Uruguay. Usually, the least complicated and easy to understand championship, but not this year. Relegation was a messy mystery – the rest was normal. The First Division was going to be reduced again – from 14 teams to 13 in the 1983. Hard to tell why and also hard to tell when the decision was made because the seasonal records do not tally. The simplest way was 2 teams relegated and 1 promoted from the Second Division. Relegation was never just the last in the final table – usually, it was a combined record of the few previous seasons, the newest league members excluded, and the the team with least combined points going down. But not this year…
Colon FC (Montevideo) won the Second Division. Normally, no problem – this was the team promoted. But Colon did not get to play top league football – it was not promoted at all, not even participating in the promotion/relegation tournament. Yes, Colon was a tiny club, but since the whole championship involved only Montevideo clubs, it was nothing unusual for a small club to play in the top league. Anyhow, Colon won the Second Division and nothing more.
But promotion still was an issue, for after the end of the season promotion/relegation tournament was played between 4 teams – Liverpool, 11th in the First Division, and arguably, the last in the combined league record – otherwise, there was no reason for them to be facing relegation. Its opponents came from Second Division: Fenix, El Tanque Sisley, and Racing. Colon was not among the participants and one may think that at that stage the next year to league would have been still 14-team strong, Colon getting direct promotion. But which club was going down, if that was the case? Never mind, worse follows. Fenix won the relegation/promotion tournament with 7 points and better goal-difference than Liverpool, also with 7 points. As most often was the case in South America, goal-difference did not count and Liverpool and Fenix met again: Liverpool won 2-0. By the record, they were safe…
Liverpool – leaving 3 teams behind in the championship, but having but having still to fight for survival and, seemingly, successfully. After winning the promotion/relegation tournament Liverpool was relegated. What was the point for this promotion/relegation tournament, then? Anyway, Liverpool won and was relegated. Colon won and was not promoted. No team was promoted, in fact, and the the league was reduced – same members minus Liverpool. If you are collecting amusing anomalies, South America is your prime source: there not only a team with a negative goal-difference quite often finished first, but now a winning team was relegated.
In another country, even South American one, a team like Huracan Buceo was to be relegated without any fuss: they were dead last with 16 points.
River Plate was 13th with 19 points. Clearly, Huracan Buceo was hopeless outsider this season, but had nothing to worry… River Plate had no worries too.
Miramar Misiones, 12th with 20 points also had no worries.
Liverpool – 11th with 22 points was the only team to worry. Never mind the seasonal performance, never mind the following win of the promotion/relegation tournament…
Rampla Juniors finished 9th – there is the sense that Rampla should have been much higher, just bellow Penarol and Nacional, but reality was different for a long time: may be popular, but Rampla for a long time was kind of declining and practically a mid-table club, more likely to fight to survival instead of for medals.
Danubio was slowly moving in the opposite direction of Rampla Juniors – not down, but up. Slowly, though – they finished 7th, distinguishing themselves as the team with most ties this year: 12. Standing from left: ÁlvaroPérez , Javier Zeoli , Ruben Dopico, Pierino Lattuada, Miguel Beltran , Cesar Javier Vega.
First row: Eliseo Rivero ,Christian Guaita, CarlosBerrueta,Gustavo Dalto, Rúben Sosa .
Anything memorable or just curious? One Argentine player – Guaita – who came from Estudiantes (La Plata) and one Portuguese, unfortunately not on the photo – Custodio Mendes. Well, he was no longer Portuguese, but naturalized Argentinian. And Ruben Sosa – at this time still a teenager, a promising junior.
Sud America was 6th , not a bad season really.
The next 4 had more at stake – not just position, but also a chance to play in Copa Libertadores – Uruguay, as a current holder of the cup, had three spots in the tournament and 4 teams competed for 2 spots in a mini-tournament after the end of the season.
Wanderers finished 5th in the championship, but put a good fight in the following mini-league and got one of the Copa Libertadores spots. Well done.
Bella Vista was 4th – strong year for the club.
Defensor finished 3rd with with 34 points – 5 ahead of Bella Vista and losing silver medals only on goal-difference. Strong season and, as often was the case in Uruguay in general and Defensor in particular, a strong season meant having one great, if aging, star – on this occasion, Baudilio Jauregui. Enough to give the scare to Nacional…
Nacional had a much stronger – by names – squad than Defensor, yet only better goal-difference placed them above. Juan Masnik was at the helm – an young coach, just recently still a major playing star – but very likely the brass and the fans of Nacional did not fancy him much at the moment: silver does not count. Yes, Nacional won the final tournament and thus kept its place in Copa Libertadores, but this was a last ditch effort.
Counting the titles of Penarol is really pointless, but this one was quite impressive: 15 wins, 9 ties, and only 2 games lost. 47-22 goal-difference and 39 points – leaving the arch-enemy Nacional 5 points behind. The best defensive record in the championship and only Defensor scored more goals. And the Uruguayan title was just the domestic part of this excellent for Penarol year – there is still plenty to talk about this squad, so no need to give their names yet.