Miguel Valdés Padró (13 October 1867 - 5 May 1951) was a Spanish

gymnast Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

and

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

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 ...

for

Català FC Català Futbol Club, and later Català Sport Club, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed from 1899 until its dissolution in the late 1920s. It was one of the most important entities in the amateur beginnings of football in C ...

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 ...

. He was one of the founding members of Català FC in 1899, but immediately moved to city rivals FC Barcelona, which he helped to a win the

1901–02 Copa Macaya The 1901–02 Copa Macaya was the 2nd staging of the Copa Macaya. This tournament is best known for being the very first trophy won by the Spanish club FC Barcelona. The competition was held on the road between 22 December 1901 and ended on 12 Marc ...

, the club's very first piece of silverware. Besides football, he was also an outstanding

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who also performed in other modalities such as

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

and gymnastics in the specialty of

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. He was also a Spanish businessman, founder, and owner of ''Lotería Valdés'', considered one of the most emblematic and popular lottery administrations 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 ...

and FC Barcelona's first unofficial meeting point.

Early life

Born in Barcelona, he began his gymnastics career somewhere in the early 1890s, when he joined the Tolosa gymnasium, which was popular at the time for its innovative system created by Jaime Vila, a native of

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

who worked at the Tolosa gym as a teacher. He practiced several sports including athletics, where he won several athletic events. He was the first Catalan athlete to be timed in the distance of 100 meters, on 18 November 1900 in Barcelona, reaching a mark of 12 seconds. He had also practiced boxing, rowing, and weight lifting.

Footballing career

Football began taking root in the city in the late 1890s, and soon it gained followers among members belonging to the gym, by virtue of being an outdoor activity. As a lover of

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

and

physical culture Physical culture, also known as body culture, is a health and strength training movement that originated during the 19th century in Germany, the UK and the US. Origins The physical culture movement in the United States during the 19th century ...

, he also began practicing this new sport at the

Velódromo de la Bonanova The Velódromo de la Bonanova was a sports venue in the city of Barcelona, Spain. It was the first velodrome in the city, although it was located in the neighboring municipality of Sant Gervasi – la Bonanova, Sant Gervasi, which in 1897 was anne ...

, and thus he was one of the founding members of Català FC in October 1899, with Valdés being appointed as the club's

treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...

. However, he soon left for another newly founded club, FC Barcelona, where he was one of the first players to wear the club's shirt. His first match with the Barça shirt was the second in the club's history, on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

of 1899, in a 3-1 victory over his former club, Català. During the first years of football in Catalonia, FC Barcelona and Català FC had a very strong rivalry and the polemics about who was the first official club of Barcelona (the club dean of the city) finished when the blaugranas proved that they had been the first club to be registered in the civil registry on 29 November, only a few days before Català FC, who did it on 17 December. Together with

Joan Gamper Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably Barcelona and Zürich. ...

, Arthur Witty, and John Parsons, he was part of the side that competed in the inaugural edition of the

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

, the very first football competition played on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, starting in the decisive match against Hispania AC which ended in a 1–1 draw that proved enough for Hispania to win the title. In the following season, however, Valdés played a crucial role in Barça's first-ever title, the

, being a solid physical presence in the midfield and starting in the tournament's final matchday on 23 March 1902 in a 15–0 victory over his former club. The Copa Macaya is now recognized as the first Catalan championship. At Barça, Valdés played for two seasons as a midfielder, and even though he did not score a single goal for the club, he was known for his skill as a ball retriever. In addition to serving the club on the field, he was also a member of the board of directors as treasurer, thanks to his accounting experience. He was also in charge of preparing the

playing fields A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in Australian, American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For m ...

. Back then, it was impossible to live exclusively out of football, and in Valdés' case, his source of income came from his

tobacconist A tobacconist, also called a tobacco shop, a tobacconist's shop or a smoke shop, is a retail business that sells tobacco products in various forms and the related accoutrements, such as pipes, lighters, matches, pipe cleaners, and pipe tampe ...

on La Rambla. In 1905 he received state permission to practice as a lottery, as well as a tobacconist, and thus, in 1905, he founded the ''Loteria Valdés'' at 95 La Rambla de Barcelona. Soon the cramped shop became the unofficial home of the young FC Barcelona, where players, fans, and members of the Board came to chat after dinner. The unusual opening hours of the lottery administration helped these impromptu gatherings. The lottery administration did not close until one in the morning, to take advantage of the euphoria of the wealthy spectators of the Liceu when leaving the night function. In addition, the lottery safe played a key role in the running of the club: it housed the expensive leather foot-balls imported from

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. The back room of his premises became a warehouse for the club's sports equipment and a meeting point and gathering point for its members, with numerous club meetings being held at his premises on La Rambla. However, discrepancies with his teammates led him to leave FC Barcelona in 1902 to join direct rivals Hispania AC. After a short spell at X FC, he retired from football.

Later life

Later he was a patron of the Unió Atlètica d'Horta, a club where he continued to play occasionally until he was 50 years old. Years later, in 1931, he returned as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

to FC Barcelona, assuming the vice presidency. The ''Loteria Valdés'' became one of the most popular lottery administrations in the country. In 1946 he handed out the Christmas jackpot, repeating five more times until 1988, in addition to giving four first prizes in the Children's raffle. A bad loser, he got upset the few times that another administration overtook him in sales. On the other hand, he had a very good relationship with Doña Manolita, who ran the oldest lottery administration in Spain. Valdés died on 5 June 1951 at the age of 83 and she died the next day, thus "it seems that they had finally agreed".

Honours

FC Barcelona *

: ** Champions: 1901–02 ** Runner-up: 1900–01

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdés, Miguel 1867 births 1951 deaths Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Barcelona players Footballers from Barcelona