150 years of the get together of some English miners in Riotinto, the primary soccer match in Spain

The first soccer match performed in Spain was at Rio Tinto. The date is engraved within the reminiscence of the Sierra de Huelva. There, on August 16, 1873, throughout the festivities in honor of its patron saint, San Roque, the ball rolled for the primary time in a sport that had taken form solely ten years in the past in England.

It was the contribution of the British to a celebration that they skilled for the primary time after in February of that very same 12 months an English firm had purchased the exploitation of the Rio Tinto copper mines for 94 million pesetas, saving them from chapter.

Immersed within the celebration they determined to play a sport that solely the British performed, since in Huelva nobody knew that sport and even knew the right way to pronounce that new phrase: “foot-ball”. It is the match that introduced the king of sports activities to our nation and but nobody is aware of how they turned out or who performed.

Celebration emblem. Minas de Riotinto Town Hall

Of that afternoon, solely the reminiscence left from dad and mom to kids and from kids to grandchildren stays, as a result of that first sport, like the primary area the place it was performed, and even the city of Rio Tinto itself disappeared because of the progress of labor on close by farms. . Soccer, nevertheless, did stay.

Five years later, in 1878, Riotinto FC was born, an completely English workforce that lasted till the First World War. During these years, soccer additionally started to permeate native traditions and it was simple to see what have been known as “ball video games” even between bulls in a bullfight.

Anniversary

Now, 150 years after that first assembly, Minas de Riotinto seeks to lift its voice because the cradle of Spanish soccer. That is why the city council, in collaboration with the present Riotinto Balompié, is making ready a collection of tasks with which to blow out the candles of this anniversary.

The president of Riotinto Balompié, José Real, defined that they’re in touch with the Spanish, Andalusian and Huelva soccer federations to prepare “commemorative matches, talks or create a Soccer Museum.” Everything from subsequent August 16, the day soccer was born in our nation.

Topics