Sport in Uruguay at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: A Perspective from the Countryside

Abstract

Sports history is still a very recent field in Uruguay, with most scholarship focussing on the constitution of physical education and on the history of football, concentrating mostly on teams located in Montevideo. Using the city of Paysandú, one of the largest in the countryside, helps expand sports history in Uruguay from a regional perspective. Paysandú is located on the shores of the Uruguay River at the border of Argentina. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was an important economic route due to its harbour. Tracking the development of physical culture in Paysandú in the first decade of the twentieth century demonstrates how sporting practices constituted part of the everyday life of this city. Newspapers from the time reveal the four most frequent practices: horseracing, rowing, skating, and football. These sports appeared as a form of communication with other Uruguayan and Argentinian cities, as a practice of social distinction and a festive element.