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Narciso Masferrer
Narciso Masferrer Sala (26 April 1867 – 9 April 1941) was a pioneer of Catalan sports, sports journalism, and Olympism throughout Spain. He was present at most Catalan sports initiatives of the first third of the 20th century, founding and becoming director of a number of sporting projects, including some of the greatest sporting institutions in Catalonia, such as clubs, federations and sports press.
As a pioneer of sports journalism, he was the founder of Los Deportes, El Mundo Deportivo and "Stadium" magazines, a correspondent for the French publication L'Auto and an editor of La Vanguardia for 17 years, from 1912 to 1929. He is thus widely regarded as the father of modern sports journalism in Spain. In the press, his activity was basically centered on the creation of innovative journalistic projects and the promotion of sporting activity among citizens, preferably outdoors. From the various journalistic forums that he founded or directed, he had a decisive influence on the dissemination and institutionalization process of multiple sports modalities, from gymnastics to football, passing through motor racing, swimming, athletics, and cycling.
He was Spain's first sports promoter with a global and ambitious vision, and the first person who was clear about the need for national organizations for each sport, as well as federations for each national championship. Masferrer is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the amateur beginnings of gymnastics and football in Spain, as he was the fundamental head behind the foundation of Spanish Gymnastic Federation in 1898, which acted as the Spanish football federation until 1909. He also left a big mark in cycling, holding the presidency of the Unión Velocipédica Espanyola in 1911, from which he promoted the creation of the Volta a Catalunya, the first cycling race per stage in Spain and one of the oldest in the world. He was also a prominent member of the Spanish Olympic Committee and the main inspirer and promoter of the pre-Civil War Barcelona candidatures to host the Olympic Games.
He is also known for his pivotal role in the founding of FC Barcelona, publishing Joan Gamper's famous advert in the Los Deportes magazine to find players interested in forming a football team, and then hosting the famous meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November 1899 that saw the birth of the club, of which he was a vice-president from 1909 to 1910, and he even held the presidency of the Catalan Football Federation in 1913.
Masferrer was born in Madrid in 1867 to Catalan parents and studied in France and Germany. Masferrer married Esperanza Navarro in Madrid in July 1891, at the age of 24, and both he and his very young wife suffered from tuberculosis, a disease that wreaked havoc at that time. As an employee of the Deutsch Compañía de Petróleos y Derivados, his bosses decided to send him to the company's Seville branch in hopes that the change of scenery would benefit his precarious health. While there, he had two children: Ana (1892–1940) and Narciso, who died a few days after birth. He lived in Seville for four years until 1896, when professional reasons forced him to move to Barcelona, the city in which he would live most of his life.
His work as a journalist began in 1886, when he was still living in Madrid, with the newspaper El Imparcial, and a year later, on 2 March 1887, the 20-year-old Masferrer founded the Sociedad Gimnástica Español (SGE) together with Emilio Monjardín, Emilio Coll and Eduardo Charles. But it was not until the end of 1896, now living in Barcelona, and coinciding with the death of his wife, that his journalistic hyperactivity set off. Having narrowly survived tuberculosis, he now wanted to fully take advantage of the second chance that life gave him, and thus, after mourning his wife, he threw himself into a hectic informative and associative activity. It was most likely due to his own health problems, caused by tuberculosis, and the premature death of his wife, as well as his concern over the well-being of his children, that influenced his obsession with healthy living and the regeneration of the Spanish people. In 1897, the 30-year-old Masferrer founded the Catalan Gymnastics Association and the fortnightly magazine Los Deportes, directing the latter from the Solé Gymnasium on Montjuïc del Carme street. This publication, which ceased to be published in 1910, would become, throughout its life, the official organ of several entities, such as the Royal Association of Hunters of Barcelona, the Catalan Federation of Football Clubs, the Spanish Cycling Federation, and the Spanish Gymnastic Federation.
I know from my own experience—I accuse myself of this with bitter pain—what it is to be a dissident, and I know what it leads to, just as I know what remorse means. Since then, I condemn any manifestation of desertion, as betrayal of the goals that an entity pursues (...) since then, I have fought and will fight (...) to create and maintain entities of a national nature.
