Cricket and Football Club of Madrid

Cricket and Football Club of Madrid
	José Figueroa y Torres, president of the club.
Founded	October 1879
Dissolved	Unknown
Ground	Real Hipodromo de la Casa de Campo
Home colours	Away colours

Last updated October 02, 2023

The Cricket and Foot-Ball Club of Madrid was a Spanish society founded in Madrid at the end of 1879, which was registered at the time of its creation, thus becoming the first legalized sports club in the country.^[1] It was founded in the capital in October 1879 under the protection of King Alfonso XII, who was named its Honorary President.^[1]^[2]

It had a section dedicated to football due to the rapid growth of the said sport in England. It was thus the first club formed by native Spaniards (although their presence was somewhat insignificant) for football. Recent studies place it as one of the proto-clubs that pioneered and expanded football in Spain, together with Exiles Football Club (1876) and the Rio Tinto English Club (1878).^[3]^[4] It is not known with certainty what the fate of this team was, although it seems that it disappeared a few years later.

Origins

In the late 1870s, various English workers scattered throughout the peninsula began to establish informal groups that were dedicated to different recreational practices, especially cricket and football, particularly in Spanish ports, such as the ones in Vigo, Andalusia, (Huelva and Seville) and Bilbao, who were the regions that most felt this movement, and then Madrid to a lesser extent.^[3] Because of the huge influence and presence of the English in the first steps of football in Spain, it was England who echoed the relevant news that came from Spain about the legalizations or establishment of football clubs, since the news about these British football pioneers in Spain had to be told and broadcast as a new "conquest", even if it was a simple project.^[5] Thus, on 10 May 1879, the London Standard published, in the middle of a brief paragraph among others concerning the Spanish capital, a curious note referring to the possible constitution of a cricket and football society in Madrid that said the following:

Several English residents in Madrid, and Spanish noblemen and gentlemen have decided to establish a cricket club similar to those of Seville and Xeres. King Alfonso has kindly granted the use of a capital ground at the Royal seat of Casa de Campo, and through General Echagüe, intimated that he would honor the club with his patronage.

London Standard, 10 May 1879^[5]

Unsurprisingly, the news went completely unnoticed in Madrid and by extension, in all of Spain, due to the lack of interest from the readers in football.^[5] Alfonso XII was appointed as the entity's honorary president through the mediation of General Rafael de Echagüe, a well-known military man and politician who held several important positions in his different facets in life and with whom the King had a great relationship and who volunteered to gain institutional guardianship and, taking advantage of the situation, get the King to give them the old Hippodrome of the Royal seat of the Casa de Campo, a sports venue used between 1845 and 1867 by the Spanish Horse Breeding Promotion Society, which at that time was in disuse as Madrid had a new, more modern Hippodrome, the Hipódromo de la Castellana, which would later also be a football field.^[5] It was at the Casa de Campo where the people of Madrid took their first steps in football.

Members

At the time of its establishment, it had a solid structure that made it possible to foresee a long life for the company, as was reflected in its first meeting to decide the directive and the approval of its regulations and statutes:

After the General Meeting where the Club Regulations were approved, the Management was appointed, which was constituted as follows:
President: José Figueroa y Torres;
Vice Presidents: Álvaro Bertrán de Lis, Mr. Greentul
Directors: Juan White, Count of Villanueva
Accountant: Leonardo de Fesser
Treasurer: Mr. Velasco
Secretaries: Rafael de Echagüe, Carlos Heredia

London Standard, 16 November 1879^[5]

The members of Cricket and Foot-ball Club of Madrid was made up of a large number of noblemen of those times, as well as distinguished gentlemen who belonged to the Spanish or British high aristocracy and bourgeoisie, holding important positions in the Madrid society in the 1870s.^[5] Besides King Alfonso XII, the Honorary President of the club, the presidency was granted to José Figueroa y Torres, the Viscount of Irueste,^[2] who was barely 22 years old as a young man with a splendid future and good fortune as the eldest son of the Figueroa y Torres family.^[5] Together with him, there were other nobles such as the Viscount of Benaesa and the Count of Villanueva, who surrounded themselves with a wide circle of friendships among those who stood out from the military and wealthy bourgeois with whom they shared business, leisure and ideas.^[5]

After its establishment, the club played its first cricket match on 24 October 1879, forming two teams among the members of the society. The event closed with a banquet and was maintained for years as a traditional practice after each sporting event.^[6]

Decline and Collapse

Little more is known about these proto-clubs, which are presumed to have ended up being dissolved due to the still embryonic and not very prolific sport, and above all to the distance between the existing football societies in the country, so they could be able to formalize any dispute.^[5] It is not known with certainty what the fate of this team was, although it seems that it disappeared a few years later.

