Bernabé Ferreyra

Bernabé Ferreyra (12 February 1909 – 22 May 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. Ferreyra ranks 6th among the all-time Primera División top scorers, with an average of almost 1 goal per match (233/234).Argentina - All-Time Topscorers in League
by Pablo Ciullini and Tomás Rodríguez Couto on the RSSSF At the end of his active career in 1939, Ferryra had achieved a record of having more goals than matches played.

Throughout his career he was known as ''"El Mortero de Rufino"'' ("the mortar of Rufino" referring to the tremendous potency of his shot),El eterno Bernabé Ferreyra y la leyenda del Mortero de Rufino
25 May 2020 by Iván Ezequiel García on Deportea due to his capacity as a striker and his strong kick. He was also known as ''La Fiera (the fierce)''. It is said that this nickname was born when Hugo Marini (a journalist for Crítica) overheard a conversation between an old man and a boy, in which the old man said "He's not a man. He's a beast" while referring to Ferreyra.
on TyC Sports, 26 May 2021 by Andrés Burgo

With his 1932 transfer to River Plate, he became the first association football player in history to be transferred for more than £1 million in modern money terms (£23 000 GBP or £1,328,431.76 in 2023)

Playing career

Club

Ferreyra was born in the city of Rufino, Santa Fe Province.Bernabé Ferreyra biography
on Futbol Factory (archived) Since early age Ferreyra chose football as his main activity, leaving school behind. Besides, he was expelled from school at 11 years old due to he used to escape to play in a field next to it. When his mother realised that Bernabé abandoned school, she sent him to live with his uncle.

His debut in football was at 14 years old in Jorge Newbery, a local club from his home town where he scored 24 goals in 22 matches. At the age of 18 he went to Club Atlético Buenos Aires al Pacífico, a club formed by workers of Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway based in Junín. With Bernabé in the team, CABAP won the Liga Juninense championship beating Club Atlético Sarmiento in the final.

His senior career started in 1926 playing for Newell's Old Boys, playing three matches there before returning to his home town. One year later he tried at Talleres de Remedios de Escalada but was not chosen to stay with the team. His next team was Tigre, that was playing in Primera División by then. Ferreyra debuted in Tigre in 1929 in a friendly match v El Porvenir, scoring four goals.

He was given on loan to Huracán for a tour to Brazil, where he played eight matches scoring 11 goals. Between 1930 and 1931, Tigre loaned him for free to Vélez Sársfield, to play with the club during their Pan-American tour. (striker Francisco Varallo was also loaned by Gimnasia y Esgrima LP). He scored 38 goals with the team during the tour. During the tour, goalkeeper of Peruvian Sport Boys collapsed on the pitch after a shot by Ferreyra hit his face, causing him a concussion.

In 1932, Ferreyra was transferred from Tigre to River Plate for a record transfer fee of $50,000, the first time the world record fee was broken outside the United Kingdom. He kept this record for a total of 17 year –the longest unbroken time period for this record. Due to the huge amount of money paid for Ferreyra's trading –along with Carlos Peucelle's one year before–, earned River Plate the nickname ''Millonarios'' ("Millionaires") that has remained until present days. The magazine ''Caras y Caretas (Argentina)'' published that the amount paid for Ferreyra's trading was the equivalent to the cost of 11 luxury cars, 5,000 pairs of shoes, and 514 suits (all of first quality).

His first match with River was on 13 March 1932 against Chacarita Juniors. 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. He won 3 Primera División titles, all of them in River Plate (1932, 1936 and 1937). In the 1932 season he was the top scorer with 43 goals. This also gave him the title of top scorer in South America. 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. The prize was awarded to Cándido De Nicola of Huracán (despite still suffering one goal in a 1–1 draw).

Ferreyra's shot was so strong that Independiente goalkeeper, Fernando Bello, injured his two wrists after stopping a penalty kick by him. With each passing match, Ferreyra was nicknamed different ways, such as ''Cañonero (Cannonade), ''Rompe redes (Nets breaker)'', and also ''Balazo (gunshot)'' when he started scoring from a distance of 40 meters.

River Plate won the 1932 championship with 84 goals scored, 43 scored by Ferreyra.Argentina - List of Topscorers
by Pablo Ciullini and Emmanuel Castro Serna on the RSSSF

Ferreyra finished his career prematurely due to the frequent injuries caused by his rivals. His last official match was on 11 May 1939 against Newell's Old Boys, which ended 2–2 and Ferreyra did not score. He retired at the early age of 29 and never accepted being a coach. Ferreyra had also a tribute match v Peñarol at Estadio Monumental, with a high attendance.

Ferreyra, along Valeriano López and Arthur Friedenreich, are the only American professional footballers with an average of more than 1 goal per match (including domestic and international cups).

International

Ferreyra debuted in Argentina national football team on 25 May 1931, against Uruguay in a Copa Lipton match, although he did not play well and was criticized by journalists. His run at national team was brief although he win a Copa América with the squad in 1937.

Ferreyra did not participate in any FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

He married Juanita in 1936 and had two children, Bernabé Daniel and Carlos Alberto.

In popular culture

Ferreyra had participations in Argentine cinema, debuting as actor in the movie ''El Cañonero de Giles'' (1937) written and directed by Manuel Romero. The title is a parody of Ferreyra's nickname ''El Mortero de Rufino'' while the movie narrated, in a comical tone, the life of a footballer (Luis Sandrini) from San Andrés de Giles that remarkably increased the strength of his shot when hearing the barking of a dog. The football scenes were filmed at River Plate Stadium, with Ferreyra and other players of the club making some cameos.

After his retirement, Ferreyra also acted in other movies, such as ''El susto que Pérez se llevó'', a comedy directed by Richard Harland, ''HAy que casar a Ernesto'' (Orestes Caviglia, 1941), and ''La importancia de ser ladrón'' (Julio Saraceni, 1944).

Argentine tango ''La Fiera'', dedicated to Bernabé Ferreyra, was recorded by Francisco Canaro and his orchestra in 1932. The song was composed by Francisco Laino and Adolfo Dispagna (lyrics) and Miguel Padula and Federico Germino (music).Un tango para Bernabé
on 2-3-5 website

In national football,
A player stands,
one of the most phenomenal
for being a great scorer
there is no one who can resist,
his formidable shot
has defeated many
(chorus)
Boys, be careful
that ''The Fiera'' is coming

Excerpt from ''La Fiera'' (1932),
a tango dedicated to Ferreyra

In his own words

In his own words:La Fiera fue tan ídolo como Gardel
on ''La Nación'', 22 May 2001

Titles

;River Plate
* Primera División (4): 1932, 1936 (Copa Campeonato), 1936 (Copa de Oro), 1937
* Copa de Competencia (LAF) (1): 1932
* Copa Ibarguren (1): 1937
* Copa Aldao (2): 1936, 1937

;Argentina
* Copa América (1): 1937

;Individual
* Primera División top scorer: 1932 LAF

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferreyra, Bernabe
1909 births
1972 deaths
People from General López Department
Footballers from Santa Fe Province
Argentine men's footballers
Argentina men's international footballers
Argentine Primera División players
Club Atlético Tigre footballers
Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers
Club Atlético River Plate footballers
Men's association football forwards
20th-century Argentine sportsmen