WELCOME TO MUNDO ALBICELESTE!

23 August 1812

Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús BELGRANO, or Manuel BELGRANO as he is widely known, had a vision and he made history.

He was commanding a battle near Rosario. He noticed that both the Crown's forces and the independence forces were both using the same colors (Spain's yellow and red). After he noticed this, BELGRANO created a new flag with the colors that were used by the Criollos during the May Revolution in 1810.

The flag was first flown, for the soldiers to swear allegiance to it, on 27 February 1812, on the Batería Libertad (Liberty Battery), by the Paraná River (that very first flag is pictured to the right and it was white & blue rather than blue & white).

Soon after, BELGRANO dispatched a letter addressed to the First Junta, informing them of the newly created flag. The Junta, fearing the Spanish Crown, sent a warning to Belgrano not to fight under the flag, but by the time the reply had arrived, BELGRANO had moved on, and was flying the flag on the battlefield. The letter contained the following passage:
"Being it necessary to hoist a flag, and not having one, I ordered one made, white and sky blue in the colours of the national cockade; I hope Your Excellencies will find it worthy of approval”

Manuel BELGRANO died 8 years later on a 20th of June, a day that will always be remembered as Argentina’s Flag Day.

Even though I can clearly see the differences between an historical event like the one I’m writing about and a merely recreational (yet very serious!) thing like sports, I thought it would have been a great idea to re-launch our blog on this very day.

After all, the Argentine flag, is what connects us all. It is our common denominator. It is what makes us all equal in this place. WE FOLLOW THE ARGENTINE FLAG NO MATTER WHERE WE WERE BORN.

I think that’s the whole idea behind this space that Today is re-born.

A new address, a new name, a new era in our blog!

I hope many new readers will join our gang of regular posters in what we decided (together with John) to call MUNDO ALBICELESTE (BLUE & WHITE WORLD).

What can you expect in MUNDO ALBICELESTE?

Everything you need to know about Argentina in sports ALL THE TIME!

Updated information on the most important tournaments (starting of course with the Copa America Venezuela 2007), videos, pictures, gossip, opinion, coverage of every sport in which an Argentine is shining and…best of all, a community of Albicelestes from around the World formed by people that share the same passion you have and will provide you with lots of interesting messages and stories through our comments section.

We will of course be looking to improve all the time, so we will also welcome you if you want to be a part of our team or simply send us your ideas and suggestions.

A new era begins.

Welcome to your MUNDO ALBICELESTE!

John & Seba