Julián Ruete Muniesa (29 January 1887 – 15 March 1939) was a player, referee, coach and football manager in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century. He was also a director of the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

. Some of his main achievements was getting the funds for the construction of a new ground for Athletic Madrid (now known as

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

), the

Campo de O'Donnell Campo de O'Donnell was a multi-use stadium in Madrid, Spain. The stadium should not be confused with Campo de O'Donnell (Atlético Madrid), which shared the same name and was situated away on the same boulevard. It was initially a field (campo) ...

in 1913.

Playing career

He was born at the beginning of 1887 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, a city in which he would develop an extensive career linked to football. Between 1904 and 1910 he was a player, member and secretary of the Board of Directors of the Madrid Football Club (now known as

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

). His position was

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, but took no part in any of the club's four consecutive

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 ...

final wins between 1905 and 1908, instead serving as

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 ...

of the reserve team. In 1910, he played for Athletic de Madrid. He also played for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

, featuring in one Copa del Rey match in

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escapes death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Janu ...

and another in

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

Club presidency

In 1912, he was elected President of Athletic de Madrid for the first time, a position he held initially until 1919. During his tenure he oversaw the move to a new ground, the

in 1913. Two years after leaving the presidency, in 1921 he was elected again, remaining in office until 1923. In this second term, the club made very important advances such as the construction of a more advanced new stadium, the

Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid was a multi-use stadium in Madrid, Spain. It was used as the stadium of Atlético Madrid matches before the Vicente Calderón Stadium opened in 1966. The stadium held 35,800 people and was built in 1923, replacing ...

, becoming independent from their original parent club Athletic Bilbao, and winning the Centro Championship for the first time in 1920-21, thus participating in the Copa del Rey for the first time, where they unexpectedly, but convincingly defeated

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

in the semi-finals, but then lost the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

to their 'cousins' from Bilbao.

Refereeing career

In addition to his relationship with Atlético Madrid, Ruete went much further in his relationship with the world of football. He was a football referee, being among the 5 men who established the College of Referees of the Central Regional Federation on 15 April 1914, which was the first College of Referees in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Together with the likes of

Manuel Prast Manuel Prast Rodríguez de Llano was a footballer who played as a striker for Madrid FC between 1904 and 1908, and 1911 and 1914. He was a historical member of Madrid FC, playing a pivotal role in Madrid's four back-to-back Copa del Rey titles ...

and

José Manuel Kindelán José Manuel Kindelán Duany (8 October 1887 – 9 November 1919) was a Spanish referee and footballer who played as a defender for Atlético Madrid. Playing career Born in Cádiz, Kindelán moved to Madrid as a child, and eventually, he joined ...

, Ruete was a member of the College's first constitution, serving as its first Secretary. However, he resigned from the position just a few weeks later, on 19 May, to become one of the first category referees. As a referee, he oversaw the first game of the

Prince of Asturias Cup The Prince of Asturias Cup (, ) was an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain – selections of players from clubs from the region in question, meaning that players did not need to be native to the regio ...

, an official inter-regional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition contested by the regional selections of Spain. The game was held at the

on 10 May 1915, between the teams of

Centro Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

(a Castile/Madrid XI) and

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, ending in a 2-1 win to the Catalans. He also refereed the final of the 1917 Prince of Asturias Cup between Madrid and Catalonia, this time ending in a controversial win to Madrid, because in the 70th minute, with the score already at 2-0, the Catalan side had a goal disallowed in the 70th minute for having scored directly from a

corner kick A corner kick, commonly known as a corner, is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defe ...

, a circumstance not allowed at the time, and this event led Ruete to send off a visiting player due to the protests, to which the Catalan team left the match in protest.

Coaching career

He also worked as a coach, training Atlético and Nacional and acting as technical secretary of

Club Deportivo Castellón 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 * ...

. Between 1921 and 1922 he was the manager of the

Spain national football team The Spain national football team () has represented Spain in men's international Association football, football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. Spain i ...

, leading the nation in four games that ended with victory.

Death

He died 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 ...

in March 1939.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruete, Julian 1887 births 1939 deaths Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Real Madrid CF players Atlético Madrid footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Real Madrid CF non-playing staff Spanish football managers Atlético Madrid managers Atlético Madrid presidents Spain national football team managers Spanish football referees Footballers from Madrid