Juan Arzuaga

Juan Sandalio Arzuaga Anitua (3 September 1880 – 26 August 1951) was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Athletic Club, and later a referee, and then a coach of Athletic.

Juan Arzuaga was born in Bilbao on 3 September 1880, and was baptized on the following day, in the Church of San Nicolás, Bilbao [es] in the Biscay capital. As a child, Arzuaga studied in England for four years, between 1898 and 1902, appearing in the 1901 census in Gateshead, south of the Tyne and in County Durham. According to the data, he was a naval engineering student and lived with a family in the area, so it is therefore very likely that he was undertaking training at one of the shipyards on the Tyne and Wear.

Arzuaga then moved to Saxony, Germany, to study Mechanical Engineering at the Mittweida technical school, doing so between 1902 and 1904.

While studying in Britain, Arzuaga stood out on the rugby fields, especially in Northumberland and Durham counties, in the north of England. He was a very talented athlete and this is confirmed by the chronicles of the English newspapers that reported on him from November 1898, when he had just turned 18, until the spring of 1902. The first account of him playing an official match is for North Durham against Sunderland (which had two future internationals) in February 1901 at Ashbrooke ground, which ended in a 31–3 loss, with Arzuaga scoring the three penalty points for his club. In his last season with the club in 1901–02, he received high praise, especially for his powerful and magnificent kick and for his success in converting tries into goals. In November, he scored two tries in a victory against Durham School, one of them superbly taken from the 25-yard line. In December, he scored the only try in a narrow defeat to the tough coal miners' team, Hamsteels. In January 1902, he was decisive in a 5–5 draw against the powerful Northern of Northumberland, scoring all the points and achieving a try by taking the ball from the defender and crossing the line at full speed.

Arzuaga then moved to Rockliff (now Whitley Bay Rockcliff RFC), probably because he was hired after these impressive performances, with Rockliff being at that time one of the main teams in the north of England. In many of his matches with the club, he played on one wing, while Englishman Tom Simpson (11 games played for the English team) played on the other. His first known match with Rockliff took place against West Hartlepool in mid-January 1902. It is said that he played "a bad game", but a journalist from the Newcastle Journal endorsed his speed and acknowledged that he would be as successful as Simpson in the near future. The same reporter also noted that the Rockliff crowd, bewildered by his name, gave him the nickname "XYZ", the name of a famous racehorse still remembered in an annual race at Newcastle's Gosforth Park. In February he played against Durham City and Carlisle; in the latter, he "dribbled with speed down the line and scored" in an 11–6 victory. In March 1902, he scored a try against both Percy Park and in a return match against Carlisle.

On 6 March he scored two tries in the County Cup victory against Walker RFC and was tipped as a major danger in the final against Percy Park and he lived up to it by helping Rockliff to a 9–0 win over them in the final. According to the press, he was now playing with confidence and was indomitable. On 28 March, Arzuaga helped Rockliff to a 9–0 victory over the mighty Northampton, in front of 5,000 spectators. In April 1902, Rockliff made a tour in Wales, playing against Swansea in front of 15,000 Welsh spectators, but in a match against Newport, a very important team at that time, he was injured and his side had to play the second half with one less player. He then lost his last match for the club 9–8 to Hartlepool Rovers, in which he narrowly missed a couple of drop goals. In the club's annual dinner at the end of April 1902, his departure from the North East was imminent, and as a result, he was presented with a gold medal for his efforts on the rugby field. He stated that he would love to play again with the club's red and yellow colors (which are still the current ones) as they reminded him of his country's flag. When he moved to Germany, he was already playing rugby at a very high level, and his departure from Rockliff marked the end of his rugby career, although he may have played some rugby in Germany

During his spell in Mittweida, Arzuaga began playing football with Mittweidaer Ballspiel-Club, the school's football team, which had been founded in 1896 by students. In Mittweida, he gained popularity as a football and rugby player, as well as a referee. When he returned to Bilbao, settling in San Sebastián, he did so with great knowledge about football, which was only beginning to take shape in Spain. He was among the founding members of San Sebastián Recreation Club, which was the very first football club in San Sebastián. He then became one of the first footballers of the newly formed club in 1904, thus beginning his footballing career at the advanced age of 24. Together with Alfonso Sena, he was part of the Recreation Club that played in the 1905 Copa del Rey.

At Recreation Club, he stood out for his defensive skills, which earned him a move to Athletic Club in 1905, making his competitive debut on 11 April 1906, at the 1906 Copa del Rey, in a 2–1 win over Recreativo de Huelva, but he did not play in the final against Madrid FC, and without him, Athletic conceded 4 goals in a 1–4 loss. In 1907, the best players from Athletic and Unión Vizcaino came together to form Bizcaya, which was specially created to take part in the 1907 Copa del Rey, and Arzuaga was elected into the team, forming a defensive partnership with his former Recreation Club teammate, Alfonso Sena of Vizcaino, which played a very important role in helping Bizcaya reach the final, and this time he started and nearly kept a clean-sheet, but they lost to Madrid once again, courtesy of a late goal from Manuel Prast.