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Recreativo de Huelva

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Recreativo de Huelva
Full nameReal Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D.
Nickname(s)Recre
Decano (Dean)
Abuelo (Grandfather)
Los blanquiazules (The Blue and Whites)
Founded23 December 1889; 135 years ago (1889-12-23) as Huelva Recreation Club
GroundNuevo Colombino
Capacity21,670
PresidentJesús Vázquez
Head coachAbel Gómez
LeaguePrimera Federación – Group 2
2023–24Primera Federación – Group 2, 6th of 20
Websitehttps://recreativohuelva.com

Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal ˈkluβ rekɾeaˈtiβo ðe ˈwelβa]) is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in Primera Federación – Group 2, holding home games at Estadio Nuevo Colombino, which has a 21,670 seating-capacity.

Team colours are white shirts with blue vertical stripes and white shorts.

History

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Background

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Huelva was introduced to football by the British employees of the Rio Tinto Company Limited (RTCL), who began to arrive in 1873 to work at the copper mines of Rio Tinto.[1][2][3] Huelva thus became the home to a vast British colony, among whom a certain William Bice stands out, as he was the one who began organizing the first "kick-abouts" between the club's members, which were possibly the very first kick to a football ball on Spanish soil.[2][3][a] This colony eventually gave birth to a club in 1878, the Rio Tinto English Club (known in Huelva as Club Inglés Bella Vista), where the mine workers played their favorite sports, such as cricket, rugby, and football.[1][2][4] The first president of this club was the Scot John Sutherland Mackay, the newly-arrived company doctor.[2] There are reports of football games between Rio Tinto and Huelva as early as 1882, but these teams were never officially established, so there is no legal record of their existence.[2][4]

The importance of Rio Tinto is that the British left a legacy and ended up creating the Recreativo de Huelva in 1889. There was continuity.

Alejandro Quiroga[3]

In late 1882, Dr. William Alexander Mackay arrived in Huelva to help his brother, John Sutherland, eventually becoming the city's doctor in July 1883, which meant that he now had to attend not only the many employees of the Rio Tinto Company, but also the sick or injured British sailors from the ships that docked daily at the Huelva port to load the mineral.[5] A lover of sports, Mackay wanted to use physical exercise to improve the health of his patients, so he created the Sociedad de Juego de Pelota (Spanish: "Ball Game Society"),[5] which organized football and cricket games, usually between his compatriots living in Riotinto and those crews of the British ships, which were held in a large area of ​​marshes filled with flooded soil opposite the Gas Factory run by fellow Scotsman Charles Wilson Adam,[1][5][6] who also played in some cricket matches himself.[7]

The earliest known example of this dates to May 1885, when the 16-year-old José Muñoz Pérez published an article about a cricket match between the Huelva and Riotinto in his family's newspaper La Provincia.[7] Eventually, in the late 1880s, the local population began gathering there to watch this curious sport, which soon gained followers among the local youth, and as they became familiar with its rules, some of them asked Mackay to participate, which he happily accepted, as he did not conceive of his recreational club as something exclusive to the British colony.[5] José García Almansa, Ildefonso Martínez, Alfonso Le Bourg, and some others, thus became the first Spaniards to play football.[5]

Foundation and first matches

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After a few years of consolidating these sports practices, Mackay and Adam decided to take a further step, so on 18 December 1889, they were among the seven men who founded Huelva Recreation Club, thus becoming the first-ever football club in Spain, although it was originally founded as a sports club that provided physical recreation for the Rio Tinto mineworkers to improve their health.[1][5][6] The remaining five founding members were Edward Palin, Alfred Gough, Gavin Speirs, and the only two Spaniards: Pedro Nolasco de Soto and José Muñoz Pérez, the latter thanks to his knowledge of the English language, his fondness for British sports, and his position within the local press.[7] Even though Mackay was the fundamental head behind the club's creation, it was Adam who was elected as the club's first-ever president since he was the eldest of the group and owner of the land where the games were played.[5][6][7] This position was then ratified as such at the meeting of 23 December 1889, in which four more members were added for a total of 11; the 27-year-old Speirs, an engineer, was named vice-president, and Palin was named secretary, while Mackay was appointed only as a member of the club's first board of directors.[7]

La Provincia newspaper reporting on the match between Club Recreativo and Sevilla FC on 30 March 1890.

