Abdon Porte, the star of the Nacional team, committed suicide by putting a gun to his heart in the middle of the field where his team was playing in the middle of the night after being substituted. We are listening to this dramatic story from the dictionary writer “There is no smoking”.
Porte, who was born in Montevideo, Urugay, in 1893, started his football career in Colon and managed to be transferred to the Libertad team with his performance in a short time.
Later, Porte was transferred to the team he dreamed of as a child, Nacional, the biggest team in the city of Montevideo.
Porte, who initially played as a defender in Nacional, started to play in the center of the midfield in the following matches. Porte soon managed to become the leader of his team and became a rising star during the successful period of the national team, which won many trophies.
Porte carried this performance to the national archipelago and won the Copa America hosted by Argentina in 1916 and won the championship with the Urugay national team.
In 1918, the Nacional team made serious changes in the squad and decided to rejuvenate the team. During this period, Porte lost his place in midfield to Alfredo Zibechi and had a very poor performance in the National until 1916 – 1918. With this poor performance, Porte was subjected to serious protests from the fans. Porte’s psychology, who was whistled at every match and became a target of the fans, was deteriorating.
According to the traditions of the Nacional team, after each victory, the players would meet in the club building and have entertainment.
Again, after such a victory, all the football players gathered in the clubhouse continued to have fun, except for the team. Porte went to his best friend Charley at the time and said goodbye to him and was left alone after all the players left the club building.
Left alone in the clubhouse, Porte, with a gun in one hand and two letters in the other, stepped onto the grass of the Central Park Stadium for the last time and walked towards the center. When he got to the center point, the porter put the gun to his heart and fired. This is how Porte said goodbye to the team he loved.
In the morning, the stadium attendant saw a man lying on the ground at the kick-off station and walked towards the kick-off point, thinking that this man was sleeping. When he arrived at the kick-off point, he saw Nacional legend Abdon Porte lying dead on the ground, with a gun in one hand and two letters in the other.
In his first letter, he said goodbye to his beloved club as follows: “This farewell is difficult for me, but I have to do it. I am saying goodbye to this club, where I feel like I am a burden. My family and my only love, Nacional Club, are entrusted to you from now on.”
In the second letter, Porte said goodbye to his family like this: “My family, I love you very much, at least as much as my National jersey. My only darling, I have always loved you and I will never forget you.” He ended his words by saying.
After this dramatic event, the name of the behind-the-goal tribune of the Grand Parque Central Stadium became “porte tribune”.