In 1880, the same cricketers and footballers of 1879 led by José de Figueroa, brought the sport of athletics to Madrid, which at the time was one of the only European capitals without an athletics stadium.^[2]

Related Research Articles

Maria Christina Henriette Desideria Felicitas Raineria of Austria was Queen of Spain as the second wife of Alfonso XII. She was queen regent during the vacancy of the throne between her husband's death in November 1885 and the birth of their son Alfonso XIII in May 1886, and subsequently also until the coming of age of the latter in May 1902.

Football is the most popular sport in Spain. Spain has some of the most influential teams in Europe as well as many players and teams registered in all categories. Moreover, football is the sport that interests the majority of Spanish people (48%) and a total of 67% of the population said they were fans of or had a liking for a particular club.

Pedro Parages Diego-Madrazo was a Franco-Spanish footballer, manager, and the 5th President of Real Madrid from July 1916 until 16 May 1926. During his mandate, Madrid FC received the Royal title (Real) from the hands of the King Alfonso XIII.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation is the governing body of football in Spain and it was founded on 29 September 1913. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid.

The King Alfonso XIII's Cup 1922 was the 22nd staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition.

Real Sociedad Gimnástica Española (RSGE), also known as Gimnástica de Madrid, was a sports club based in Madrid, Spain. It was officially founded as an amateur gymnastics club on 2 March 1887 by Narciso Masferrer under the name "Sociedad Gimnástica Española".

Football is the most popular sport, both in terms of participants and spectators, in Madrid. Madrid is the only city that had derby matches in the UEFA Champions League finals.

William Alexander Mackay was a Scottish medical doctor who worked for the Rio Tinto mining company and co-founded Spain's oldest football club, Recreativo de Huelva.

Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro, commonly known as Puerta de Hierro, is a private country club based in Madrid, Spain. It owes its name to the nearby iron memorial arch. Notorious for being associated with the royal families of Europe and the long-established elite, American President Gerald Ford called it "the club of kings and the king of clubs".

Julián Ruete Muniesa was a player, referee, coach and football manager in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century. He was also a director of the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

Ramón González Figueroa was a Spanish footballer who played as a centre forward. He was a member of the Spanish squad that competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics, but did not make any appearances.

Juan Sandalio Arzuaga Anitua was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Athletic Club, and later a coach of Athletic.

Enrique Ramón Morris de Olea, also known as Henry Morris or Morris II, was an Anglo-Filipino football pioneer and a prominent forward for FC Barcelona. His brothers, Samuel and Miguel, also played football, and together with them, he was one of the first pioneers of football in Catalonia, playing for several experimental teams in the 1890s such as Barcelona Football Club and Sociedad de Foot-Ball de Barcelona. His brothers also played for Barcelona, being the first Filipinos to join FC Barcelona ahead of the likes of Manuel Amechazurra and Paulino Alcántara.

Miguel Samuel Morris Yrisarry, also known as Junior Morris or Morris III, was an Anglo-Filipino of British descent who played football as a defender for Spanish club FC Barcelona. His stepbrothers, Samuel and Enrique, also played for FC Barcelona, but Miguel was the most outstanding of the Morris brothers, the boy who appeared in the oldest photo of a Spanish football team played more than 50 games for FC Barcelona between 1901 and 1909, and also played for Hispania AC and Català FC.

The Exiles Cable Club was a multi-sports club based in Galicia, Vigo. It was founded in 1873 by English workers of the Eastern Telegraph Company. It was one of the very first companies dedicated to sports in the country, most notably, football, having a section dedicated to the said sport due to its rapid growth in England, the homeland of the company's workers. Recent studies have shown that the Exiles football team, known as Exiles Foot-Ball Club or Exiles FC, was the first football club to have been recorded in the Iberian Peninsula, being one of the proto-clubs that pioneered and expanded football in Spain, together with the Rio Tinto English Club (1878) and the Cricket and Football Club of Madrid (1879).

