It was brother Víctor, from the Maristas school, who appreciated the qualities of Josetxu Iraragorri as a footballer. Very close to the family farmhouse, in the dynamite field, he would see him play and kick the ball like none of his teammates did, often barefoot to avoid the reprimand of his widowed mother for so many espadrilles. broken. José had already begun to learn the adjuster’s trade at the Euskalduna company, next to San Mamés. The friar contacted Athletic and told them about the boy and that’s where the story began. Now, brother Víctor and José Iraragorri each have a street named after him in Galdakao. El Chato was also the author of the first goal in the history of Spain in a World Cup.
“We didn’t know it until a few years ago,” says María, the soccer player’s daughter, who played for Athletic, but also for the old Gasómetro, with the colors of San Lorenzo de Almagro, and for Spain in Mexico before returning to the old family farmhouse, now converted into a hotel and restaurant. «We did not dare to say it either, because in some places it said that it was Langara, but no. It was my dad who took that penalty against Brazil. It happened on May 27, 1934, at the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa, in the round of 16 match of the second World Cup.
Joseba and María, children of Iraragorri, before memories of their father in the family farmhouse, now converted into a restaurant. /
Iraragorri was 22 years old and had already won three leagues and three cups with Athletic, one from the King and two from the President of the Republic. He had made his international debut at the age of 19, at San Mamés and against Italy. “It was thanks to Luis Regueiro,” explains Joseba, his son. “A gesture of supreme friendship,” confesses María. “They played in the same position, and Luis faked an injury after 10 minutes so my little dad could play his first game with Spain at home.” Without a father, whom he barely knew, since he died in an accident at the Basconia factory, José relied on other authority figures, first his brother Víctor, then Frederick Pentland, his trainer. «He arrived at Athletic at the age of 17 and the mister was a father to him. Even when he already retired he liked to wear an impeccable suit, a well-ironed shirt », in the style of the English coach.
He signed for Athletic and the club advanced him the money for the record, one thousand pesetas, a fortune at that time. He came home and proudly handed the tickets to his mother. “But my mom couldn’t believe it,” says María Iraragorri. “They didn’t think they could pay money to play soccer,” so, “the next day she showed up with my little dad at the club, so they could tell her if it was true that they had given her the thousand pesetas.” Of course, in the Athletic offices they confirmed that José charged for playing. He began a fruitful career, which reached its zenith, after the rojiblancos titles, with his call-up for the World Cup in Italy in 1934.
“Everything was prepared for the Italians to win,” says Joseba. “Mussolini had given strict orders. Winning was not an option, but an obligation”, corroborates María, who straddles Galdakao and Barcelona due to her work commitments, dedicates part of her free time to rescuing memories of her father’s life, who died when the two brothers were very young. youths. “He got married very old”, in fact his wife, Conchita Bengoetxea, still lives in the family home.
“We skip a generation and people think we are Aita’s grandchildren, and not her children when we show the photos of the restaurant,” says Joseba, who is barely over forty. «I remember when Aita was very ill, and for Reyes, the president of Athletic, Pedro Aurtenetxe, and Javier Clemente came to visit us. I was nine years old », he recalls. “They gave us a ball and a Miguel Bosé record, and my loves a Loewe cologne,” says María.
Scandal
Then, when he died, five days before Athletic won the League in 1983 in Las Palmas, “the players came to the funeral,” says Joseba. “I was stunned, as if anesthetized, but I remember Txato Núñez next to me that day.”
In Spain’s first match in the history of the World Cups, the coach, the doctor from Vitoria Amadeo García Salazar, lined up Zamora and ten Basque players, six from Biscay and four from Gipuzkoa, and when Gorostiza took a free kick that Zacconi deflected with his hand, it was Josetxu Iragorri, a cannon in the legs when shooting, who took responsibility for taking the penalty, beating Pedroza and going down in history.
Spain won 3-1 and faced Vittorio Pozzo’s Italy in the quarterfinals, who was the coach and at the same time wrote the chronicle of ‘La Stampa’ in Turin which he titled: «Superb spectacle». Spain took the lead with a goal from Luis Regueiro, after a foul committed on Iraragorri. In minute 45, in a ball over the Spain area, Schiavio held Zamora by the waist while Ferrari finished off. Referee Beart disallowed the goal, but later validated it. He also avoided a kick from Josetxu Iragorri in the box and canceled out two goals. “The one at Lafuente was a scandal,” Ricardo Zamora later recalled. “He took the ball in his field, dribbled past several Italians, scored… And it was canceled for offside!”
Scandal as in the playoff game the next day, with seven Spanish players injured by Italian foul play. Zamora with two broken ribs, Iraragorri also out. Bosch fell victim to a wild tackle, in minute 1; the referee annulled two legal goals for Regueiro and Quincoces, and approved the one by Giusseppe Meazza, while Demaría grabbed the goalkeeper Nogués. The scandal was of such a caliber that the Swiss federation, and later FIFA, expelled René Mercet, the referee.
The return
Those selected returned home amid popular outrage. The newspaper ‘La Voz’ began a reparation campaign to honor the players, through the delivery of a commemorative medal. The initiative overwhelmed the Madrid newspaper, which was joined by the other media, and popular subscription exceeded forecasts. A gold medal was designed with a common obverse for all and a personalized reverse with an image of each player. “We had it stored in the bank,” says María, “and we didn’t really know what it meant.” Now it is in the Athletic museum, on loan from the family, together with the one that gave the organization to each player.
She still has another silver medal around her neck, with the image of the Jules Rimet Cup, offered by FIFA. The one for popular subscription was given to the footballers by President Niceto Alcalá Zamora, in an act in which they also received a decoration, the Order of the Republic, which the Iraragorri still keep together with a badge of the same recognition, “which is the one my grandma used to wear.”
Then came his last League with Athletic, the Civil War, the tour with the Euskadi team, the admiration of Che Guevara, who kept the Iraragorri and Langara stickers while his father managed the team’s entry into Argentina. He passed through San Lorenzo and then Spain, in Mexico, where he had the protection of the Arechederra brothers, the businessmen of Bilbao origin who would later buy a bus for Athletic. “My godfather is the son of Jaime Arechederra!” confesses Joseba, the son of José Iraragorri.
Finally, the return home, to Athletic and the family farmhouse. “Aita came back because my grandmother was worried,” recalls María. “They had told him that José had tuberculosis, although it was not true.” After a long exchange of letters, the soccer player decided to embark back to Galdakao so that his mistress could check that he was still okay. The battered suitcases from that journey are still stacked in the family hotel. Now they are a sentimental memory of the great Iraragorri, the first player from Spain to score in a World Cup.
