When Barça played in New York fighting for their lives

In 1937, the Barça squad passed through there. And since they had a contract to play some football matches, they were able to quickly pass through the dark Ellis Island, where today a museum remembers how that place was the island of dreams: realized by many, broken by others. The first time Barça played in the United States was precisely in New York, where this tour will now end. He arrives there with suitcases full of excitement, excited to close a dark era.

The first time Barça played in the United States, they also arrived looking for money under the rocks, but in a very different context. Spain was experiencing the Civil War and the club’s economy, like all of society, was suffering. On August 6, 1936, the president, Josep Sunyol, had been shot in Guadarrama by the Francoists and the anarchists had threatened to collectivize the club, which ended up being managed by Barça workers. The first team, then, embarked on that famous savior tour that was initially only supposed to take them to Mexico, although the trip was later extended to New York, where they would play four games. The expedition would return with 460,000 pesetas of profit that would be kept in a bank in Paris, key money to be able to take off after the conflict.

The tour was born thanks to a proposal by Manuel Mas, a Catalan who had played in the club’s baseball section and lived in Mexico. Then, the government of this country, presided over by Lázaro Cárdenas, was one of the few that openly supported the Republic. The club’s delegate, Rosend Calvet, studied the tour proposals (four arrived) and decided that the one proposed by Mas was the best. But, in fact, he had sent the letter to the club’s goalkeeper, Iborra, whom he knew, and he had taken it to the offices. A letter that changed everything. Barça gave up playing in the Copa de la República, which Levante would win, and left with an expedition made up of about 20 people who, after leaving France, arrived at the Mexican port of Veracruz, where they were greeted by a crowd. At the helm, the Irish coach Patrick O’Donnell, a man of great character who did not want to leave Barcelona when the bombs started falling. In Mexico, Barça would be welcomed by the authorities and would play a lot of games. He left a great memory both on a sporting and personal level. In fact, a few footballers would decide to stay on Mexican soil and not return to a country torn by war. One of them, the famous Martí Ventolrà. The forward of Fort Pienc fell in love at a reception for the niece of the Mexican president, Lázaro Cárdenas, and stayed forever more in Mexico, where he would play for Atlante, then presided over by the local police chief, the General Muñoz, Cárdenas’ right-hand man. In 1949, he would retire at the age of 43 to jump to the benches and start a football tradition that would be continued by his son, who in 1970 would play in the absolute World Cup with the Mexican national team. The father had played in the 1934 World Cup with Spain and the son would do so with Mexico. And the net got to work in a Barça Academy in Mexican lands. When Ventolrà said that he was not getting on the ship to New York, by the way, he ended up being suspended by Barça. It hurt him so much, he was in love.

Four games, four wins

After those two months in Mexico, it was time to arrive in a new country. Soccer was popular enough then, on the American east coast. It didn’t have the weight of baseball or American football, but it could fill stadiums and had good enough teams, mostly linked to immigrant communities. On September 6, 1936, Barça would play at the Comercial Field stadium against Brooklyn Hispanos and win 2-4. In the stands, by the way, was the Republican ambassador to Washington, Fernando de los Ríos. The next matches would be against the Hispanos again, who had been reinforced with other players from rival clubs (Catalan victory 3-4), a combination of the best players in the local league (0-2) and finally a combination of the best teams of the Jewish community in a game played at night with artificial lighting (0-3). From those games, striker Josep Escolà would remember that the playing field was also used in baseball games, which is why near the area there was the highest mound of dirt used in this sport by the pitcher. It was not easy to play football, for the Barça players, who had time to go sightseeing guided by O’Connell, who acted as a translator, to be welcomed by the Catalan Center in New York and to attend receptions.

After the tour, however, it was necessary to return. And only eight people from the expedition would arrive in Barcelona: Rossend Calvet, who would be in charge of keeping the money won in a bank in Paris, O’Connell, the masseuse Àngel Mur, the worker Modest Amorós and the footballers Argemí, Babot, Rafa and Pagés. Of the others, most would stay in Mexico. Some, like Balmanya, Escolà and Zabalo, stayed in France. A long and sad journey in the belly of a giant ship. To save, they traveled with the cheapest tickets. In fact, the players defined as “the mine” the part of the ship where they spent their nights remembering the lights of New York and trying to imagine what awaited them in that old Europe full of storm clouds.

Barça would not return to the United States until the end of the 60s, to play some friendlies. He would return there periodically, until with the arrival of the presidency of Joan Laporta in 2003 it became common to do tours to earn a lot of money.