After Recreativo de Huelva, Sevilla FC is the next-oldest club in Spain, having been founded just a month later, on 25 January 1890, by Isaias White and Edward Farquharson Johnston, the British vice-consul of Seville, and unlike the Huelva clubs, Sevilla was solely devoted to football, so many considered Spain's first football club.[1] Two months later, on 8 March 1890, these two clubs played the first official football match in Spain at the Hipódromo de Tablada, which was refereed by Johnston, the president of Sevilla, who won the match 2–0; Huelva line-up the following players: William Alcock, Yates, George Wakelin, Guillermo Duclós, Pedro Soto, Kirk, Daniels, Cutss, Gibbon, Bradley, and Smith.[8][9]

Following the success of the first match, the clubs decided to play a return fixture in Huelva just three weeks later, on 7 April 1890, in front of a crowd of 500, and even though Sevilla scored the opening goal via Gilbert Pollock, thus becoming the first-ever player to score an away goal on Spanish soil, Huelva managed to fight back to win 2–1, partly because they had been fortified by "some athletes from the British colony of Rio-Tinto".[10]

1890s

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Huelva's line-up in a press release for a match between Recreativo and Riotinto on 6 May 1892.

The Recreation Club demonstrated an organizational capacity that was out of the ordinary for a sports club of that time, playing many more matches against Sevilla and the Club de Río Tinto in the early 1890s, fielding the likes of Wakelin, Alcock, James Reeves, and captain Almansa, who scored a late winner against Sevilla in February 1892.[11][12] In 1892, Mackay created the club's first crest, the blue and white heart, because those were the colors of the Mackay clan crest, the flags of Scotland and Huelva, and even Lybster FC, his hometown club.[5]

In that same year, Mackay and Adam formed the club's subcommittee charged with planning and supervising the works of the so-called Campo del Velódromo on the plot of land located on the Seville road opposite the Hotel Colon, which was the first sports venue built in Spain for the practice of football,[5][7] and which was inaugurated on 20 August, just in time to host the sporting events that had been organized by Recreativo in commemoration of the IV Centenary of the Discovery of America.[7] After the departure of Edward Palin in 1891, Muñoz became the new secretary of the club, and as such, he played a key role in the organization of this event that took place between August and October 1892,[7] and whose program remains the oldest surviving original document from Recreativo, in which the club has specific and established rules for football, cricket, and tennis games, hence making them the oldest rules that had been created in Spain in relation to the practice of football.[13]

Charles Adam held the club's presidency from its foundation on 18 December 1889 until his resignation on 29 November 1896, being replaced by Mackay, who, in turn, held this position for nearly three decades until 1924, except for a brief period in 1903.[5][6] In March 1915 it was William Alexander Mackay himself who hand-delivered to the Minister of the Interior the letter requesting the King Alfonso VIII to accept the Honorary Presidency of the Club, and since then Recreativo has been Royal.[5][14]

First cups

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The Seaman's Institute Cup.

In 1891, most of the founders and promoters of Recreativo, including Adam, founded an organization called "Seamen's Institute", which was meant to provide shelter, entertainment, and company to the English sailors who anchored their ships at the port of Huelva for relatively long periods while they waited for the mineral and finished loading it onto the ships.[15] In 1903, after many years as secretary, Muñoz became the vice-president of Recreativo, and later that year, his proposal to create an annual football tournament between Recreativo and the British sailors of the Seamen's Institute was approved at the board meeting held on 9 December 1903.[7][16] Muñoz decided to follow the footsteps of the Copa del Rey, which had been inaugurated earlier that year with a cup donated by Alfonso XIII, and also ordered a cup made of silver in London, with the first match taking place on 2 January 1904, and being won by the British.[16] This was followed by another match on 30 April, which was postponed to 6 November to coincide with the inauguration of the new facilities at the Velodrome, but the British won again 4–2.[17] It was only two weeks later, on 20 November, that Recreativo finally won this cup, and despite some indications that the club had lifted the Copa de la Raza in 1893 and the Copa Heráldica in 1898, it can be reliably and based on strict documentary evidence that the Copa Seamen's Institute was the first time that a captain of Recreativo lifted a trophy; it was William Alcock, near the Anglican Chapel of the "Seamen's Institute".[17]

After declining invitations in previous years due to financial problems, Recreativo decided to participate in the 1906 edition of the Copa del Rey, playing two matches at the Hipódromo de la Castellana against Athletic Club and Madrid FC (currently known as Athletic Bilbao and Madrid FC), both ending in losses.[18] The Huelva squad that played in this tournament included the likes of Antonio Tellechea, Tomás Estrada, Robert Geoghegham, and William Waterston.[19]