At the beginning of 1898, Masferrer used Los Deportes, which he had founded the year before, to became the main propagandist of the Catalan Cycling Union (Spanish: Unión Velocipédica Catalan or UVC), chaired by the doctor Manuel Duran i Ventosa, who created this entity to compete with the Madrid-based Spanish Cycling Union (Spanish: Unión Velocipédica Española or UVE), which is now the Spanish Cycling Federation. When this entity was officially constituted in May of 1898, Masferrer was elected its “publicist secretary”. Years later, in 1910, when Masferrer was already an established leader of Spanish cycling, he would make a public confession of his remorse for having supported a dissident entity. At the beginning of 1899, however, both the UVC and the UVE stood on the verge of collapse as a result of Spain's colonial disaster at the end of the Spanish–American War, and when a debacle in the UVE was sensed, Masferrer immediately began to apply for union, promoting the merger between the two federations through the pages of Los Deportes and through negotiations between the leaders of both entities. This campaign reached its peak with a meeting at the restaurant Ca l'Anguilero in Llobregat, convened by Los Deportes on 9 April "to seal the union that exists among all", which was attended by more than 240 cyclists. Despite his best efforts, however, Masferrer was unable to prevent the aforementioned debacle of the UVE (May 1899), which resulted in the annulment of their meeting and the resignation of the Madrid committee from the Spanish union. From this moment on, Masferrer became the leader of the movement to save the UVE, always using the pages of Los Deportes to speak, and following an appeal on 11 June, Masferrer held a negotiation with the president of the UVE, Claudi de Rialp, and the president of the Catalan committee of the Spanish Union, the architect Bonaventura Pollés, which lead to the seizure of federative power by these men and the transfer from the headquarters of the UVE to Barcelona, which materialized at the beginning of July 1899. This entire situation gave Masferrer a triumphant entry into the unionist movement, profiling himself as the true savior of the UVE through his efforts and his journalistic campaigns. At first, he remained in the background, behind Rialp and Pollés, but he soon came to the front. In fact, some of the most important decisions of the UVE congress of December 1899 are the result of Masferrer's proposals, and his growing role within the federation is immediately made clear when he is appointed delegate, that is, the spokesman for the UVE congress held in Barcelona in December 1900, before being elected the president a year later, replacing Claudi de Rialp.
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Narciso Masferrer
Narciso Masferrer Sala (26 April 1867 – 9 April 1941) was a pioneer of Catalan sports, sports journalism, and Olympism throughout Spain. He was present at most Catalan sports initiatives of the first third of the 20th century, founding and becoming director of a number of sporting projects, including some of the greatest sporting institutions in Catalonia, such as clubs, federations and sports press.
As a pioneer of sports journalism, he was the founder of Los Deportes, El Mundo Deportivo and "Stadium" magazines, a correspondent for the French publication L'Auto and an editor of La Vanguardia for 17 years, from 1912 to 1929. He is thus widely regarded as the father of modern sports journalism in Spain. In the press, his activity was basically centered on the creation of innovative journalistic projects and the promotion of sporting activity among citizens, preferably outdoors. From the various journalistic forums that he founded or directed, he had a decisive influence on the dissemination and institutionalization process of multiple sports modalities, from gymnastics to football, passing through motor racing, swimming, athletics, and cycling.
He was Spain's first sports promoter with a global and ambitious vision, and the first person who was clear about the need for national organizations for each sport, as well as federations for each national championship. Masferrer is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the amateur beginnings of gymnastics and football in Spain, as he was the fundamental head behind the foundation of Spanish Gymnastic Federation in 1898, which acted as the Spanish football federation until 1909. He also left a big mark in cycling, holding the presidency of the Unión Velocipédica Espanyola in 1911, from which he promoted the creation of the Volta a Catalunya, the first cycling race per stage in Spain and one of the oldest in the world. He was also a prominent member of the Spanish Olympic Committee and the main inspirer and promoter of the pre-Civil War Barcelona candidatures to host the Olympic Games.
He is also known for his pivotal role in the founding of FC Barcelona, publishing Joan Gamper's famous advert in the Los Deportes magazine to find players interested in forming a football team, and then hosting the famous meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on 29 November 1899 that saw the birth of the club, of which he was a vice-president from 1909 to 1910, and he even held the presidency of the Catalan Football Federation in 1913.
