José Marcelino Yrízar Urbizu (5 October 1882 - 23 March 1935), better known as José Irízar 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 lea ...

who played as a defender for Athletic Club and

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. Although he always appeared as Irizar in the sports press, on his baptismal and death certificates his surname is written with a y.

Club career

Born in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

, he began his career in 1903 with his hometown club Athletic Club. In the 1904 Copa del Rey Final, Athletic were declared winners after their opponents,

Club Español de Madrid Club Español de Madrid was a Football in Spain, Spanish football club based in Madrid. The club was originally formed in 1901 after a conflict between New Foot-Ball Club, Sky Football members caused some of them to leave and create a new club. Es ...

, failed to turn up. He was then a fundamental piece in the Athletic side that reached the final of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

three consecutive seasons (1905-1907), although each a loss to Madrid FC. He then joined X Sporting Club, where he formed a great defensive partnership with Santiago Massana and goalkeeper Pedro Gibert, winning two Catalan championships in 1907 and 1908. In 1909, the club was effectively relaunched as the Club Deportivo Español, and he become the team's first-ever

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

after the re-foundation. He remained loyal to the club until 1911, when his constant good performances drew the attention of

, who signed him in 1911, making his debut on 19 November in a 17-1 win over Català. He was a member of the legendary Barcelona team of the early 1910s, that also included the likes of Francisco Bru, Alfredo Massana, Enrique Peris and Carles Comamala, which won back-to-back

titles in

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

and

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

, helping his side keep a clean-sheet in the 1912 final in a 2-0 win over Sociedad Gimnástica. He also helped the Catalan club win two Pyrenees Cups titles in 1912 and 1913 and one Catalan Championships in 1912–13. He played for Barcelona until 1914, when he returned to Athletic Club, where he retired in 1918.

International career

Like many other

of his time, he played several matches for the Catalan national team in the early 1910s, being one of the eleven footballers who played in the team's first-ever game recognized by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

on 20 February 1912, which ended in a 0-7 loss to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Personal life

Irízar was the only child of a wealthy couple from

. His condition allowed him the luxury and prestige of studying in

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. However, while an Athletic player, he fell in love with Ana, a young woman from a humble family who had emigrated to the Biscayan capital from Herrera de Pisuerga, in

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half of ...

, to be educated in Los Ángeles Custodios. They got married and at least four of the five children they had were born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

, where Irizar played between 1911 and 1914. In fact, his teammates at Barcelona such as Enrique Peris, Romà Forns or Manuel Amechazurra, used to call him "the father" because he already had children. Irizar died on 28 March 1935, at the age of 52, and was buried in the Montjuïc cemetery. His wife Ana continued to live in Barcelona, where she would die almost 40 years later, in 1973.

Honours

Club

Athletic Club *

: **Champions (1):

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

**Runner-up (3):

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

X Sporting Club * Catalan championships **Champions (2): 1907 and 1908 ;

* Catalan championships **Champions (1): 1912–13 *

: **Champions (2):

and

* Pyrenees Cup: **Champions (2): 1912 and 1913

References

1882 births 1935 deaths Footballers from Bilbao Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Athletic Bilbao footballers RCD Espanyol footballers FC Barcelona players Catalonia men's international footballers {{Spain-footy-defender-stub