Nicasio Goitisolo

Nicasio Goitisolo Zubizarreta (10 October 1889 – unknown), also known as Goiti, was a footballer who played as a midfielder for Real Sociedad. He was one of the first Spaniards (though born and raised in England) to participate in British football, and then had a prominent role during the first decade of the growing sport in Spain.

Goitisolo was introduced to football during his time as a schoolboy, developing a strong interest in the sport; however, he was still too young to play professionally at the time, leading to him being signed by various teams for short periods: in a timespan of just two years he had spells at Racing FC in Liverpool, then Arsenal and Crystal Palace in London and finally Third Lanark in Glasgow, before eventually achieving his dream of playing at the top level with Real Sociedad after returning to his parents' homeland. He later played for Stadium Club Avilesino.

Biography

Early years

Goitisolo was born in Liverpool to Basque parents, his father being a native of Lekeitio and a sea captain in charge of a Merseyside shipping company. While studying at Saint Francis Xavier's College, Nicasio started playing for the school's Old Xaverians football team, developing a strong interest for the sport. In the collegiate club, he quickly stood out as an outstanding forward and was recruited for a more relevant team, Liverpool's Racing FC, in early 1905 at the age of just 15. Despite his youth, he excelled at Racing and was the team's top scorer in 1905, thus starting to dream of becoming a professional footballer. His goalscoring records drew the attention of one of the biggest clubs in the city, Liverpool FC, who set up a friendly with Racing in order to observe and access the possible incorporation of Goitisolo to the ''Reds''. He played on the right wing on the day, but still managed to pass the test; however, he was only 16 years old and legally had to play in the second team for two years, something he felt would be a setback for him, especially after the great season he had with Racing where he faced rivals twice his age, so he did not accept Liverpool's proposal and thus missed out on the chance to become the club's first-ever Spanish player.

Despite the issue of his age, Goitisolo did not give up from his desire to be a footballer, and so, when he finished high school in 1905, he convinced his parents that he wanted to go to London to study teaching. He got a fake birth certificate that said he was 18, and there he went with the intention of knocking on the doors of as many clubs as necessary. After trying out various teams he was signed by Arsenal as a right winger. He played a few friendlies for the club, but less than he wanted, so he decided to move to Crystal Palace in search of greater prominence, but only had even worse luck, as about a month later it was discovered that he was only 16 and he was expelled from the club, putting an end to any chance of playing in England at the highest level at that stage, so he abandoned his studies and returned to Liverpool.

Instead of waiting two years for his 18th birthday, the eager Goitisolo went to the Scottish league, which had no age limit, in 1906 (aged 16) and was signed by one of the strongest teams in the country, Third Lanark from Glasgow, who had won the Scottish Cup

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