José Rodríguez Vázquez (20 August 1889 - 1972), also known as Pepe Rodríguez, 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 ...

. In his first season at Barcelona (1909–10), Pepe won all the titles at stake: The Catalan championship,

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 footbal ...

and Pyrenees Cup, and he was fundamental in Barça's triumphs as he netted the winning goal in both cup finals. Pepe scored in both cup finals in 1912 as well. In 1912, he was part of the first-ever team fielded by the Catalan national team in an international match recognized by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

Club career

Born in

Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, he began his career in 1907 at his hometown club Vigo FC, and in his first (and only) season with them he played a pivotal role in the club's greatest achievement, reaching the 1908 Copa del Rey Final, where they were beaten 1-2 by

Madrid FC Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. He then joined club rivals Fortuna de Vigo, with whom he played for two seasons. In Fortuna he stood out for his goal-scoring instinct, which earned him a move to

in 1910, making his debut on 1 May 1910, in the final of the 1910 Pyrenees Cup, despite having just landed and barely having time to meet his teammates, something that was not enough to stop him from scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 win over

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 ...

. He was a member of the legendary Barcelona team of the early 1910s that also included the likes of

Francisco Bru Francisco Bru Sanz (12 April 1885 – 10 June 1962), also known as Paco Bru, was a Spanish football player, referee and manager. As a footballer he played as a striker and midfielder for FC Internacional and as a defender for FC Barcelona, RCD ...

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 ...

Enrique Peris Enrique Peris de Vargas (27 February 1887 - 17 February 1953) was a Spanish footballer who played as a left winger. He spent most of his career at Barcelona, with whom he played over 300 matches. Club career Born in Barcelona, he began his career ...

Carles Comamala Carles Comamala López-Del Pan (17 April 1889 – 4 August 1983) was an orthopedic surgeon by profession and a football player for Barcelona between 1903 and 1911. He was a director of Barcelona in 1909–1911. Early life and Career Born in Ma ...

and Charles Wallace, and together with them, he helped the club win a further two Pyrenees Cup titles in

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

and

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

, netting once in the latter as Barça beat

Stade Bordelais Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux. The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s. Until 2005–06, the senior team competed in the second level of dome ...

5–3. He also won two

titles in 1910 and

, in which Rodríguez contributed decisively, netting the winning goal in the last minute of the 1910 final as Barcelona defeated Español de Madrid 3–2, and also scoring once in the 1912 final in a 2–0 win over Sociedad Gimnástica. This means he scored at least one goal in four different finals for Barcelona, two Pyrenees Cup finals (1910 and 1912) and likewise with the Copa del Rey (1910 and 1912). He played for Barcelona until 1912, scoring 59 goals in 62 games and winning two Catalan Championships (1910 and 1911), two Pyrenees Cups (1910 and 1911) and two Copa del Rey (1910 and 1912). He later moved to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and in 1922, he settled permanently in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, where he died on 1972.

International career

Like many other

players of that time, he played for the Catalan national team during the early 1910s, however, due to the little statistical rigor that the

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

s had at that time, the exact amount of caps he earned is unknown. On 20 February 1912, Rodríguez went down in history as one of the eleven footballers who played in the first international game recognized by

of the Catalonia national team in a friendly against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, that ended in a 0–7 loss.

Honours

Club

; Vigo FC *

: **Runner-up (1) 1908

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 ...

* Catalan Championships: **Winners (2) 1910 and 1911 *

: **Winners (2) 1910 and

* Pyrenees Cup: **Winners (2) 1910 and 1911

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodríguez, José 1889 births 1972 deaths Footballers from Vigo Spanish footballers Association football forwards FC Barcelona players Catalonia international footballers