A culé century: Barça basketball turns one hundred years old
On August 24, 1926, on the second floor of number 2 of the Theater Squarenext to the Ramblesthe F.C. Barcelona It changed its history forever without it being barely noticed. That Tuesday afternoon, the board of directors, accidentally chaired by Vice President Santiago Soler in the absence of Arcadi Balaguerapproved a point that was not the “star” of the day: the official creation of the basketball section. An act written in Spanish—due to the imperative of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship—stated: “The proposal of Mr. cusellcreating the Basket-Ball section of Futbol Club Barcelona.” Thus was born a giant that today, a century later, celebrates its centenary as one of the pillars of the club and European basketball.
Although 1926 marks the official baptismal certificate, the seed had been planted years before. basketball in Catalonia cannot be understood without Father Eusebio Millán, who after discovering the sport in Cubaintroduced it into the Pious Schools of Sant Antoni. It was he who insisted that, for “basketball” to take root, it needed the involvement of the big clubs.
He Barça He didn’t start from scratch. Its first team was a kind of “dream team” of the time built on talent recruited, mainly, from Laieta FC, the dean of Spanish basketball. Names like Narcís NavyAntoni MachJosep Alonso or Ramon Rules (the first captain) wore that first Barça shirt. Francesc also highlighted Cardusa young man who not only scored the first basket in the team’s history, but decades later would be the architect of the section from the offices. By the way, that basket took place in a friendly against US Sants on December 19, 1926, the historic date of the first match, which ended with an austere 2-2 draw.
This Monday the Centennial events are presented
Coinciding with the exact date of its Centennial, this Monday at noon Barça will celebrate at the Auditori 1899 the presentation ceremony of the celebration events that will last throughout the season. The event, which will serve as the inauguration of the celebrations, can be followed live on Barça Play, the club’s new audiovisual platform, starting at 12:00 p.m. The club has wanted to convey in recent days that the celebration will serve to relive special moments, remember the most significant ones and pay tribute to some of the protagonists of this story.
The beginnings were romantic but very hard. The setting of those first years was the complex of Sol de Baixnear the Crossroads of Les Corts. It was a dirt track (wood was then a distant dream) whose measurements did not even meet the regulations of the time.
The players were strictly amateurs. They did not earn a cent, but they enjoyed “privileges” that defined the time: free membership to go see the soccer team in Les Cortespasses to play tennis and, most importantly, transportation and breakfast. Training was done first thing in the morning, before going to work or studying.
First day of work for the team
Today will also be the first day of preseason for the Barça first team, with the incorporation of some of the new signings such as Tyrese Martin, Justin Robinson and Stanley Umude and the pending medical examinations after those of last Friday. This beginning of work is marked by absences due to the large presence of culé players in the teams that compete in the FIBA Window. In addition to coach Sekulic (Slovenia), and the Spanish internationals, Balcerowski (Poland), Nkamhoua (Finland), Evboumwan (Great Britain) and Umoja Gibson (Bulgaria) will be absent. Punter, with the club’s permission, will also join later
That team that officially debuted in the Championship Catalonia of 1927 was the germ of a section that survived a Civil war and who knew how to reinvent himself again and again. Figures like Joan Borrellthe “soul” of the section in its beginnings, or the very Cardústhey built the bridge between that schoolyard basketball and the professionalization of decades later.
This Monday, one hundred years after Pere’s signature cusell and Santiago Solerhe Barça Basketball is not just a section; It is a global institution. Of the Sol de Baix to the Palau Blaugrana, and breakfast omelettes at Euroleaguesthe common thread remains the same: the passion for colors that began to dribble the ball in a distant August of 1926. A century later, the basket is still culé.
