Club Arsenal de Llavallol or simply Arsenal de Llavallol is a defunct Argentine football club from the Llavallol district of Greater Buenos Aires. The club had a very short life of only 20 years being dissolved in 1968.
History
Foundation
Arsenal de Llavallol was established on 12 October 1948 by Aníbal Díaz, a fan of English football who was also the president, coach and business man of the club. Arsenal had been founded with the purpose of participating in "Torneos Evita", the children's football championship organized by Fundación Eva Perón that was very popular by those years. After the team won the 1950 Evita's championship with a team formed by players drafted around the country, the Ministry of Finance of Argentina collaborated with Arsenal giving the club some lands located in Llavallol, Greater Buenos Aires, where the club built its headquarters and stadium, which was made of concrete instead of wood as many clubs had by then. Once the works finished, Arsenal requested Argentine Football Association being affiliated to play the official tournaments of Argentine football league system.
Official championships
The AFA accepted the request in 1952 so Arsenal made its debut that same year in Tercera de Ascenso. During its first tenure on the official football Arsenal totalized 16 points. In 1954 Arsenal promoted to Segunda de Ascenso division along with arch-rival Sacachispas although the team had been finished 5th. That happened because Arsenal had requested AFA to play at a higher division due to its number of members and the stadium conditions, which fulfilled the conditions demanded by the Association. Some of the most notable players of the team promoted were Humberto Maschio, Vladislao Cap, Omar Sívori and Antonio Angelillo who would later win the 1957 South American Championship with the Argentina national team. Arsenal did not have successful campaigns in the Primera C and the team was relegated again in 1958. After disputing 14 fixtures of the 1959 championship, Arsenal was disaffiliated from the Football Association due to a conflict with club's president Díaz, who was accused by the Association of forging AFA president Daniel Colombo's signature to transfer players outside Argentina. The team did not play again officially until 1962.
In 1962 Arsenal became a reserve team of Boca Juniors which acquired its facilities and other assets. The presidents of each club, Alberto J. Armando and Aníbal Díaz, signed an agreement for Boca to buy Arsenal at a price of three and a half million pesos. After becoming Boca Juniors' subsidiary, Arsenal changed its former brown and gold jersey to the blue and gold of Boca Juniors.
Final years
In 1964 Arsenal won the title for the first time, beating Ituzaingó in a playoff at Nueva Chicago's stadium. Ángel Rojas and Oscar Pianetti were the most notable players of the team that achieved promotion to Primera C. Arsenal played in that division until 1968, when the "de facto" Government presided by Juan Carlos Onganía demanded the restitution of Arsenal's lands that had been donated to them during the presidency of Juan Perón. The lands where the club had built its facilities were restored to the Province and the stadium demolished. Club Arsenal was also left behind by Boca Juniors which had acquired La Candela, a facility dedicated to training Boca's youth players. Arsenal was disaffiliated from AFA on 12 October 1968, exactly 20 years after its foundation, and dissolved soon after.
