having won a total of 10 provincial titles. In 1899, along with Buenos Aires FC, Lomas and Rosario AC, the club would become a member of the River Plate Rugby Championship. The first title obtained in rugby union was in 1907, playing 16 matches with 13 victories,1 drew, the team scored 233 points and only received 29 at the end of the tournament
7.
Lomas Athletic Club
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Lomas Athletic Club is an Argentine sports club from the Lomas de Zamora district of Greater Buenos Aires. Lomas Athletic has also had a role in field hockey, with the female section being the most winning team in Argentina with 17 Metropolitano championships won. Nevertheless, in 2014 the first team was relegated to the division after playing Italiano. Lomas field hockey compete at tournaments organised by the Buenos Aires Hockey Association. Apart from rugby and hockey, other activities practised at the club are bowls, contract bridge, cricket, golf, swimming, the arrival of English emigrants to Argentina had taken place in the period after Argentinas independence from Spain through the 19th century. When English settled up in a village, they established a club. Following those non-written rules, they founded the Lomas Academy Athletic Club, the founding members were John Cowes, Thomas Dodds and James Gibson. They were assisted by the directors of Lomas Academy School, R. L. Goodfellow, the club changed its name to Lomas Athletic Club two years later. The sports initially practised were cricket, rugby union, association football, golf, Lomas had two different fields, one for cricket and tennis and other for rugby exclusively. In 1892 the club moved to another field located two blocks from the railway station, Lomas acquired a land placed in Arenales and Alberti streets in 1897, where it moved. The club has remained there since then, scottish Professor Alexander Watson Hutton is generally recognised as the father of Argentine football, after having founded the English High School where students formed their own team, Alumni. At the same time, English W. W, hayward, founder of Lomas Academy taught to play football to his students. Those alumni would later form the Lomas Athletic team, the first rugby match played by Lomas was in August 1891 against Quilmes. The match was won by Lomas with a try conversion, which count 2 points by then, on February 21,1893 the Argentine Football Association was created in order to continue the organization of football tournaments. Lomas won the 1893 championship totalizing 15 points in 8 games played, five titles followed that, in 1894,1895,1897 and 1898. Within those years, the Lomas Athletic team won 46 games, the 1895 and 1896 tournaments were the only official championships played by Lomas Academy. Although no records survive, it is believed that the team was dissolved soon after winning the title. In 1899, along with Buenos Aires FC, Belgrano AC and Rosario AC, Lomas became founding member of the River Plate Rugby Championship and that same year the club won the first championship organized by the union
8.
Promotion and relegation
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In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between two divisions based on their performance for the completed season. In some leagues, playoffs or qualifying rounds are used to determine rankings. This process can continue through several levels of divisions, with teams being exchanged between levels 1 and 2, levels 2 and 3, levels 3 and 4, the number of teams exchanged between the divisions is almost always identical. Such variations will almost inevitably cause an effect through the lower divisions. Even in the absence of such circumstances, the pyramid-like nature of most European football league systems can still create knock-on effects at the regional level. The system is said to be the characteristic of the European form of professional sports league organization. Promotion and relegation have the effect of allowing the maintenance of a hierarchy of leagues and divisions and they also maintain the importance of games played by many low-ranked teams near the end of the season, which may be at risk of relegation. In contrast, a low-ranked US or Canadian teams final games serve little purpose, although not intrinsic to the system, problems can occur due to the differing monetary payouts and revenue-generating potential that different divisions provide to their clubs. For example, financial hardship has sometimes occurred in leagues where clubs do not reduce their wage bill once relegated, some leagues offer parachute payments to its relegated teams for the following year. The payouts are higher than the money received by some non-relegated teams and are designed to soften the financial hit that clubs take whilst dropping out of the Premier League. However, in many cases these parachute payments just serve to inflate the costs of competing for promotion among the lower division clubs as newly relegated teams retain a financial advantage. If these are not satisfied, a team may be promoted in their place. While the primary purpose of the system is to maintain competitive balance. On several occasions, the Italian Football Federation has relegated clubs found to have involved in match-fixing. This occurred most recently in 2006, when the initial champions Juventus were relegated to Serie B. An exception is the proposed UEFA Nations League, which will feature promotion and relegation across four levels, in tennis, the Davis Cup has promotion and relegation where each group uses a knockout tournament format in which first-round losers play off to avoid relegation. In the United States, Canada, and Australia, teams are not promoted or relegated. The USL set up two leagues, now known as the United Soccer League and the Premier Development League, although the system is now in place, it is not compulsory and is rarely used
9.
