Josep Sunyol

Josep Suñol i Garriga (July 21 1898-August 6 1936), also known as Josep Sunyol, was a Catalan lawyer, journalist, politician and president of FC Barcelona.

Sunyol was born in Barcelona and came from both a wealthy family and a long line of Catalan political militants. He was a member of "Acció Catalana", a
left-wing/anarchist group and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya.

In 1928 he became a director of FC Barcelona and in 1930 he founded the left-wing newspaper "La Rambla", which opposed the Primo de Rivera regime. In 1931 he was elected to the Cortes as an ERC deputy. He was subsequently re-elected in 1933 and 1936. He also served as president of both the "Reial Automòbil Club de Catalunya" and the Federació Catalana de Futbol. In 1935 he was elected president of FC Barcelona.

On August 6 1936, during the early days of the Spanish Civil War, Sunyol was arrested by Francoist troops in the Sierra de Guadarrama and was then executed. [ [http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/club/historia/presidents/josepsunyol.html Josep Sunyol (1935-1936)] "www.fcbarcelona.com" (accessed February 8 2008)] His body was only exhumed in the 1990s after a "Els Amics de Josep Sunyol" (The Friends of Josep Sunyol) campaigned for FC Barcelona to recognize the 60th anniversary of his death.

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