In 1910, Barcelona established themselves as one the leading clubs in Spain by claiming the championship of that year by winning every single game they played. The previous year they had moved into a new stadium, Camp de la Industria, with a capacity of 6,000 - a far cry from the Camp Nou of today. To celebrate their new home, a logo contest was held and won by their director Carles Comamala, a cartoonist, his suggestion becoming the crest that the club still wears today, albeit with some minor changes. In their new stadium, Barcelona competed in the inaugural Pyrenees Cup, a tournament featuring teams from southern France, the Basque Country and Catalonia, considered to be the most prestigious tournament in that era. They claimed the trophy, and won it four times in a row up until 1913.

 

During this period, the club changed its official language from Castillian to Catalan and began to gradually evolve into an important symbol of Catalan identity.  Many of the clubs fans participated in the club more for the purpose of being a part of this identity than for the football itself. From this culture comes the clubs motto, “More than a club.” At the same time, club president Joan Gamper launched a campaign to recruit more members. By 1922, the club had over 20,000 which was enough to finance another new stadium, Barcelona having outgrown the Camp de la Industria. They moved into the 22,000 capacity Les Cortes that year, which was inaugurated with a friendly match against Scotland’s St Mirren. The stadium was one of Europe’s best football grounds at the time and would become the focal point of a glorious period for the club.

 

Gamper hired Jack Greenwell to be Barcelona’s first full-time manager, and under his guidance the club won 11 Campeonato de Cataluna, 6 Copa del Rey and 4 Pyrenees Cups. This became FC Barcelona’s first golden age. The won the Campeonato de Cataluna 5 times consecutively from 1925 to 1928 and crowned the era by becoming the first ever La Liga champions the following year despite facing difficult times as a symbol of resistance to a central Spanish government during the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera throughout the 1920’s. In 1925, a famous incident occurred during the testimonial match in honour of the Orfeo Catala choir. The Spanish authorities refused to let the match go ahead, but backtracked when a huge crowd turned up anyway. The band of a British Royal navy ship anchored in the Port of Barcelona was invited to play before kickoff. They struck up the opening notes of the Spanish national anthem and the crowd began booing and jeering. Confused, the bandleader changed the tune to God Save the Queen and the crowd began cheering, much to the annoyance of the Spanish authorities. As punishment, Les Cortes was closed for three months and Joan Gamper was forced to resign and flee to Switzerland. He was only permitted to return to Spain if he cut all ties with FC Barcelona, and rather than do this, he took his own life in 1930.

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Achievements: La Liga – Champions x1

                           Copa de Rey – Winners x8

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Star player: Francisco Bru DoB 12 August 1885, Madrid, Spain

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 Francisco Bru, also known as Paco Bru, was one of the most important football figures in Catalonia prior to the Spanish Civil War. His career encompassed many roles within the game - he was a player, coach, referee, manager and journalist. While primarily a defender, Bru had stints as a midfielder and striker as well with FC Internacional, FC Barcelona, RCD Espanyol and the Catalan XI. After retiring as a player, he became a referee. A story tells of how Bru, in first match in charge, walked into the dressing room and pulled a Colt pistol out of his bag, placing it on a table for everyone to see. When he finished changing, he then stuffed the gun down his shorts. When asked what was going on, Bru replied that he wanted peace of mind for his first game in charge. He was the referee of the 1916 and 1917 Copa del Rey finals. In 1920 he became the Spain national team’s first ever manager, leading them to silver at the 1920 Olympics. He then managed Real Madrid, then called Madrid CF, to two Copa de Espanas in the 1930’s. He also coached Peru in the first World Cup in 1930.