Dock Sud: Sweat, progress and virtue in Argentina

Words: Groundspotters

Images: Groundspotters

Dock Sud is part of Avellaneda district. Officially named as a city at the end of 2014, it is located on the south bank of the Riachuelo river in Greater Buenos Aires.

Its origins and traditions are imprinted by the strong connection with the port and the activities that took place there.

It is an area in which industries, factories and workshops proliferated. Mainly due to the port movement, people of different nationalities converged and settled in “El Docke”; and forged the neighbourhood´s identity.

In 1916, after the dissolution and formation of predecessor clubs, on September 1, Club Sportivo Dock Sud was founded, this name being chosen over other possible options (Picaflor Porteño, Peñarol Argentino and Nelson) as a tribute to the working people of the area.

Although, initially, their uniform sported blue and light blue colours with vertical stripes, the difficulty in obtaining those shirts led them to use green and red with vertical stripes (which corresponded to `Sígame Si Puede´, Dock Sud´s predecessor club).

©Groundspotters/Terrace Edition. Club Sportivo Dock Sud.

The following year they would opt for blue (for the sky) and yellow (for gold) that accompany them to this day.

In 1917, their stadium opened, joining the Argentine Football Association that same year, in the `Segunda División´ (Second Division), which corresponded to a third category in those days.

One of the greatest sporting achievements in Dock Sud´s history took place in 1933 with the winning of the First Division championship, an achievement that the club proudly displays with a star on its current badge.

Another important event occurred on March 5 2020, in the 32 round of the Argentine cup, when Dock Sud defeated the first division team Unión de Santa Fe on penalties at Atlético Rafaela´s stadium.

At the end of 2021, they won the much desired Primera C championship (they beat Berazategui 2-1 on November 28) which gained them promotion to Primera B, the third category of Argentine football, after 22 years.

The Estadio De Los Inmigrantes; in its current location, was inaugurated in December 1926 and the first match played there was a 2-0 defeat against Huracán.

In 1969, the ground experienced a complete renovation, given that in those years the area suffered constant floodings, hence the nickname “Los Inundados”; (`The Flooded´).

Currently Dock Sud´s stadium has a capacity for 9,500 people between its cement terrace behind one of its goals and another side tribune with seats and press boxes that was opened in 2014.

Previously all its stands were made of wood, Today, in what was the away end, we can see the old structures of those planks. The efforts of the club, its fans and the neighbourhood allowed Dock Sud to build its current cement ones.

Dock Sud was born and created simply as a football team that, over the years, as happened and happens with most of Argentine clubs, took on an important social and cultural role, both for its fans and for the area.

A neighbourhood that, due to its reputation for being dangerous, turns the `Estadio De Los Inmigrantes´ into a gem for hoppers but, at the same time, condemns Dock Sud to an unfair stigmatization.

It´s a neighbourhood of workers who, in the same way as the immigrants who populated the area for more than a century before, sought the growth of their club with their effort and sweat.

`Sportivo Dock Sud: mi cariño es sincero y por eso que quiero tu progreso y virtud´

‘Sportivo Dock Sud: my love is sincere and that´s why I want your progress and virtue’.