Juan Astorquia Landabaso (June 1876 - 23 October 1905) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Athletic Club.[1] He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the amateur beginnings and early history of Athletic Club from Bilbao, having been the fundamental head behind the foundation of the club in 1898, and then serving as the first president and captain of the club between 1902 and 1904.[2][3]
Juan Astorquia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1st President of Athletic club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1902–1903 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Luis Márquez | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Enrique Careaga | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | June 1876 Bilbao, Spain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 23 October 1905(1905-10-23) (aged 29) Bilbao, Spain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Under Astorquia's leadership, Athletic Club became a dominant team on the national level, captaining the Basque club to triumphs at the 1902 Copa de la Coronación and 1903 Copa del Rey, which were the club's first pieces of silverware. A lover of sports, he was also a fan of velocipedism.
Being the son of a well-off family in Bilbao, he was sent to Britain to complete his studies, doing so in a Catholic college in Manchester. While in Manchester, he developed an interest in football, becoming one of the best football players in his school, having great skill in dominating the ball and in dribbles, two virtues that were highly regarded in a time where kicking reigned.[2] Astorquia was 20 when he returned to Bilbao, and along with six other students belonging to the Gymnasium Zamacois,[lower-alpha 1] he opens a practice center in the Lamiako field in 1898, or in other words, he founds the Athletic Club (using the English spelling), and after some recruitment work from the seven, they began to arrange games with British workers.[3] Although they were founded in 1898, the first directing board of the Athletic Club was not organized until 5 September 1901, where the club Athletic Club de Bilbao is officially created being made up of 98 members, with Astorquia being among the presents at the first historic meeting of the club held in Café García.[3] In 1902, Astorquia became the first president of this club, taking over from Luis Márquez, who was in charge of the club at the turn of the century.[4]
Astorquia became the first leader to bring together Athletic Club and Bilbao Football Club, another team that had been founded in the Biscayan neighborhood of Getxo at the end of 1900 by a group of British workers; a rivalry had quickly developed between the two Bilbao teams, which is widely regarded as the very first club rivalry in Spain.[5] In 1902, already under Astorquia's presidency, the two clubs agreed to join the best players of each club to form Club Bizcaya, which was specially created to take part in the 1902 Copa de la Coronación, and Astorquia was named the team's captain (in a time when the role was equivalent to that of a coach, having the duty of making up the line-ups and dictating the tactics to be followed). Astorquia was the only Spanish player in Bizcaya's attacking quintet, with Bilbao FC's English forwards (Langford, William Dyer, Butwell and Walter Evans) making out the rest.[2] In the Copa de la Coronación, Astorquia captained his team into a triumph, netting three goals, one in each game he played: the quarter-finals against Club Español, the semi-finals against New Foot-Ball Club and the opener of the final in a 2–1 win over Joan Gamper's FC Barcelona, thus contributing decisively in Athletic's very first piece of silverware.[6]
Astorquia used Bizcaya's successful campaign at the Copa de la Coronación to convince Luis Arana of how beneficial and necessary it was to merge the two clubs. Furthermore, the owners of Bilbao FC began to lose interest in their team, which at the end of 1902 was going through a certain institutional crisis, and so, on 24 March 1903, Bilbao FC and its associates were officially and definitively absorbed by Athletic Club.[7] The club's foundation date is a subject of debate among football historians. The club itself declares 1898, but others claim 1901 as the true founding year due to the official creation of club Athletic Club de Bilbao at the Café García, and others claim 1903 due to being the year they merged with Bilbao FC.
Still under Astorquia's presidency and captaincy, and together with Alejandro de la Sota, Armand Cazeaux and Walter Evans, the newly created Athletic team won the first-ever Copa del Rey in 1903, in which he also contributed decisively, netting a brace in the semi-finals against Espanyol (4–0), and in the final, Athletic found themselves 2–0 down to Madrid FC at half-time, but after a crucial harangue by Astorquia at the break, Athletic managed to pull off a comeback and win the title with a 3–2 victory.[8][9] In the 1904 Copa del Rey Final, Athletic were declared winners again after their opponents, Club Español de Madrid, failed to turn up.[10] Between 1902 and 1903, he played five competitive matches, in which he scored five goals (Athletic Bilbao counts the matches played by Bizcaya as its own).[11]
Juan Astorquia died on 23 October 1905 at the age of just 29, and like Pichichi, who also died in his youth, both became legends of Basque football. Athletic has its registered office at Calle Nueva, on the first floor, above the Donostiarra café.[3]