The Club Inglés Bella Vista is a cultural institution that exists in the Spanish municipality of Minas de Ríotinto, in the province of Huelva. It was founded in 1878 by members of the British colony of Minas de Riotinto who worked for the Rio Tinto Company Limited (RTCL), and it soon become the center of social life in that British colony. Together with Exiles Cable Club (1873) in Vigo, this was one of the very first companies dedicated to sports in the country, most notably, cricket, tennis and football, having sections dedicated to the said sports due to its prominence in England, the homeland of the company's workers.

José Figueroa y Torres, also known by his noble title of Viscount of Irueste, was a Spanish politician of the Restoration. He was a football pioneer in Madrid, being the fundamental head behind the foundations of the very first legalized sports club in the country, Cricket and Football Club of Madrid in 1879, serving the entity as its first-ever president.

The Outdoor Games Society is a multi-sports society based in Madrid, Spain, which was founded in April 1897, with the purpose of promoting outdoor sporting activity, such as athletics, cycling, and football. It was the first society dedicated to athletics in the country, and just the second football team to have been formed in Madrid only after the proto-club Cricket and Football Club of Madrid of 1879.

The Madrid Association of Foot-ball Clubs was a football association responsible for the administration of football in Madrid between 1902 and 1904. It was the first football association founded in the capital. AMCF was one of the most important entities in the amateur beginnings of Spanish football, organizing the first-ever tournament disputed exclusively by Madrid clubs at the end of 1902 as well as the infamous 1904 Copa del Rey, which was notable for its chaotic development and the fact that Athletic Bilbao won the trophy without playing a single game, being this what ultimately led to the federation's demise.

The Limiako Hippodrome, or the Hippodrome of Lamiako, was a sports venue based in the Lamiako neighborhood of Leioa, Biscay, Basque Country. Originally an equestrian venue, it's now best remembered as a historic football venue. The Campo de Lamiako played a pivotal role in the early steps of football in the Basque Country as one of the first football fields in the city, serving as a practice ground for the city’s first known football matches between the members of the Club Atleta of the Nervión Shipyards. In 1894, the Limiako field hosted a match between young Bilbao enthusiasts and British workers, which is now regarded as one of the first ‘international’ matches in the history of the sport.

References

1 2 "La aguja del pajar: el origen del fútbol en Madrid" [The needle in the haystack: the origin of football in Madrid] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 16 September 2013. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
1 2 3 "1879-1880: cricket, fútbol y atletismo en Madrid" [1879-1880: cricket, football and athletics in Madrid] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 16 November 2013. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
1 2 "El fútbol llegó a Rio Tinto... o a Vigo" [Football arrived in Riotinto... or Vigo] (in Spanish). El Pais. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
↑ "¿Cómo entra el fútbol en España?" [How does football enter Spain?] (in Spanish). InfoGibraltar. 11 September 1907. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Cricket and Football Club of Madrid". lafutbolteca.com (in Spanish). September 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
↑ "El Campo (16/11/1879)". prensahistorica.mcu.es (in Spanish). El Campo. 16 November 1879. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[CIHEFE-1] 1 2 "La aguja del pajar: el origen del fútbol en Madrid" [The needle in the haystack: the origin of football in Madrid] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 16 September 2013. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

[Atletismo-2] 1 2 3 "1879-1880: cricket, fútbol y atletismo en Madrid" [1879-1880: cricket, football and athletics in Madrid] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 16 November 2013. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.

[Vigo-3] 1 2 "El fútbol llegó a Rio Tinto... o a Vigo" [Football arrived in Riotinto... or Vigo] (in Spanish). El Pais. 12 April 2021. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

[4] ↑ "¿Cómo entra el fútbol en España?" [How does football enter Spain?] (in Spanish). InfoGibraltar. 11 September 1907. Archived from the original on 2018-04-12. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

[Cricket-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Cricket and Football Club of Madrid". lafutbolteca.com (in Spanish). September 2013. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

[6] ↑ "El Campo (16/11/1879)". prensahistorica.mcu.es (in Spanish). El Campo. 16 November 1879. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]