Masferrer was born in Madrid in 1867 to Catalan parents and studied in France and Germany. Masferrer married Esperanza Navarro in Madrid in July 1891, at the age of 24, and both he and his very young wife suffered from tuberculosis, a disease that wreaked havoc at that time. As an employee of the Deutsch Compañía de Petróleos y Derivados, his bosses decided to send him to the company's Seville branch in hopes that the change of scenery would benefit his precarious health. While there, he had two children: Ana (1892–1940) and Narciso, who died a few days after birth. He lived in Seville for four years until 1896, when professional reasons forced him to move to Barcelona, the city in which he would live most of his life.
His work as a journalist began in 1886, when he was still living in Madrid, with the newspaper El Imparcial, and a year later, on 2 March 1887, the 20-year-old Masferrer founded the Sociedad Gimnástica Español (SGE) together with Emilio Monjardín, Emilio Coll and Eduardo Charles. But it was not until the end of 1896, now living in Barcelona, and coinciding with the death of his wife, that his journalistic hyperactivity set off. Having narrowly survived tuberculosis, he now wanted to fully take advantage of the second chance that life gave him, and thus, after mourning his wife, he threw himself into a hectic informative and associative activity. It was most likely due to his own health problems, caused by tuberculosis, and the premature death of his wife, as well as his concern over the well-being of his children, that influenced his obsession with healthy living and the regeneration of the Spanish people. In 1897, the 30-year-old Masferrer founded the Catalan Gymnastics Association and the fortnightly magazine Los Deportes, directing the latter from the Solé Gymnasium on Montjuïc del Carme street. This publication, which ceased to be published in 1910, would become, throughout its life, the official organ of several entities, such as the Royal Association of Hunters of Barcelona, the Catalan Federation of Football Clubs, the Spanish Cycling Federation, and the Spanish Gymnastic Federation.
I know from my own experience—I accuse myself of this with bitter pain—what it is to be a dissident, and I know what it leads to, just as I know what remorse means. Since then, I condemn any manifestation of desertion, as betrayal of the goals that an entity pursues (...) since then, I have fought and will fight (...) to create and maintain entities of a national nature.
At the beginning of 1898, Masferrer used Los Deportes, which he had founded the year before, to became the main propagandist of the Catalan Cycling Union (Spanish: Unión Velocipédica Catalan or UVC), chaired by the doctor Manuel Duran i Ventosa, who created this entity to compete with the Madrid-based Spanish Cycling Union (Spanish: Unión Velocipédica Española or UVE), which is now the Spanish Cycling Federation. When this entity was officially constituted in May of 1898, Masferrer was elected its “publicist secretary”. Years later, in 1910, when Masferrer was already an established leader of Spanish cycling, he would make a public confession of his remorse for having supported a dissident entity. At the beginning of 1899, however, both the UVC and the UVE stood on the verge of collapse as a result of Spain's colonial disaster at the end of the Spanish–American War, and when a debacle in the UVE was sensed, Masferrer immediately began to apply for union, promoting the merger between the two federations through the pages of Los Deportes and through negotiations between the leaders of both entities. This campaign reached its peak with a meeting at the restaurant Ca l'Anguilero in Llobregat, convened by Los Deportes on 9 April "to seal the union that exists among all", which was attended by more than 240 cyclists. Despite his best efforts, however, Masferrer was unable to prevent the aforementioned debacle of the UVE (May 1899), which resulted in the annulment of their meeting and the resignation of the Madrid committee from the Spanish union. From this moment on, Masferrer became the leader of the movement to save the UVE, always using the pages of Los Deportes to speak, and following an appeal on 11 June, Masferrer held a negotiation with the president of the UVE, Claudi de Rialp, and the president of the Catalan committee of the Spanish Union, the architect Bonaventura Pollés, which lead to the seizure of federative power by these men and the transfer from the headquarters of the UVE to Barcelona, which materialized at the beginning of July 1899. This entire situation gave Masferrer a triumphant entry into the unionist movement, profiling himself as the true savior of the UVE through his efforts and his journalistic campaigns. At first, he remained in the background, behind Rialp and Pollés, but he soon came to the front. In fact, some of the most important decisions of the UVE congress of December 1899 are the result of Masferrer's proposals, and his growing role within the federation is immediately made clear when he is appointed delegate, that is, the spokesman for the UVE congress held in Barcelona in December 1900, before being elected the president a year later, replacing Claudi de Rialp.
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