Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro

Genoa, 14 November 1875. The first mission in Latin America left from the port of Genoa, with ten Don Bosco Salesians settling in a parish for Italian emigrants in Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires, 11 November 1882. Seven years later Lorenzo Bartolomé Martín Massa, the son of two Genoese emigrants, was born in Morón, in the province of Buenos Aires. His parents were Lorenzo Massa (from Nervi) and Magarita Scanavino (from Sestri Levante) and they had arrived in Argentina about 20 years before the Salesians. Lorenzo Massa studied at the Pio IX college, which belongs to the Salesian congregation, and it was there that his vocation was born; he took orders in 1907.

Buenos Aires, 1 April 1908. Don Lorenzo Massa was in charge of the “San Antonio de Padua” oratory at the time, at 4050 México street, on the border between the Boedo and Almagro neighbourhoods. Groups of kids from the neighbourhood began playing in the streets the new sport that was becoming increasingly popular in working-class neighbourhoods: football. In particular, a gang of youngsters, calling themselves “Los Forzosos de Almagro”, played at the crossroads near the oratory.

One day, when Don Lorenzo Massa was out for a walk, he bumped into one of these youngsters, Juancito Abbondanza, who almost got knocked over by a tram while running to retrieve a ball.

Inspired by Don Bosco's oratory in Turin and his educational methods, the priest offered the kids the chance to play inside the oratory, where they would be safe. The parish hall also hosted the meeting held on the 1^st of April 1908 during which the “San Lorenzo De Almagro” team was officially born. There were several Italians among the founding members, including the first president, Antonio Scaramusso, and the leaders of the team, the Monti brothers.

The youngsters proposed the team's name in honour of Massa, and after several attempts to dissuade them, the priest agreed, specifying, however, that the name referred to the Roman martyr San Lorenzo and the heroic “Battle of San Lorenzo” waged in 1813 by Colonel José de San Martín. San Lorenzo began competing in the championship disputed between former Alumni of Don Bosco and it was not until 1915 that it rose to the highest category of organised football. The nickname “cuervos” (crows), which the supporters of San Lorenzo still go by today, seems to originate from the fact that their opponents, seeing the kids accompanied by the priest in his fluttering black habit, would exclaim: ¡Ahí vienen los cuervos! (The crows are coming!).

Story compiled thanks to Romina Deprati and Andrea Pedemonte in collaboration with Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro.