You had to take a risk. This is what Albert Quintana i de León –the first president of Girona–, Andreu de Benito, Manuel de Chopitea, Lluís Ribas, Josep M. Pla Dalmau, Francesc Figueras, Joaquim Medrano, Antoni Güell, Rafael Portas and Amadeu Oliva thought when they met at the Café Norat on La Rambla on July 23, 1930. Until that night, the city’s team was UD Girona, founded in 1921. It competed in the 2nd Ordinary Category, from which it could never leave. . Fed up with unfulfilled promises in the search for a better life, today’s Girona opened its eyes today 90 years ago, embracing the strict purpose of creating a romantic project with footballers from the house who loved the colors white- i-red. “The work of Girona FC must be, in order to succeed, the work of the whole city”, said the chronicles of the time. Quintana i de León and his teammates were brave, making the first steps of an entity that many decades later would end up competing in the First Division and now struggling to return. Without the initial decision, however, who knows what would have happened.
A whole life Dedicated to Girona
Clinging to the force that transmits any new hope, the guidelines were clear. The board of directors was determined to carry out “a sportily Girona work, scrupulously democratic and clean of all mercantilism”. And the fans, who were asked for an extraordinary and voluntary fee of a minimum of 2 pesetas to “cover the considerable expenses incurred by the competition”, took ownership, applauding an optimism that led to the rebirth of football in the city and creating a link with the entity that already the first season bore fruit with the promotion to the 2nd Preferred Category. It is no coincidence that everything works when the offices, the playing field and the stands go hand in hand: it happened before, it happens now and it will happen later.
Girona’s first squad was built under the parameters of “not doing without any footballers from the house linked to the old UD Girona – three quarters of the locker room was from the squad -, reducing the import players and encouraging all those who they would have shown their value by defending various colors of organized clubs and other elements that in La Devesa, the streets and the squares have shown their affection ”. The players, able to consolidate over time and give immediate performance – the vast majority were not over twenty years old – gave off an air of amateurism in which all that mattered was playing football. In fact, they received no fixed salaries or premiums. The club only allocated a modest percentage to the end of each match, which, according to the local press, “were kept in a collective notebook of the Caja de Ahorros”.
A season to frame
Directed by Josep Viñas, who alternated work with that of president of the Association of Amateur Referees of Girona, they officially debuted on October 19, 1930 in Badalona, against Artiguense. The historical eleven is formed by Florence; Weaver, Farró; Flavià, Comas, Corradi; Ferrer, Escuder, Clarà, Tarradellas and Torrellas. The team tied at 1 with a goal from Balbí Clarà, who would score 24 in 21 games counting the three modalities played: group A of the 2nd Ordinary Category, in which he would finish champion; the Tournament of Champions, which escaped due to poor results at home, and the Promotion to 2nd Preferential Promotion, achieved virtually after beating 8 to 1 Reus in Vista Alegre. It was a season to frame.
Escuder, Balmanya and Farró stood out from the squad, which did not even have a masseuse – Joan Figa, an amateur who would end up being the club’s secretary – was altruistically in charge of it, footballers who would enter the list of illustrious names who have worn the club jersey. Of proper names, however, there have been many over time. Like Corradi, a restless footballer who was also a journalist and signed the chronicles of his own matches. “What could not be done with large expenses and continuous imports, has been achieved by eleven young people from Girona, very young, without pretensions of ace or remuneration of professionals,” he wrote under the nickname of Radio. Surely all of them would have been thrilled to see the best years of life of a Girona that ninety years later would not be the same without those first heroes.
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