José Rodríguez Vázquez (20 August 1889 - 1972), also known as Pepe Rodríguez, 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

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) ** Smal ...

for

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 ...

. In his first season at Barcelona (1909–10), Pepe won all the titles at stake: The Catalan championship,

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 ...

and

Pyrenees Cup The Pyrenees Cup (), officially Challenge International du Sud de la France, was an international football competition contested by Spanish and French clubs based in the territories of Pyrénées (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Languedoc, Midi-Py ...

, and he was fundamental in Barça's triumphs as he netted the winning goal in both cup finals. Pepe scored in both cup finals in 1912 as well. In 1912, he was part of the first-ever team fielded by the Catalan national team in an international match 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

, he began his career in 1907 at his hometown club Vigo FC, and in his first (and only) season with them he played a pivotal role in the club's greatest achievement, reaching the 1908 Copa del Rey Final, where they were beaten 1-2 by Madrid FC. He then joined club rivals Fortuna de Vigo, with whom he played for two seasons. In Fortuna he stood out for his goal-scoring instinct, which earned him a move to

in 1910, making his debut on 1 May 1910, in the final of the 1910 Pyrenees Cup, despite having just landed and barely having time to meet his teammates, something that was not enough to stop him from scoring the winning goal in a 2–1 win over

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

. He was a member of the legendary Barcelona team of the early 1910s that also included the likes of

Francisco Bru Francisco Bru Sanz (12 April 1885 – 10 June 1962), also known as Paco Bru, was a Spanish football player, referee and manager. As a footballer he played as a striker and midfielder for FC Internacional and as a defender for FC Barcelona, RCD ...

Alfredo Massana Alfred Massana i Urgellés, also known as Alfredo Massana Urgellés (27 July 1891 – 24 March 1924), was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for Espanyol and FC Barcelona. He had a great placement and vision of the game. Known as a ...

Enrique Peris Enrique Peris de Vargas (27 February 1887 - 17 February 1953) was a Spanish footballer who played as a left winger. He spent most of his career at Barcelona, with whom he played over 300 matches, and won three Copa del Reys and five Catalan Champ ...

Carles Comamala Carles Comamala López-Del Pan (17 April 1889 – 4 August 1983) was an orthopedic surgeon by profession and a football player for Barcelona between 1903 and 1911. He was a director of Barcelona in 1909–1911. Early life and career Born in M ...

and Charles Wallace, and together with them, he helped the club win a further two

titles 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 ...

and

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 ...

, netting once in the latter as Barça beat

Stade Bordelais Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux. The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s. Until 2005–06, the senior team competed in the second level of dom ...

5–3. He also won two

titles in

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

and

, in which Rodríguez contributed decisively, netting the winning goal in the last minute of the 1910 final as Barcelona defeated Español de Madrid 3–2, and also scoring once in the 1912 final in a 2–0 win over Sociedad Gimnástica. This means he scored at least one goal in four different finals for Barcelona, two Pyrenees Cup finals (1910 and 1912) and likewise with the Copa del Rey (1910 and 1912). He played for Barcelona until 1912, scoring 59 goals in 62 games and winning two Catalan Championships (1910 and 1911), two Pyrenees Cups (1910 and 1911) and two Copa del Rey (1910 and 1912). He later moved to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and in 1922, he settled permanently in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

, where he died on 1972.

International career

Like many other

players of that time, he played for the Catalan national team during the early 1910s, however, due to the little statistical rigor that the

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s had at that time, the exact amount of caps he earned is unknown. On 20 February 1912, Rodríguez went down in history as one of the eleven footballers who played in the first international game recognized by

of the Catalonia national team in a friendly against

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 ...

, that ended in a 0–7 loss.

Honours

Club

; Vigo FC *

: **Runner-up (1)

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

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 ...

* Catalan Championships: **Winners (2) 1910 and 1911 *

: **Winners (2)

and

: **Winners (2) 1910 and 1911

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodríguez, José 1889 births 1972 deaths Footballers from Vigo Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC Barcelona players Catalonia men's international footballers