Valencia

A lovely, dynamic poster from the pre Civil War era. A balletic Valencia player heads the ball under pressure. 

A friendly in April 1929 against a selection from The Royal Navy. The Navy were great ambassadors for football, and there are records of them playing numerous matches in Spain in the 1920s.

Valencia used this poster throughout the 1920s and 30s. The games advertised were played at the Mestalla. Inaugurated in 1923 the grand stadium was developed during the 20s, the capacity growing from 17,000 to 25,000. During the Civil War the ground fell into disrepair when it was used as a prison camp. 

This match ended in a 1-1 draw. Real Madrid were officially Madrid Football Club at the time, as Spain was a republic. Madrid went on to win the title.  

Valencia's goal was scored by Sanchez Pia.

A 0-0 draw was the outcome of this match. Barcelona finished 3rd in the league, and Valencia 7th (from 10),

Capillas was Valencia' leading scorer in the 1931-32 season (9 goals in 10 matches).

Former Derby County player Randolph Galloway was the manager. 

Barcelona- honours

1912 Victory parade 

Copa Macaya 1 win (3 editions)
1901-02

Copa Barcelona 1 win (1 edition)
1902-03

Campionat de Catalunya 22 wins (38 editions)*

1904-05, 1908-09, 1909-10, 1910-11, 1912-13, 1913-14, 1915-16, 1918-19, 1919-20, 1920-21, 1921-22, 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28, 1928-29, 1929-30, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1933-34, 1935-36


Copa del Rey 8 wins (36 editions)*
1909–10, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1919–20, 1921–22, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1927–28

Pyrenees Cup 4 wins (5 editions)
1910, 1911,  1912, 1913

La Liga / Primera División 1 win (8 editions)*
1929 

1910 with Pyrenees Cup

1929 

* during our period - that is up until the summer of 1937

La Liga 1929 - 1936

A director of the Basque club Arenas Club de Getxo first proposed a national league for the whole of Spain. 

The Real Federación Española de Fútbol selected 10 clubs to make up the original Primera División:  

Barcelona Real Madrid Athletic Bilbao Real Sociedad Arenas Club de Getxo Real Unión Irun	Selected as previous winners of the Copa del Rey
Atlético Madrid Espanyol Europa	Selected as previous runners up in  Copa del Rey
Racing de Santander	Qualified via tournament

1928-29 Barcelona
No Camp Nou (les Courts) or Bernabau (Estadio Chamartín), but a familiar look to the top of the first ever La Liga table, with Barcelona beating Real Madrid by two points. 

1929–30 Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao were to emerge as the dominant team of the era. They won La Liga by 7 points from Barcelona,with a goal difference of +35 in an undefeated season.

1930–31 Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Racing de Santander all finished the season on 22 points, but a goal difference of +40 ensured that Bilbao retained the title. 

1931–32 Madrid CF (Real Madrid)
Madrid  (no longer 'Royal' due to Spain becoming a Republic) won La Liga for the first time, going through the season undefeated with 28 points. 

1932–33  Madrid CF (Real Madrid)
28 points again won it for Madrid.

1933–34 Athletic Bilbao
Having finished runners up to Madrid in the two previous seasons Bilbao turned the tables, scoring 61 goals in the process (goal difference +34).

1934–35 Betis Balompié 
La Liga was expanded to 12 teams.
Managed by Patrick O'Connell, (an Irish international who had played for The Wednesday, Hull City and Manchester United) the side now known as Real Betis won their only La Liga title to date.

1935–36 Athletic Bilbao
A return to form for  Athletic Bilbao. They beat reigning champions Betis 7-0 at home (Bilbao scored 4 or more goals in 7 of their 11 home games).
Betis finished only 7th as they lost players to more affluent clubs. 
Real Oviedo's Isidro Lángara was top scorer for the third consecutive season (an aggregate of  81 goals in 61 league games).

The Fascist invasion of Republican Spain then led to The Civil War. Football was suspended and on its resumption in 1940 many surviving players who had supported the Republic were forced into permanent exile in South America.

Rafael Moreno - Pichichi

Pichichi

Moreno and his wife painted by Aurelio Arteta.

Spain at the 1920 Olympics

He was just 1.54m and wore a white cap on the pitch. He died aged 29 and his name lives on...

Pichichi- The Little Duck- not the most imposing nickname, but Rafael Moreno's record was more than impressive. 

In ten seasons for Athletic Bilbao between 1911 and 1921 Pichichi scored 200 goals in 170 appearances. Spain only entered onto the international stage in 1920, so he was restricted to 5 appearances before his death, from typhus, in 1922.

When La Liga was contested for the first time in 1929 the newspaper Marca instituted a trophy for the season's leading goalscorer, which they named Pichichi in Moreno's memory. The first recipient of the trophy was 'Paco' Bienzobas of Real Sociedad.