René Victor Fenouillière (22 October 1882 – 4 November 1916) was a French

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 for Spanish clubs

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

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 competed for

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 ...

in the men's tournament at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

. He is best known for being the first French player to wear the FC Barcelona shirt when he played for them in 1903. He was killed in action during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Club career

Born in

Portbail Portbail (; sometimes spelled Port-Bail) is a former commune in the Manche department in north-western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Port-Bail-sur-Mer.Lower Normandy Lower Normandy (, ; ) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Lower and Upper Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. Geography The region included three departments, Calvados, Manche and Orne, that cover ...

) on 22 October 1882, René began his football career with l’Union Sportive Avranches, before going to England to study, where he played mostly

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

. However, he never forgot how to play football, and in 1902 he joined the Spanish club

, where he was recognized as a top-class

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 ...

. So much so that on 8 March 1903, after a great performance against FC Barcelona in a 2–2 draw at the Horta in the ''Copa Barcelona'', the magazine ''Los Deportes'' described as being at the same level as

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. ...

. Interestingly, just two days later, Espanyol loaned him to Barcelona and he played his first game with them against a team made up of the crew of the Galliope, an English ship anchored in the Barcelona port, helping his side to a 1–0 win and thus becoming the very first French player to wear the FC Barcelona shirt. He played only two more games after that, a 3–2 win over Salut on 28 May, and an 8–2 win over Mataroni on 27 July, netting one goal on the latter, in which Mataroní only had seven players, and Barcelona lined up with eight. After his time at Barça, Rene Fenouillère played for the Parisian clubs

Racing Club de France Racing Club de France, also known as RCF, is a French multi-sport club that was founded on 20 April 1882 under the name Racing Club. Racing Club changed its name to Racing Club de France (RCF) on 21 November 1885. The club is located at the Bois ...

and

Red Star F.C. Red Star Football Club (), known as Red Star FC or simply Red Star, is a French professional football club founded in Paris in 1897, and is the fourth oldest French football club, after Standard AC of Paris, Le Havre AC and Girondins de Bord ...

International career

He represented the

France national team 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 ...

at the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, featuring in one games against

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on 22 October in a resounding 17–1 defeat.

Death

, René joined his old club US Avranches for a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against the allied troops. During World War I, he fought with the French army, joining the 2º Régiment d’Infanterie and was wounded in 1915. He recovered and returned to the fighting, but was later killed at the front, north of

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

on 4 November 1916.

Honours

FC Barcelona * ''Copa Barcelona'' ** Champions: 1902–03

References

External links