Life in La Liga (eBook)

PART TWO

FROM LA LIGA TO EUROPE

Historical Context (1898–1936)

Spain ushered in the twentieth century with the coronation in 1902 of sixteen-year-old King Alfonso XIII.

One of the young king’s first decisions was, at the suggestion of Madrid FC, to give his regal blessing to a football competition – the Copa de la Coronación (Coronation Cup) – which took place in Madrid in July that year. In 1903 this tournament became the Copa del Rey, the country’s national football tournament until the formation of the national league in 1929.

Even at this early period in its development, football was becoming recognised as an influential and significant factor in Spanish life. However, there were wider, more entrenched political agencies, well beyond the game’s existing scope and powers, which were dictating the future direction of the country.

Since the demise of the First Republic and the 1874 ‘Bourbon Restoration’, the stated emphasis of the Spanish governments – the main parties being the Liberals and Conservatives – was on ‘reforms from above’, and this was to be accompanied by ‘revolution from below’. However, the fact that Spain elected no fewer than ten governments between 1898 and 1923 illustrates the extent of the fluctuating political and social schisms within the country.

In 1910, the Confederación Nacional de Trabajo (CNT), an anarchist union, was founded in Barcelona and, although it joined the pre-existing socialist Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), the two unions soon split and became rivals.

Spain’s neutrality during the First World War was the main reason for the booming Spanish export trade during the War, particularly in the major cities, and these unions competed for the loyalties of the approximately one and a half million people who had emigrated in search of work from the poverty-stricken rural areas to the wealthier cities.

But all was far from harmonious. Open conflict in Barcelona in 1917 between the CNT and organised right-wing opponents led to scores of civilian deaths and generated hostility and bitterness at the national political vacillations, while many military officers also expressed their unhappiness at the army’s inability to influence the growing political chaos.

The country’s and the military’s humiliation and loss of confidence in its government were further deepened in 1921 by the defeat of its army and the loss of over 8,000 of its soldiers in an anti-Spanish rebellion in the Protectorate of Morocco in 1921.

In 1923 General Miguel Primo de Rivera seized power, thereby ending fifty years of military non-intervention in Spain’s political life. Supported by King Alfonso XIII, the authoritarian Primo de Rivera (the ‘iron surgeon’) initiated plans for industrialisation and public works, improved roads and reservoirs, expanded access to electricity, nationalised the telephone and oil corporations, established state-owned ‘paradores’ (hotels) and improved foreign trade.

In the short term, these measures appeared economically viable, but by the late 1920s de Rivera’s dictatorial attitudes and centralising policies had irreparably alienated the powerful regions, had led to economic deterioration and had lost the army’s support. Primo de Rivera resigned in 1930.

After a brief interregnum with an unelected government, at the country’s municipal elections in April 1931 the provincial capitals voted, by an overwhelming majority of forty-six out of fifty, for republican policies, resulting in a bitter division between the cities and the rural, largely monarchist supporters. As Alfonso XIII was no longer supported by the military, the king abdicated, ending 230 successive years of the Bourbon dynasty’s rule in Spain.

Spain’s Second Republic, the country’s first-ever genuine parliamentary democracy, was voted into power in June 1931. The Republic immediately enacted progressive liberal measures, including introduction of land reforms, reduction of the Church’s and army’s influence and powers, secularisation of the education system, an increase in the autonomy of Catalonia, improvements in labour legislation and working conditions, and more.

However, the new Republican government was constantly split between powerful groups representing conservatism, liberal democracy, fascism, communism, socialism and regionalism, with each grouping containing within itself its own militant factionalism. With an increasingly hostile disunity threatening Spain, Republican supporters joined together to form the Popular Front which, in the elections of January 1936, defeated the right-wing National Party by a narrow margin.

The following few months witnessed a ‘collective madness’ in Spain, with the country’s liberal democratic beliefs and policies under attack from extremists on the left and right, as well as from disaffected regional authorities, the Church and the military, the last two being supporters of the opposition’s conservative coalitions.

On 18 July 1936, a militant grouping in the army staged a coup d’état, organised by General Emilio Malo, against the elected Popular Front. On 1 October 1936 General Francisco Franco was appointed leader and initiated a savage three-year Civil War which concluded with the establishment of a dictatorial regime which would rule Spain for thirty-six years and which would leave a poisonous legacy that endures to the present day.

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La Liga: the early years

By the late 1920s, the leading football clubs in Spain were well established and possessed decent-sized stadiums, enthusiastic and growing fan bases and quality players. These big clubs – such as Barcelona, Athletic Club and Real Madrid – were ambitious and, although each could claim to be Spain’s best side, as they rarely played each other these claims were untested.

The national Copa del Rey went some way towards determining an annual order of footballing merit but, like all knockout competitions, it depended overmuch on the vagaries of fortune. Also, these big clubs normally dominated their regional leagues and competitions, so a regional match was more a training exercise than it was a real game. ‘Friendlies’ provided a challenge of sorts, but there was no real pressure on players and little status to be gained from such fixtures.

In order to discover the best football clubs in Spain and to rank all the clubs, what was required was an annual league competition which would emphasise consistency, talent and endurance over chance and luck. This would involve an accrual of points over a predetermined season rather than a knockout system, and the league would be played on a regular basis between teams of a reasonably similar standard. At each season’s conclusion, the club occupying the leadership position in the top league would be recognised as the finest in Spain, while merit would be rewarded in lower leagues by promotion to a higher standard. Failure in any league would mean relegation.

A Spanish football league arrangement of this nature was first formally proposed in April 1927 by officials of Arenas Club de Getxo. The concept was discussed, various structures were suggested, and a consensus was finally reached that the new leagues would kick off in January 1929.

The league system was to consist of a Primera División, which would become known as ‘La Liga’, along with two lower divisions, Segunda and Tercera. In the Primera, there were to be ten clubs. Six of these – Athletic Club, Arenas Club de Getxo, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Real Unión – had been previous winners of the Copa del Rey. Three others – Athletic Madrid, Español and Europa – had been defeated finalists at least once in the Copa. The tenth club, Racing de Santander, had won a club knockout competition to determine its inclusion.

The Segunda División was also to consist of ten clubs: Alavés, Sevilla, Celta de Vigo, Deportivo de La Coruña, Real Betis, Iberia, Real Oviedo, Sporting de Gijón, Racing de Madrid and Valencia. Eight of these pioneering clubs are still active. The two which no longer exist are Racing de Madrid, which was dissolved in 1932, and Iberia, which merged with Zaragoza Club Deportivo in 1932 to form Real Zaragoza.

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