Venancio Pérez García (22 April 1921 – 28 November 1994), known simply as Venancio, 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 le ...

who played mainly 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 ...

Early life

From a poor family in

Sestao Sestao is a town and municipality of 27,296 inhabitants located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is in the left bank of the Estuary of Bilbao and part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. Se ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, Venancio started working at a young age in the

Altos Hornos de Vizcaya Altos Hornos de Vizcaya, S.A. was a Spanish metallurgy manufacturing company. It was the largest company in Spain for much of the 20th century, employing 40,000 workers at its height. The business began in 1902 in Bilbao with the merger of three ...

factory. Tall and powerfully built, he played ''pelota mano'' (an offshoot of

Basque pelota Basque pelota (Basque: '' pilota'', Spanish: '' pelota vasca'', French: '' pelote basque'') is the name for a variety of court sports played with a ball using one's hand, a racket, a wooden bat or a basket, against a wall (''frontis or fronton ...

) in his youth, and only became a full-time professional footballer at the age of 24.

Club career

Venancio started playing the sport as a hobby, whilst he was performing his

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...

Vitoria-Gasteiz es, vitoriano, vitoriana, , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. After starting out at

SD Erandio Club Sociedad Deportiva Erandio Club is a football club from the Basque Country, from the city of Erandio in Biscay (Spain). The club was officially founded in 1915 and they currently play in the Honor Division, though have played twice in the Spanis ...

he signed with

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 ...

in early 1945 for 25.000 pesetas, but appeared sparingly in his first seasons, being loaned to

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 4, holding home matches at '' Lasesarre'', with a capacity ...

from

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. In February 1949, Venancio was recalled. In his first game upon his return, he scored twice in a 3–0 home win against

CD Alcoyano Club Deportivo Alcoyano, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcoy, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1928 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games in ''Estadio El Collao'', with a 4,850-seat ...

. He finished the campaign with a further five in only six appearances, and went on to be part of one of the most legendary attacking lines in the club's history alongside

Agustín Gaínza Agustín Gaínza Vicandi (28 May 1922 – 6 January 1995) was a Spanish football forward and manager. Club career Nicknamed ''Piru'', Gaínza's entire career was spent with Athletic Bilbao. Born in Basauri, Biscay, he made his official debut a ...

Rafael Iriondo Rafael Iriondo Aurtenetxea (24 October 1918 – 24 February 2016) was a Spanish football forward and manager. He amassed La Liga totals of 285 matches and 89 goals over 15 seasons, with Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad. He subsequently became ...

José Luis Panizo José Luis López Panizo (6 February 1922 – 14 February 1990) was a Spanish footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. During 16 seasons he played for Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 413 official matches (179 goals) and winning seven ma ...

and

Telmo Zarra Telmo may refer to: People * Saint Telmo (died 303), also known as Erasmus of Formia, Christian martyr and saint * Pedro González Telmo (1190-1246), Castilian friar and priest * Luis Telmo Paz y Miño (1884-1962), President of the Supreme Militar ...

, winning four titles which included three

Copa del Generalísimo 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 ...

. Venancio left the San Mamés Stadium in 1955, aged 34, retiring after a spell in the second tier with former team Barakaldo. With his main club, he amassed overall totals of 208 games and 91 goals over one decade, and was often deployed as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

in his last years.

International career

Venancio earned 11

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

in slightly less than five years. His debut came on 12 June 1949, in a 4–1 friendly win over the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. On 6 January 1954, Venancio scored the last of his four goals for the country to help to a 4–1 defeat of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

for the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

qualifiers, but the opposition would eventually reach the finals in Switzerland after a drawing of lots.

Post-retirement and death

After retiring, Venancio settled in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

and opened a metal shop. Married with two sons, he died in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

on 28 November 1994, at 73.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Copa Eva Duarte The Copa Eva Duarte was a Spanish football tournament organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo. History In September 1940, a match with this format had the nam ...

: 1950

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Venancio Garcia 1921 births 1994 deaths People from Sestao Footballers from Biscay Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards Men's association football utility players La Liga players Segunda División players SD Erandio Club players Athletic Bilbao footballers Barakaldo CF footballers Spain men's international footballers