Joan Gamper

Joan Gamper (born Winterthur, Switzerland, November 22 1877, died July 30 1930, Switzerland) also known as Joan Kamper, Hans Gamper, Johannes Gamper and Hans Kamper) was a football pioneer, player and club president. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Catalonia (Spain), most notably FC Barcelona. As club president, he helped establish FC Barcelona as one of the leading clubs in the world.

Early years

Born Hans-Max Gamper (his mother's maiden name of Haessig is generally appended in Spanish sources), was the eldest son, third of five children born to August and Rosine Emma Gamper. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was eight and the family moved to Zurich. As a youngster he was a keen cyclist and runner. Throughout his life he was a lover of all sports and, apart from football, he also played rugby union, tennis and golf. In Switzerland he was highly regarded as a footballer. He was club captain at FC Basel. In 1897 work took him to Lyon in France where he played rugby for Athletique Union.

Founding FC Barcelona

In 1898 he went to Barcelona to visit his uncle, Emili Gaissert, who was living there. He was on his way to Africa to help set up some sugar trading companies but fell in love with the Spanish city and decided to stay put. He would later become a fluent Catalan speaker and adopt the Catalan version of his name, "Joan Gamper". As an accountant, he found work with Crédit Lyonnais, the Sarria Railway Company and as a sports columnist, he worked for two Swiss newspapers. He joined the local Swiss Evangelical Church and began playing football within the local Protestant community in the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. He also attended the Gimnasio Solé and helped publish a magazine, "Los Deportes ".

On October 22nd 1899 he placed an advert in "Los Deportes" declaring his wish to form a football club. A positive response resulted in a meeting at the Gimnasio Solé on November 29 and "Football Club Barcelona" was born. The founders included a collection of Swiss, British and Spanish enthusiasts. Gamper chose the legendary club colours, "blaugrana", after FC Basel. However the other Swiss teams Gamper played for, his home canton of Zurich and "Merchant Taylors' School" in Crosby, Merseyside have all been credited and/or claimed to be the inspiration. Although Gamper was the driving force behind the club, initially he chose only to be a board member and club captain. He was still only 22 and wanted to concentrate on playing the game he loved. He played 48 games for FC Barcelona between 1899 and 1903, scoring over 100 goals. His team mates included Arthur Witty. In 1900-01 he was a member of the FC Barcelona team that won the clubs first trophy, the "Copa Macaya". This competition is now recognised as the first Catalan championship. In 1902 he played in the very first Copa del Rey final. Barca lost 2-1 to Club Vizcaya.

Club President

In 1908 Joan Gamper became president of FC Barcelona for the first time. Gamper took over the presidency as the club was on the verge of folding. Several of the clubs better players had retired and had not been replaced. This soon began to effect the clubs performances both on and off the field. The club had not won anything since the "Campionat de Catalunya" of 1905 and its finances suffered as a result. He was subsequently club president on five separate occasions ("1908-09, 1910-13, 1917-19, 1921-23" and "1924-25") and spent 25 years at the helm. One of his main achievements was to help Barça acquire their own stadium. Until 1909 the team played at various grounds, none of them owned by the club. Gamper raised funds from local businesses and on March 14 1909, they moved into the "Carrer Indústria", a stadium with a capacity of 6,000. He also launched a campaign to recruit more club members and by 1922 the club had over 10,000. This led to the club moving again, this time to "Les Corts". This stadium had an initial capacity of 20,000, later expanded to an impressive 60,000.

Gamper also recruited the legendary player Paulino Alcántara, the club's all time top-scorer, and in 1917 appointed Jack Greenwell as manager. This saw the clubs fortunes begin to improve on the field. During the Gamper era FC Barcelona won eleven "Championat de Catalunya", six Copa del Rey and four "Coupe de Pyrenées" and enjoyed its first "golden age". As well as Alcántara the Barça team under Greenwall also included Sagibarbá, Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier, Félix Sesúmaga and Franz Platko.

His final presidency ended in controversial circumstances and personal tragedy. On June 24 1925, FC Barcelona fans jeered the Spanish national anthem and then applauded "God Save the Queen" performed by a visiting British Royal Marine band. The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera accused Gamper of promoting Catalan nationalism. "Les Corts" was closed for six months and Gamper was expelled from Spain. He returned to Switzerland where after a period of depression brought on by personal and money problems he committed suicide on July 30 1930.

Epilogue

In 1966 the then FC Barcelona president, Enric Llaudet, created the Joan Gamper Trophy in his honour. This is a pre-season tournament featuring international teams as guests and is traditionally used by the club to unveil the team for the forthcoming season. The club also permanently retired his club membership number and the city named a street, "Carrer de Joan Gamper" in Les Corts district, after him. In 2002 the club marked the 125th anniversary of his birth. In 2004 the Winterthur Group, a Swiss insurance company with offices in Barcelona since 1910, became sponsors of the FC Barcelona basketball team, which led to the team featuring the birthplace of Gamper on their shirts and in their name Winterthur FCB until 2007, after Winterthur Group was purchased by AXA. Perhaps this and the fact that the club developed into a polideportivo, the very personification of Gamper, is the most fitting tribute to this all-round sportsman. Today Barcelona is "more than just a football club". It promotes amateur track and field sports and has rugby union and cycling teams. All of these were sports played by Gamper. Barca also has professional basketball, handball and roller hockey teams as well as amateur indoor football, women's football, volleyball, baseball and field hockey teams. Over the years they have even had an ice hockey team and an American football team, FC Barcelona Dragons.

External links

* [http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/club/historia/jugadors_de_llegenda/gamper.html About Joan Gamper in the FC Barcelona Website]
* [http://www.penyaunionblaugrana.co.uk Official FC Barcelona UK Penya]