Ángel Ponz Junyent (1883 - 20 August 1936) 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 for Club Español (now known as

RCD 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 s ...

). Although little has been recorded of his life, he was one of the most important footballers in the amateur beginnings of RCD Espanyol, being among the founding members of the club in 1900, and then serving the club as a forward, winning the 1902–03

Copa Macaya The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its organizers, Hispania ...

, which was the club's first-ever official title, as well as netting the club's only goal at the 1902 Copa de la Coronación (the forerunner for the

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 ...

). He spent his entire 12-year career at Espanyol, sept for the three years in which the club had to cease its activities (1906–09), being the first great figure of the club.

Biography

Born in

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 ...

, Ponz was one of the founding members of ''Club Español de Fútbol'' in 1900. He then become one of the first footballers of the newly formed Club Español, playing as a forward and standing out for his great speed. Together with José María Soler, he was part of the Español side that participated in the 1902 Copa de la Coronación (the forerunner for the

), in which he netted the first goal of the competition, thus going down in history as the goalscorer of the very first (unofficial) goal in the history of the Copa del Rey. However, Club Español lost the match 5–1 to Club Vizcaya (a combination of players from Athletic Club and Bilbao FC). He was also the first footballer to score a goal in a

Derbi barceloní The Derbi Barceloní (; es, Derbi Barcelonés, ; "Barcelonian derby"), is the name given to football matches between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol. Both clubs are located in the Barcelona metropolitan area, Spain. Rivalry In the first half of ...

between RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona. Together with

Joaquim Escardó Joaquim Escardó Salazar (2 January 1882 – 22 December 1957) was a Spanish Sports journalist and footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Club Español (now known as RCD Espanyol). As a player, he won the 1903–04 Catalan Championship, but h ...

, Ángel Rodríguez, and Gustavo Green, he was part of the team that won the 1902–03 Copa Macaya, the club's first-ever piece of silverware. Ponz then helped Español win the first edition of the

Campionat de Catalunya The Catalan football championship ''(Campionat de Catalunya)'' was a football competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain before La Liga was established in 1929. In December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, ...

in 1903–04. He remained loyal to the club until 1906, when Español had to suspend its activities due to a lack of players since most of them were university students who enrolled to study at universities outside Catalonia in the 1905–06 academic year. Most of the remaining players, including him and

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Pedro Gibert, joined

X Sporting Club The X Sporting Club, officially founded as Football Club X, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed during the years 1902 and 1908. They won the Catalan football championship, Catalan championship three times in a row between ...

. Together with Pedro Gibert, the Massana brothers (

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

and

Alfredo Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: * Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda F ...

) and

José Irízar José Marcelino Yrízar Urbizu (5 October 1882 - 23 March 1935), better known as José Irízar was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Athletic Club and FC Barcelona. Although he always appeared as Irizar in the sports press, on h ...

, he helped X win the Campionat de Catalunya three times in a row between 1906 and 1908. In 1909, the club was effectively relaunched as the

Club Deportivo Español Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

, the name which still stands today. He played with Espanyol for three more years, being a member of the great Espanyol side of the 1910s that had the likes of Paco Bru,

Emilio Sampere Emilio may refer to: * Emilio Navaira, a Mexican-American singer often called "Emilio" * Emilio Piazza Memorial School, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State * Emilio (given name) * ''Emilio'' (film), a 2008 film by Kim Jorgensen See also * Emílio (dis ...

and the Armet brothers (

Francisco Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name '' Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father o ...

and Kinké), winning the Campionat de Catalunya for the second time in 1911–12. He retired in 1912. He can also be considered one of the first coaches of Espanyol, because in 1904 he was director of training together with Gustavo Green. On 20 August 1936, he was killed in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

Honours

Club

: **Winners (1)

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

* Catalan Championships: **Winners (2) 1903–04, 1911–12 ;

* Catalan Championships: **Winners (3) 1905–06, 1906–07 and 1907–08

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponz, Ángel 1883 births 1936 deaths Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards RCD Espanyol footballers