On 1 January 1911, Recreativo achieved its third consecutive victory over the Seamen's (12–0), and in doing so, the Copa Muñoz became the definitive property of Huelva, and it still is the oldest trophy kept by Recreativo in its museum.[16][17] Muñoz held the club's vice-presidency for three years, until 1906, when he was replaced by the Spaniard Manuel Pérez de Guzmán, whose six sons all played for the club between 1903 and 1920.[20] In the first half of the 1910s, two of the Pérez de Guzmán brothers (Manuel and José), along with Tomás Estrada, played a crucial role in helping the team win three non-official Andalusian regional championships, which Recreativo itself organized, and the Copa Centenario de las Cortes de Cádiz in 1912, beating Español de Cádiz 3–0 in the final.[21] During this period, Estrada was everything at Recreativo: player, captain, referee, and manager, and also correspondent in Huelva for the weekly Madrid Sport.[22]

Huelva also became the first Spanish side to defeat a Portuguese team, winning against Sporting Clube de Portugal. In 1940, it first reached Segunda División, only lasting however one year and not returning until 1957. Since 1965, the team also began hosting the Trofeo Colombino.

Later years

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In 1977–78, led by, amongst others, former Real Madrid youth graduate Hipólito Rincón, Recreativo first gained promotion to the top flight. After just one season, it returned to level two, staying there until 1990, the year of a Segunda División B relegation.

In 1999–2000, Recreativo were due to be relegated to the third division, but were redeemed when Atlético Madrid descended into the second and thus their reserves were ejected.[23] With a new stadium and the appointment of Luis Alcaraz as manager, and the club returned to the top flight for the first time in 23 years on 19 May 2002 with a 2–1 home win over fellow Andalusians Xerez CD.[24] After this one season at the top, the team was immediately relegated back. However, in the same campaign, it reached the final of the Copa del Rey for the first time, being defeated by Mallorca 0–3 in Elche.[24]

In 2005–06, after beating Numancia on 4 June 2006, Marcelino García Toral's Recreativo mathematically secured promotion with two matches left to be played. Ahead of the new season, the club bought players including France youth international striker Florent Sinama Pongolle from Liverpool,[25] and young winger Santi Cazorla from Villarreal CF, with a budget of only €15 million.[26] The club finished eighth in the table, at 54 points, a best-ever, and made headlines with a 3–0 win against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.[26] The club's leading goalscorer was Sinama Pongolle with 12 goals to his name, while García Toral left at its conclusion for Racing de Santander.[27]

Recre players greeting the fans before a 2008–09 La Liga fixture against Athletic.

Recre narrowly avoided relegation the following season, and in 2008–09, one win in its last 15 matches led to it coming in last place and returning to Segunda after three years. Overspending in aim of returning to the top flight led to debts.[24] At the end of the 2014–15 season, the team fell into Segunda B for the first time in 18 years.[23] A year later, the club was nearing extinction due to financial problems.[28] In May 2021, due to restructuring of the Spanish football league system, the club was relegated two tiers to the fifth level for the first time in its history.[29] Journalist Damián Ortiz of the Diario de Huelva called the entire squad "bastards without honour" and "a black mark on the history of Recreativo de Huelva".[30] In April 2022, Recre achieved promoted back to fourth division. In June 2023, Recre achieved second consecutive promoted to third division after beating Cacereño in last playoff.