Belgrano, Buenos Aires
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Belgrano is a leafy, northern barrio or neighborhood of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The barrio of Palermo is to the southeast, Nuñez is to the northwest, Coghlan, Villa Urquiza, Villa Ortúzar, Belgrano was named after Manuel Belgrano, a politician and military leader who created the national flag of Argentina. In 1820, at Belgranos death, Buenos Aires legislature introduced a law to name the town to be founded after him. It was in Belgrano that the law declaring Buenos Aires as Argentinas federal capital was issued, in 1887, the federal district was enlarged by the annexation of the towns of Belgrano and Flores. Belgranodeutsch or Belgrano-Deutsch is a mixture of German and Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires, Belgrano is an upper-middle-class neighborhood that can be roughly divided into Belgrano R, Belgrano C, central Belgrano, and Lower Belgrano. The heart of the pulses with life on its main thoroughfare, Avenida Cabildo, which runs Northwest to Southeast. Avenida Cabildo carries heavy traffic, and features corner cafés, grocery stores, movie theaters, specialty shops, clothing boutiques, bookstores. Pedestrians are especially numerous on weekend afternoons as Porteños from various areas of the city come to shop, most of the neighborhoods densest housing is located in the vicinity of Cabildo. High-rise luxury apartment buildings are clustered on the streets surrounding the Universidad de Belgrano. West of Crámer avenue, Belgrano R is chiefly residential and lower-density in nature, characterized by calm streets lined with large, most buildings in this section are detached single-family homes that follow Anglo-Saxon architectural styles, some residences have sizable backyards with swimming pools. This section is favored by wealthy Argentines and expatriate businesspeople, Belgrano C is also home to Buenos Airess small Chinatown. The district is crowded with restaurants and specialty grocery stores catering to Asian-Argentines, Belgranos sidewalks are often busy with dogwalkers. Even though city ordinances forbid more than ten dogs to a person, Belgrano is served by the Buenos Aires metro line D, many bus lines, and two commuter rail lines. Approximately 1.5 km to the west of Belgrano lies Avenida General Paz, beyond this avenue lie the suburbs of Vicente Lopez, Florida and Olivos. International schools include, Belgrano Day School, several blocks north of the Belgrano University, Barrancas de Belgrano spans several city blocks and is overlooked by highrise upper-middle class apartment buildings. On Manuel Belgrano square, a local fair is held regularly. It features a small bust of Manuel Belgrano on its middle spot, in the edge of the plaza lies the Inmaculada Concepción church, called La Redonda by locals because of its circular plan. Many weddings are celebrated in church in the afternoon hours
10.
San Isidro, Buenos Aires
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San Isidro is a municipality in Greater Buenos Aires. It is located 27.9 km from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and it ranks as the provinces most affluent neighborhood. The center of San Isidro is an area with cobbled streets. At the heart of Plaza Mitre is the neo-gothic San Isidro Cathedral built in 1898, the sloping plaza, home to the recently opened Rugby Museum, hosts an antiques and crafts fair. The plaza leads down to the Río de la Plata, where the park is popular with mate drinkers. The city is known as the National Capital of Rugby being the cradle of many important players. San Isidro is served by two lines, the Mitre Line and the Tren de la Costa. The San Isidro station is a vintage 1891 building designed in the style of British stations, the facility also houses a shopping arcade, a cinema complex and restaurants. The station is located just 200 meters from the San Isidro Cathedral, many large houses surround the historic center and line the riverside. The oldest is the House of General Pueyrredón, built in 1790 by Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, the house, with its old giant algarrobo tree under which Pueyrredón and San Martín discussed independence, is a national historic monument and hosts the municipal historic museum of San Isidro. The home of writer Victoria Ocampo, the Villa Ocampo, is owned by Unesco and is open to the public, the San Isidro Hippodrome is one of Argentinas most important race courses and covers a large part of the area inland from the city. Built in the striking 1930s architectural style, the track has faced tough times since the economic crises of the late 20th. In 2007, San Isidro celebrated its 300 years of existence with different celebrations taking place in the Hippodrome, the settlement was first incorporated in 1784 as the Alcaldía de la Hermandad and was granted municipality status by the province in 1850. It maintains sister city relationships with Herzliya, Israel, Nagoya, Japan, centro de Guias Turisticas de San Isidro Municipalidad de San Isidro Paintings by local artist Susana DMono
