Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at

Campo Municipal de Gobela Campo Municipal de Gobela is the home stadium of Arenas Club de Getxo, Getxo Getxo () is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao, and has 77,946 inhabit ...

, with a 2,000-seat capacity. They were winners of the

1919 Copa del Rey The Copa del Rey 1919 was the 19th staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The competition started on 12 April 1919, and concluded on 18 May 1919, with the final, held at the Martínez Campos in Madrid, in which Arenas ...

, beating FC Barcelona 5–2. It was among the pioneering clubs of Spanish football, and in 1928 was a founding member of La Liga, alongside neighbouring

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

and Real Unión. Only Real Unión has remained a consistent rival since then due to both of their downfalls from the top flight.

History

Origins of local football

The area of Greater Bilbao was deeply connected to Britain due to its

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

mines and industry. Don Manuel, a priest in the local parish of the Las Arenas neighborhood, would gift balls to local children during

Catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

lessons. Some of these boys would go on to study in England and learn about the local game of football. After their return to Getxo, they spread football to nearby neighborhoods. By 1901, weekly matches were played in the fields of Lamiako by youth from Las Arenas. In 1903 the same group would win the "Copa Athletic", the biggest local tournament at the juvenile level, as well as play a match against Club Ciclista de San Sebastián, the precursor to

. They eventually founded a local team in 1909 (encouraged by the recent creation of the Spanish Federation of Football Clubs) with the name of ''Arenas Football Club''. It was renamed to ''Club Arenas'' three years later. In 1914 they moved their home ground to the local sports club ''Real Club Jolaseta'' in the Neguri neighborhood.

Early successes

In 1912 they started competing in the ''Campeonato Norte'' along with

, Racing de Santander, Sporting de Gijón and Celta de Vigo, being crowned champion in 1917. During the 1916-17 season of the ''Campeonato'', all the teams except for Arenas, Athletic, and Real Unión were suspended. The sporting committee of the tournament decided to play only the remaining matches between these three teams. Jolastokieta, one of the suspended teams, was dissolved that year. Arenas lost one match and won another against Unión as well as beating Athletic twice to claim the title. They then beat Sporting de Gijón in the semifinals. This qualified them to that year's Copa del Rey, where it reached the final in Barcelona, losing 1–2 against Madrid FC after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

. In 1917 a knock-out match in the Spanish Cup between Arenas and Athletic Bilbao had to be suspended after the pitch was stormed by Athletic supporters who were looking to assault the referee for seeming biased against their team. Arenas v barcelona final 1919

In 1919 Arenas won another regional competition, the '' Campeonato de Vizcaya'', thus qualifying for the Copa del Rey again, and won the national tournament after defeating FC Barcelona 5–2 in the final, scoring three in extra time. The following year, when the Spanish national team were runners-up at their international debut in the Olympic Games, the squad included three players from the club, Francisco Pagazaurtundúa, Félix Sesúmaga, and Pedro Vallana. Arenas Getxo appeared in Spanish Cup finals on two further occasions, losing against Barcelona in 1925 Copa del Rey Final, 1925 (0–2) and 1927 Copa del Rey Final, two years later against Real Unión (0–1), the latter in the only Basque football derbies, all-Basque decisive match in the competition's history not to feature Athletic Bilbao. Every member of the Football at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's team squads#Spain, Spanish squad at the 1928 Olympics was with a Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque club, and Arenas provided four of the players.

Decline

After playing in La Liga's first seven editions – finishing third in 1929–30 La Liga, 1929–30 – and the following six seasons in the Segunda División, second division, the club has spent the vast majority of its existence competing at the Tercera División, fourth level, with the occasional visit to the regional leagues. In 2014–15 Tercera División#Group IV – Basque Country, 2015, Arenas gained promotion to the Segunda División B, third tier for the first time in 35 years, via the 2015 Tercera División play-offs, playoffs.

Season to season

---- *7 seasons in La Liga *6 seasons in Segunda División *7 seasons in Segunda División B *2 seasons in Segunda División RFEF *61 seasons in Tercera División ----

In regional system

Current squad

Honours

*Copa del Rey: 1919 Copa del Rey, 1919 :Runners-up (3): 1917 Copa del Rey, 1917, 1925 Copa del Rey, 1925, 1927 Copa del Rey, 1927 *Tercera División (3): 1945–46 Tercera División, 1945–46, 1946–47 Tercera División, 1946–47, 1959–60 Tercera División, 1959–60 *North Regional Championship: 1916–17 *Biscay Championship (3): 1918–19, 1921–22, 1926–27 *Copa Vasca: 1935–36

Famous players

* Delmiro * Gorka Luariz * Tomas Agirre Lekube, Tomas Agirre * Guillermo Gorostiza * Rafael Eguzkiza Aurrekoetxea, Rafael Eguzkiza * Javier Iturriaga * Raimundo Pérez Lezama, Raimundo Lezama * Joseba del Olmo * Félix Sesúmaga * Ian Uranga * José María Yermo * José María Zárraga

Famous coaches

* Javier Clemente

References

*''Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football'' (2003), Phil Ball.

External links

Official website

Futbolme team profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arenas Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo, Sport in Biscay Football clubs in the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football clubs established in 1909 Copa del Rey winners 1909 establishments in Spain Getxo Segunda División clubs La Liga clubs