Season-by-season record

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Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey
1939–40 2 2ª 6th
1940–41 3 3ª 2nd
1941–42 3 1ª Reg. 1st
1942–43 3 1ª Reg. 2nd
1943–44 3 3ª 6th
1944–45 3 3ª 6th
1945–46 3 3ª 6th
1946–47 3 3ª 1st
1947–48 3 3ª 2nd
1948–49 3 3ª 4th
1949–50 3 3ª 4th
1950–51 3 3ª 1st
1951–52 3 3ª 6th
1952–53 3 3ª 8th
1953–54 3 3ª 10th
1954–55 3 3ª 5th
1955–56 3 3ª 7th
1956–57 3 3ª 1st
1957–58 2 2ª 15th
1958–59 3 3ª 1st
Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey
1959–60 2 2ª 13th
1960–61 3 3ª 1st
1961–62 2 2ª 5th
1962–63 2 2ª 5th
1963–64 2 2ª 11th
1964–65 2 2ª 9th
1965–66 2 2ª 11th
1966–67 2 2ª 11th
1967–68 2 2ª 13th
1968–69 3 3ª 1st
1969–70 3 3ª 4th
1970–71 3 3ª 3rd
1971–72 3 3ª 13th
1972–73 3 3ª 8th
1973–74 3 3ª 1st
1974–75 2 2ª 14th
1975–76 2 2ª 10th
1976–77 2 2ª 9th
1977–78 2 2ª 2nd
1978–79 1 1ª 18th
Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey
1979–80 2 2ª 12th
1980–81 2 2ª 16th
1981–82 2 2ª 14th
1982–83 2 2ª 10th
1983–84 2 2ª 12th
1984–85 2 2ª 10th
1985–86 2 2ª 9th
1986–87 2 2ª 3rd
1987–88 2 2ª 15th
1988–89 2 2ª 5th
1989–90 2 2ª 19th
1990–91 3 2ª B 2nd
1991–92 3 2ª B 6th
1992–93 3 2ª B 8th
1993–94 3 2ª B 3rd
1994–95 3 2ª B 14th
1995–96 3 2ª B 8th
1996–97 3 2ª B 4th
1997–98 3 2ª B 2nd
1998–99 2 2ª 12th
Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey
1999–2000 2 2ª 21st
2000–01 2 2ª 6th
2001–02 2 2ª 3rd Round of 32
2002–03 1 1ª 18th Runners-up
2003–04 2 2ª 6th Second round
2004–05 2 2ª 5th Round of 16
2005–06 2 2ª 1st Second round
2006–07 1 1ª 8th Round of 32
2007–08 1 1ª 16th Round of 16
2008–09 1 1ª 20th Round of 32
2009–10 2 2ª 9th Round of 16
2010–11 2 2ª 12th Second round
2011–12 2 2ª 17th Second round
2012–13 2 2ª 13th Second round
2013–14 2 2ª 8th Round of 32
2014–15 2 2ª 20th Third round
2015–16 3 2ª B 13th First round
2016–17 3 2ª B 12th
2017–18 3 2ª B 15th
2018–19 3 2ª B 1st
Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey
2019–20 3 2ª B 13th Round of 32
2020–21 3 2ª B 8th / 6th
2021–22 5 3ª RFEF 1st
2022–23 4 2ª Fed. 2nd First round
2023–24 3 1ª Fed. 6th First round
2024–25 3 1ª Fed.

Current squad

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As of 9 September 2024.[31]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Spain ESP Rubén Gálvez (captain)
2 DF Uruguay URU Juan Pablo Pereira
3 DF Spain ESP Alberto López
4 DF Spain ESP Rubén Serrano
5 DF Spain ESP Álex Gálvez
6 MF Senegal SEN Boubacar Keita
7 MF Spain ESP Paolo Romero
8 MF Spain ESP Luis Alcalde
9 FW Spain ESP Caye Quintana
10 MF Spain ESP Antonio Domínguez
11 MF Algeria ALG Chemseddine Bekkouche (loan from Levante)
12 MF Cameroon CMR Nico Njalla (loan from Cádiz)
13 GK Uruguay URU Guillermo Centurión
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 MF Spain ESP David del Pozo
15 FW Spain ESP Sergi Armero (loan from Huesca)
16 FW Argentina ARG Pablo Caballero
17 MF Argentina ARG Juan Cruz Cerrudo (loan from Rosario Central)
18 DF Spain ESP Dani Perejón
19 MF Spain ESP Zelu
20 DF Spain ESP Carlos Becken
21 MF Guinea-Bissau GNB Malam Camará
22 DF Spain ESP Raúl Navas
23 MF Spain ESP David Soto
24 MF Spain ESP César Moreno (loan from Hércules)
30 GK France FRA Theo Folgado (loan from Real Sociedad C)

Youth players in use 2024/25

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
26 DF Spain ESP Davinchi

Out on loan

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player

Youth players

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Main article: Recreativo de Huelva B

