Gustavo Gren Córdoba (10 May 1880 - 9 November 1965), better known as Gustavo Green, as he was often mentioned in the press of his time (Gustavo H. Green y Córdoba ), was a Spanish
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played as a
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
for
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
and
RCD Espanyol
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...
.
After spending his childhood in a south London neighborhood, he settled in Barcelona and began playing
friendlies with
Escocès FC
The Escocès FC, officially founded as Escocés Fútbol Club, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed only during the year 1900, playing a total of ten Exhibition game, friendlies against the likes of FC Barcelona and Català ...
,
Catalá FC, and ''Team Roig''.
He was
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of the side that won the very first official title in
Spanish football
Football is the most popular sport in Spain. Spain has some of the most important teams in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Seville, Valencia, and others). It also has a high number of players (most of them being unprofession ...
, the
1900–01 Copa Macaya
The 1900–01 Copa Macaya was the 1st staging of the Copa Macaya. This tournament is best known for being the very first football competition played on the Iberian Peninsula. The competition was held on the road between 20 January 1901 and ended o ...
with
Hispania AC.
He won all three editions of the Copa Macaya
The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its organizers, Hispania ...
with three different clubs ( Hispania AC, Barça and Español), being the only one to do so. He was thus the first great star of Catalan football as well as one of the first great forwards of Barcelona and RCD Espanyol
Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...
(then Club Español), netting over 100 for them between 1911 and 1910, although this tally includes goals scored in friendlies and unofficial games.[
]
Early life
Gustavo Gren was born in Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...
to a German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
father and a Spanish mother, but it was in Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
where he found his home.[ He spent his childhood in a neighborhood in the south of ]London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, where he was first introduced to football. Together with his brother, Guillermo, they competed in some cycling tests in London using the alias “Green”, which was an anglicization of their German surname.[
]
Playing career
Escocés FC
At the age of 20, Green returned to Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and settled in Catalonia at the end of the 19th century, where he first joined Escocès FC
The Escocès FC, officially founded as Escocés Fútbol Club, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed only during the year 1900, playing a total of ten Exhibition game, friendlies against the likes of FC Barcelona and Català ...
, a team made up of Scottish workers from a factory in Sant Andreu
Sant Andreu () is one of the ten districts of Barcelona since its redistricting in 1984. It was named after the former municipality of Sant Andreu de Palomar, which was the largest in the area and now makes up the bulk of the neighbourhood be ...
, such as George Girvan
George Girvan, often called Geordie Girvan (13 June 1878 – 3 July 1968), was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward for Spanish club FC Barcelona. He is best known for scoring the very first competitive goal in Barcelona's history at the ...
, Joseph Black
Joseph Black (16 April 1728 – 6 December 1799) was a Scottish physicist and chemist, known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was Professor of Anatomy and Chemistry at the University of Glas ...
and John Hamilton, the latter being the team's captain and goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
.
Català FC
Around March 1900, within only a month of his arrival, Escocés was immersed in a three-way controversy with FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.
Founded ...
and Català FC
Català Futbol Club, and later Català Sport Club, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed from 1899 until its dissolution in the late 1920s. It was one of the most important entities in the amateur beginnings of football in C ...
, due to Green and Black (among others) playing a few friendly matches
An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...
with both Escocès and Catalá in a very short space of time, causing Barcelona to launch complaints in their direction as they were unhappy about Escocès stars turning out for their city rivals at the time. The local press, who were falling in the love with the game that had grabbed the city's residents, began mocking these Scottish players by calling them 'taxi-footballers'. While Black stayed with Escocés, Green decided to leave them as he probably felt like an outsider (he is the team's only documented non-Scottish member), and joined Català FC around April, but a conflict between the club members caused some of them to leave and found a new club, ''Team Roig'', which went on to become Hispania Athletic Club
The Hispània Athletic Club was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed during the years 1900 and 1903. It was one of the first football clubs in the city and in 1901, Hispania was the fundamental head behind the organization of t ...
on October 1900, with Green becoming the first captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of this team.[ Shortly after, in November, Hispania took advantage of the dissolution of Escocés FC to incorporate several of its most prominent players, and Green might have played a pivotal role in Hispania's successful recruitment of Hamilton, Black and ]Willie Gold
William Gold, better known as Willie Gold, was a Scottish footballer. He is best known for being the victim of the very first red card shown in Spanish football. Gold was also a member of the side that won the very first Spanish club to win an off ...
.[
]
Hispania AC
After the founding of the club, Hispania AC organized the first edition
The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants.
