Armando Giralt Iduate (23 March 1885 – 21 April 1948) was a Cuban-born Spanish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a forward for Madrid FC,

Club Español de Madrid Club Español de Madrid was a Football in Spain, Spanish football club based in Madrid. The club was originally formed in 1901 after a conflict between New Foot-Ball Club, Sky Football members caused some of them to leave and create a new club. Es ...

and

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

. He was a member of some of the oldest football entities in Spain, such as Sky Football, Madrid Football Club and the Club Deportivo Español, being a founding member of the first two together with his older brothers

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

and

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

, who were also footballers. He is best known for scoring the very first competitive goal in the history of the Real Madrid team against Espanyol on 6 April 1903. He reached the final of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

numerous times with three different clubs, becoming over the years one of the footballers who added the most presences in finals, winning two of them.

Biography

Armando was born in

La Habana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Captaincy General of Cuba The Captaincy General of Cuba () was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire created in 1607 as part of Habsburg Spain's attempt to better defend and administer its Caribbean possessions. The reform also established captaincies general i ...

, in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, when the country was under the sovereignty of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

. They moved to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

when he and his brothers were still young. In Madrid, he was part of the Sky Foot-ball club, the first club that existed in the capital, however, in 1900, a conflict between Sky Football members caused some of them to leave (including the Giralts) and create a new club, Madrid Football Club, currently known as

Real Madrid CF Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, with the official creation of the club being held on 6 March 1902 in the back room of Al Capricho, a meeting in which the Giralt brothers were present, and they become members of the first board of directors of Madrid FC presided by Juan Padrós. He then become one of the first footballers of the newly formed Madrid FC at the age of just 18, playing as a forward. Together with Arthur Johnson,

Pedro Parages Pedro Parages Diego-Madrazo (17 December 1883 – 15 February 1950) was a Franco-Spanish footballer, manager, and the 5th President of Real Madrid from July 1916 until 16 May 1926. During his mandate, Madrid FC received the Royal title (''Rea ...

, Federico Revuelto,

Antonio Neyra Antonio Sánchez de Neyra Castro (16 March 1884 – Unknown) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for Real Madrid CF, Madrid FC, Club Español de Madrid and RCD Espanyol. He was on ...

and his two brothers, Mario and José, he was part of the historic Madrid team that played in the first-ever

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 10 – The Aceh Sultanate was fully annexed by the Dutch forces, deposing the last sultan, marking the end of the Aceh War that have lasted for al ...

, netting two goals in the opening match against Espanyol (4–1) on 6 April 1903, with the first of which being the very first competitive goal in Real Madrid's history. He played alongside his two brothers in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, where they were beaten 2-3 by Athletic Club. Those two goals against Club Español were enough to earn him the tournament's top scorer accolade tied with Juan Astorquia and Alejandro de la Sota. Despite some encouraging first steps in the white club, it was possibly the fact of losing the 1903 Cup final that caused a convulsive situation within the entity that led to the departure of several of its founding members, including him, his older brothers, and

, who left Madrid FC in October 1903 to refound

, a club founded in 1901, but who had collapsed in the summer. It was common at the time for players to leave their respective teams to join or found others due to the still dispersed and confusing growth of football, in fact, some of the others departures marched to found the Moncloa Football Club, against whom Español de Madrid made its debut, which ended in a 1-0 win with a goal from Armando. Español de Madrid won the 1903–04

Campeonato Regional Centro The Campeonato Regional Centro ( Spanish for Central Regional Championship) was an annual association football competition for clubs based primarily in the Castile region of Spain, including the Community of Madrid, during the first half of the 2 ...

, hence qualifying to the 1904 Copa del Rey, which ended in controversy as they were unable to participate in the

, meaning Athletic were declared winners again. After two years with Español de Madrid, he and José decided to return to Madrid FC in 1905, after realizing that it was the whites who were becoming the powerhouse in the country. He played an important role in the club's triumphant campaigns at the

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

Copa del Reys, featuring alongside his brother in both finals. In 1907, he and José headed back to Español de Madrid, and they again reached back-to-back Copa del Rey finals ( 1909 and

1910 Events January * January 6 – Abé people in the French West Africa colony of Côte d'Ivoire rise against the colonial administration; the rebellion is brutally suppressed by the military. * January 8 – By the Treaty of Punakha, t ...

), but unlike in Madrid, they lost both finals, first to Club Ciclista and then to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. In 1910, the two Giralt brothers and

joined

, and Armando once again proved his quality by reaching his third cup final in a row, which also ended in a loss to Athletic Club. In the following season, he helped Espanyol beat

to win the 1911–12 Catalan Championship. He retired in 1912.

Honours

Club

* Centro Championship: **Champions (1): 1903–04 *

: **Runner-up (3):

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...

, 1909 and

- Madrid FC * Centro Championship: **Champions (1): 1905–06 and 1906–07 *

: **Champions (2):

and

**Runner-up (1):

* Catalan Championship **Champions (1): 1911–12 *

: **Runner-up (1):

1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giralt, Armando 1885 births 1948 deaths Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Real Madrid CF players Footballers from Havana Footballers from Madrid RCD Espanyol footballers Cuban men's footballers Spanish people in Spanish Cuba

Biography

Honours

Club

See also

Notes

References