Honours

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International players

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Notes

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  1. ^ In that same year, another colony of British workers did the same in Vigo, with the investigations about which one was the dean of football in Spain remaining inconclusive and open to debate by historians.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Escocia, cuna del futbol español" [Scotland, the cradle of Spanish football]. lafutbolteca.com (in Spanish). 1 November 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e "RioTinto". www.thescotsfootballhistoriansgroup.org (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "El fútbol llegó a Rio Tinto... o a Vigo" [Football arrived in Riotinto... or Vigo] (in Spanish). El Pais. 12 April 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Riotinto football". www.aytoriotinto.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "William Alexander Mackay, un siglo como Hijo Adoptivo de Huelva" [William Alexander Mackay, a century as an adopted son of Huelva]. recreativohuelva.com (in Spanish). 7 July 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d "100 años del fallecimiento de Charles Adam, y 100 años del fin del doctor Mackay al frente del Club" [100 years since the death of Charles Adam, and 100 years since the end of Dr Mackay's tenure at the Club]. recreativohuelva.com (in Spanish). 10 September 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i "La historia de los fundadores Charles Adam, Pedro Nolasco de Soto y José Muñoz" [The story of the founders Charles Adam, Pedro Nolasco de Soto and José Muñoz]. www.huelva24.com (in Spanish). 27 December 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  8. ^ "Este es el partido de fútbol documentado más antiguo de España" [This is the oldest documented football match in Spain]. palabrasdefutbol.com (in Spanish). 31 May 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  9. ^ "Se cumplen 130 años del primer partido de Fútbol en España" [130 years have passed since the first football match in Spain]. onefootball.com (in Spanish). 8 March 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  10. ^ "Surprising Story of the Life of a Spanish Football Pioneer". www.sevillafc1890.com. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  11. ^ "El sport en Huelva" [Sport in Huelva]. hemerotecadigital.bne.es (in Spanish). El Sport. 29 February 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  12. ^ "Riotinto contra Huelva" [Riotinto against Huelva]. www.huelva.es (in Spanish). La Provincia. 5 May 1892. p. 7. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  13. ^ "PROGRAMA de los varios sports que en honor del 4° Centenario del Descubrimiento de América" [PROGRAM of the various sports in honor of the 4th Centenary of the Discovery of America] (PDF). www.huelva.es (in Spanish). p. 1-5. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  14. ^ "La corona real cumple 102 años" [The royal crown turns 102 years old]. www.huelvainformacion.es (in Spanish). 17 March 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  15. ^ "El Recre entre 1893 y 1904: una etapa de hermetismo" [The Recre between 1893 and 1904: a period of hermeticism]. www.cuadernosdefutbol.com (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 17 October 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  16. ^ a b c "La Copa Seamen's" [The Seamen's Cup]. recreativohuelva.com (in Spanish). 11 July 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  17. ^ a b c "La Copa Seamen's de 1904: el trofeo más antiguo de Andalucía" [The 1904 Seamen's Cup: the oldest trophy in Andalusia]. www.cuadernosdefutbol.com (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 14 February 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  18. ^ "Spain - Cup 1906". RSSSF. 13 January 2000. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Squad of Recreativo de Huelva 1905-06 King's Cup". www.bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  20. ^ "El Recreativo recupera un trozo de su historia" [Recreativo recovers a piece of its history]. www.diariodehuelva.es (in Spanish). 11 April 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  21. ^ "Reseña histórica: La Copa Centenario" [Historical review: The Centenary Cup]. www.cadizcf.com (in Spanish). 11 April 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  22. ^ "El Decano cedió a Camilo Bel Pérez al Sevilla en 1905" [The Dean loaned Camilo Bel Pérez to Sevilla in 1905]. www.eldesmarque.com (in Spanish). 11 February 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  23. ^ a b "El Decano se vuelve a estrellar en El Sadar como hace 15 años" ["The Dean" crashes again in El Sadar just like 15 years ago]. Marca (in Spanish). 1 June 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  24. ^ a b c Stevens, Tom (23 February 2016). "'It's a real matter of faith:' Life as a Recreativo Huelva supporter". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  25. ^ "Recreativo land Sinama-Pongolle". BBC Sport. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  26. ^ a b Lowe, Sid (21 December 2006). "Recreativo rip up the form book, and Real with it". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  27. ^ "Marcelino, nuevo entrenador del Racing de Santander" [Marcelino, new Racing de Santander manager] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  28. ^ Farni, Azi (23 March 2016). "Recreativo de Huelva: Spain's oldest club on the brink of extinction". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  29. ^ Núñez, Manuel S. (9 May 2021). "El Recreativo de Huelva desciende sin jugar" [Recreativo go down without playing] (in Spanish). Huelva Información. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  30. ^ Ortiz, Damián (9 May 2021). "¡Bajad, bastardos sin honor! (1-2)" [Go down, you bstards without honour!]. Diario de Huelva (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  31. ^ "Plantilla" [Template]. Recreativo de Huelva. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
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