First edition
According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...
of the Copa Macaya
The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its organizers, Hispania ...
in 1901, which was the first football championship played on the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
, and the forerunner for the Catalan championship which began in 1903. In the opening match of the tournament against FC Barcelona on 20 January 1900, Green scored twice in a 2–1 comeback win, thus contributing decisively to help Hispania become the first-ever team to win a competitive match in Spanish football as well as the first team to defeat Barça in a competitive match. This result proved to be decisive in the outcome of the tournament since Hispania won the title over Barça by just two points. Green was Hispania's captain and best player at the tournament, playing a pivotal role in helping his side become the very first Spanish club to win an official title.[ He finished the tournament with 9 goals, 7 of which came in 0–10 and 14–0 trashings of Franco-Española.][ Those nine goals saw him finish as the second highest top scorer of the tournament only behind ]Joan Gamper
Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably FC Barcelona and FC Zür ...
who netted a whopping 31 goals.
FC Barcelona
Despite his goalscorer prowess, differences with the managers of the club about the position in which he should line up led to his departure and subsequent entry into FC Barcelona, where together with Joan Gamper
Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably FC Barcelona and FC Zür ...
, Arthur Witty
Arthur Whitty Cotton, also known as Don Arturo, was a footballer, club president and businessman. Whitty played for FC Barcelona in the first Copa del Rey final and later served as club president between 1903 and 1905. He was also a successful ...
and Udo Steinberg, he helped Barça win the 1901–02 Copa Macaya, the club's first-ever piece of silverware.
Club Español
The following season, he was recruited by Club Español where he spent most of his career. In his first season at the club, Green was decisive for Espanyol to win the third and last Copa Macaya, the club's first-ever piece of silverware, being the top scorer of the tournament with 7 goals including a brace in the decisive match against Hispania (3–1) on 12 April 1903.[ He thus won all the editions of this Cup each time with a different team.]
From 1903–04 onwards, the Catalan championship began to be organized by the Catalan Football Federation
The Catalan Football Federation ( ca, Federació Catalana de Futbol, es, Federación Catalana de Fútbol; FCF) is the football association responsible for administering football in Catalonia. It was formed on 11 November 1900 as the Football Ass ...
and the Copa Macaya became known as the ''Campionat de Catalunya'', and together with Emilio Sampere Emilio may refer to:
* Emilio Navaira, a Mexican-American singer often called "Emilio"
* Emilio Piazza Memorial School, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State
* Emilio (given name)
* ''Emilio'' (film), a 2008 film by Kim Jorgensen
See also
* Emílio (dis ...
, Ángel Rodríguez and Ángel Ponz
Ángel Ponz Junyent (1883 - 20 August 1936) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Club Español (now known as RCD Espanyol). Although little has been recorded of his life, he was one of the most important footballers in the amateur ...
, Green won its first edition with Español, thus winning the Catalan championship for the fourth time in a row.[ He remained loyal to the club until 1905, when Español had to suspend its activities due to a lack of players since most of them were university students who enrolled to study at universities outside Catalonia in the 1905–06 academic year.][ Most of the remaining players, such as ]goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
Pedro Gibert, joined X Sporting Club
The X Sporting Club, officially founded as Football Club X, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed during the years 1902 and 1908. They won the Catalan football championship, Catalan championship three times in a row between ...
, but Green apparently remained with no club until 1908, when Español reemerged from the merger of X and the Spanish Jiu-Jitsu Club.[
He played with Espanyol for four more years, being a member of the great Espanyol side of the 1910s that had the likes of Paco Bru, Emilio Sampere and the Armet brothers (]Francisco
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
Nicknames
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de Asís was known as '' ...
and Kinké), winning the Campionat de Catalunya for the second time in 1911–12.
Football executive
Even after retiring, he remained closely linked to Espanyol, since he carried out functions as an accountant in its board of directors chaired by Santiago de la Riva.[ In addition to being a player, he was then a member, ]treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
, and accountant on the board of directors of Español (1909–1913),[ he can also be considered as one of the first ]coaches
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
of Espanyol, because in 1904 he was in charge of directing the training sessions together with teammate Ángel Ponz.[
]
Personal life
At that time living exclusively out of football wasn't common, and therefore he had a second job, with his profession being that of a telegraph operator
A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is an operator who uses a telegraph key to send and receive the Morse code in order to communicate by land lines or radio.
During the Great War the Royal ...
, in fact, when competing in cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
, he would also use the alias "Télégraphe". He married María Anglada Ribas in 1907 in Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
.[
Greed died on 9 November 1965 in ]Bilbao
)
, motto =
, image_map =
, mapsize = 275 px
, map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao
, pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption ...
at the age of 65.
Honours
Club
Hispania AC
** Champions: 1900–01
FC Barcelona
* Copa Macaya
The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its organizers, Hispania ...
:
** Champions: 1901–02
-
Club Español
* Copa Macaya
The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its organizers, Hispania ...
:
** Champions: 1902–03
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
* Catalan championship
** Champions: 1903–04 and 1911–12
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Gustavo
1880 births
1965 deaths
Spanish people of German descent
Footballers from Málaga
Spanish footballers
Association football forwards
FC Barcelona players
RCD Espanyol footballers