Ramón Silva Abaitua was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Athletic Club (now known as

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 ...

). He was one of the co-founders of Athletic Club in 1901 and was part of the team that won the

1902 Copa de la Coronación The 1902 Copa de la Coronación was a football competition in honour of the coronation of Alfonso XIII of Spain. The Royal Spanish Football Federation does not recognize it as the first season of the Copa del Rey, which began the following year. ...

, the first national championship disputed in Spain. The dates of his birth and death are unknown.

Playing career

Athletic Club

On 5 September 1901, he and his brother Luis were two of the 33 socios (co-founders) who signed the documents that officially established the Athletic Club at the historic meeting in ''Café García''. He was then one of the first football players of the newly created Basque team, with whom he played several friendly matches against city rivals Bilbao Football Club) in the

Hippodrome of Lamiako The Limiako Hippodrome, or the Hippodrome of Lamiako, was a sports venue based in the neighborhood of Leioa, Biscay, Basque Country. Originally an equestrian venue, it's now best remembered as a historic football venue. The Campo de Lamiako pla ...

. The Silva brothers, and especially Ramón, were pivotal figures in this historic rivalry that served as one of the drivers of football as a mass phenomenon in Bilbao since their duels aroused great expectation. On 19 January 1902, Silva scored the opening goal to help his side to an eventual 4–2, which not only marked Athletic's first victory over Bilbao FC in four matches, but also the first time that a paid match was held in Biscay, since they charged a ticket price of 30 cents of a peseta.

Club Bizcaya

In 1902, the two rivals agreed to join the best players of each club to face the Bordeaux-based side Burdigala. This temporary merge became known as ''Club Bizcaya'' and Silva ousted Bilbao FC's English forwards for a spot in the first-ever line-up of the Bizcaya team against Burdigala on 9 March, netting the opening goal in an 0–2 win in France. Three weeks later, on 31 March 1902, he was again in Bizcaya's starting XI for the return fixture at Lamiako, the first visit by a foreign team to Bilbao, helping his side to a 7–0 win over the French side. Together with Juan Astorquia, William Dyer, Walter Evans and his brother, he was part of the Bizcaya team that won the first national championship disputed in Spain, the

, the forerunner for the Copa del Rey. He featured in the final alongside his brother and helped his side to a 2–1 win over FC Barcelona. Notably, he was one of the eleven players who started for Athletic in their infamous 11–1 win over FC Barcelona on 15 April 1906.

Honours

''Club Bizcaya'' * Copa de la Coronación:

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world's f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Ramón Year of birth missing Year of death missing Spanish men's footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Bilbao