Bernabé Ferreyra was an Argentine association football forward. He was one of the first professional players in Argentine football to reach great popularity, to the point that he had a movie biography. Ferreyra is also the only player in the history of Argentine football whose number of goals scored is higher than matches played. Throughout his career he was known as "El Mortero de Rufino", due to his capacity as a striker and his strong kick. He was also known as La Fiera. It is said that this nickname was born when Hugo Marini overheard a conversation between an old man and a boy, in which the old man said "He's not a man. He's a beast" while referring to Ferreyra.
Playing career
Club
Ferreyra was born in the city of Rufino, Santa Fe Province. His debut in football was at 14 years old in Jorge Newbery, a local club from his home town. At the age of 18 he went to Buenos Aires & Pacific Railway, a club of Junín, Buenos Aires Province. His senior career started in 1926 playing for Newell's Old Boys, then moving to Tigre. Ferreyra would score four goals to El Porvenir in his debut match. He was given on loan to Huracán for a tour to Brazil, where he played eight matches scoring 11 goals. Between 1930 and 1931, Tigre loaned him for free to Vélez Sársfield, to play with the club during their Pan-American tour. He scored 38 goals with the team during the tour. In 1932, Ferreyra was transferred from Tigre to River Plate for a record transfer fee of $50,000, the first time the world record fee was broken outside the United Kingdom. He kept this record for a total of 17 years – the longest unbroken time period for this record. His first match with River was on 13 March 1932 against Chacarita Juniors. River won 3–1 and Ferreyra scored 2 goals. Bernabé played a total of 185 matches for River, scoring 187 goals, with an average of 1,01 goal per game. He won 3 Primera División titles, all of them in River Plate. In the 1932 season he was the top scorer with 43 goals. This also gave him the title of top scorer in South America. Ferreyra's last match played was on 11 May 1939 against Newell's Old Boys. The match ended 2–2 and Ferreyra did not score. He retired at the early age of 29 and never accepted being a coach. Ferreyra, along Valeriano López and Arthur Friedenreich, are the only American professional footballers with an average of more than 1 goal per match. Bernabé totaled 206 goals in 197 games from the beginning of the professional era in 1931 to his retirement in 1939. His fame and striking strength was such that the newspaper Crítica gave a prize to the first goalkeeper that played Ferreyra without receiving a goal. The prize was awarded to Cándido De Nicola of Huracán.
