A little NOB history

By: Jeremy | February 14th, 2008

Ok, now that I have a little time, I thought I would throw out a few facts about the team for those of you unfamiliar with Newell’s. In the interests of proper journalism, I gathered this information from several sources, including the official NOB homepage.

First of all, NOB is seventh on the AFA championship list, with five (although most fans will say six), one behind Velez Sarsfeld. They are based in the city of Rosario and play in “el Coloso del Parque” (which basically means the colossus(or really big thing) in the park) stadium, which seats 42,000.

Newell’s originated from the “Colegio y Internado Mercantil Anglo-Argentino” or more commonly “Colegio Newell,” a high school (colegio) started by one Isaac Newell, a British expatriate and his German born wife. The actual club was formed in 1903 by alumni of the school, hence the name Old Boys.

Their nickname is “los leprosos” (the lepers) because way back in the day, when they were still an amateur club (in the 20’s) some nuns wanted to arrange a game between NOB and Rosario Central, their eternal enemies and the other big club from Rosario, to aid a home for leprosy victims. Newell’s accepted immediately, but Central did not. Thus the nickname leprosos (and Central is now affectionately known to NOB fans as “las canallas” which translates as the rotten ones).

Enough for now. I’ll try and get up a decent preview of this Sunday’s game with River some time tomorrow or Saturday.

A photo of the Old Boy himself, Isaac Newell.