Hermenegild Casellas Bosch (1890 – 1969) 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and later as defender. Together with

Alfredo Massana Alfredo Massana Urgellés (27 July 1891 - 24 March 1924), was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for Espanyol and FC Barcelona. He had a great placement and vision of the game. Known as a great dribbler, he was one of the best Catalan ...

, he was considered the best Catalan midfielder at the time. Although history seems to have blurred the legend of Casellas, he was one of the most important footballers in the amateur beginnings of FC Espanya, being a pivotal piece in turning FC Espanya into an important team 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 nort ...

Club career

Born in

, He began his career at the youth team of Joventut FC, from where he joined Català FC in the mid-1900s, playing for them until 1911, when he signed for FC Espanya, with whom he played for nearly a decade. First, as a

, and later as a defender, he was one of the main architects of the team's football power in Catalonia, competing head-to-head against the likes of

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 ...

and

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 ...

, being crucial in helping them to win three Catalan championships in 1912–13, 1913–14 and 1916–17, and he also was pivotal in helping Espanya reach the 1914 Copa del Rey Final, which still stands as the only Copa del Rey Final of the club's history, but they lost 1–2 to Athletic Bilbao, courtesy of a brace from Severino Zuazo. He retired in 1918, and later became the club's

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

International career

He played several matches for the Catalonia national team, against the likes of Basque Country,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, the latter of which being the decisive game of the 1916 Prince of Asturias Cup, which ended in a 2–2 draw that proved enough for Catalonia to lift their first-ever piece of silverware. Casellas scored his only goal for the Catalans in a 2–2 draw with

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

on 1 November 1915.

Later life

Around 1916 he moved to El Pla de Santa Maria, where he introduced football to the town, and where he lived until his death in 1969, at the age of 79.

Honours

Club

; FC Espanya * Catalan championship: **Champions (3): 1912–13, 1913–14 and 1916–17 *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

: **Runner-up (1):

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

International

;

Prince of Asturias Cup The Prince of Asturias Cup (, ) was an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain – selections of players from clubs from the region in question, meaning that players did not need to be native to the region ...

: **Champions (1):

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * J ...

References

1890 births 1969 deaths Spanish footballers Association football defenders Footballers from Catalonia RCD Espanyol footballers Catalonia international footballers {{Spain-footy-defender-stub