In September 1941, Abelardo Gutiérrez, who had proposed the use of a white and blue jersey for the Argentina national team in 1927, suggested a badge with the figure of a lion. The color of the crest was blue (due to Buenos Aires Cricket Club, where the first rugby match in Argentina had been played). The animal was later replaced by a native Argentine species, so the jaguar (yaguareté) was chosen due to his "agility and courage", according to their words.
However, despite the emblem having a yaguareté, the Argentina national team is known as Pumas as a result of an error of Carl Kohler, a journalist for the South African newspaper Die Transvaler, while he followed the team during their first overseas tour ever to Southern Africa in 1965, he tried to devise a for the catchy nickname for the Argentines along the same lines of the existing national teams such as All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies. Kohler asked Isak van Heerden, who at the time coached the Natal Rugby team, who was asked by the SARB to assist with the tour for ideas. They saw an image of a lion with spots on the UAR crest. Kohler was aware that the Americas had jaguars and pumas and, since he was under pressure to submit his article, he made a guess and called them the Pumas, instead of the actual jaguar. Since then, the mistake stuck and the moniker was adopted by the Argentines themselves.
196?-1976, 198?-1985[]
Alternate version
1970-1976[]
1976-1984[]
1985-1990[]
1990-1999[]
1999-2013[]
2013-2023[]
2023-present[]
Designer:
Grupo Berro
Typography:
Custom made
Launched:
17 April 2023
In April 2023, the Argentina national rugby union team, as part of the new visual identity launched by the UAR including the change of the emblems of the national teams, from senior to 7s and youth teams, As part of the process, the characteristic jaguar was replaed by a puma, used as a namesake for the team since the 1965 tour in Rhodesia and South Africa.
