Arthur Whitty Cotton, also known as Don Arturo, was a footballer, club president and businessman. Whitty played for

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

in the first

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

final and later served as club president between 1903 and 1905. He was also a successful trader and his family company, the Witty Group, continues to operate today. He is the older brother of Ernest Whitty.

Biography

Early years

Witty was the son of Frederick Witty, a British entrepreneur, who settled in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

. Frederick, who belonged to a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

family, initially intended to emigrate to Argentina but was persuaded to go to Spain by friends. In 1873 he founded his own shipping agency under the name of F. Witty, subsequently establishing business links between Spain and the United Kingdom. Arthur and his brother, Ernest, were educated at

Merchant Taylors' School Merchant Taylors' School may refer to: *Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood (founded 1561), is a British independent school originally located in the City of London and now located in Northwood in Middlesex . * Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosb ...

in Merseyside, where sport was regarded as a major part of a young man's development. While at Merchant Taylors, Arthur played as a forward for the local

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

team, Waterloo FC. On their return to

the two brothers joined their father's company which now became known as ''Witty Sociedad Anónima'', Witty S.A.

FC Barcelona footballer

Arthur and Ernest returned to Spain with a love of sports. Unable to play

due to a lack of suitable pitches, the Wittys began to organise football games between company teams made up of employees. In 1899 Ernest also became a founding member of the

Real Club de Tenis Barcelona The Real Club de Tenis Barcelona - 1899 (meaning ''Royal Barcelona Tennis Club - 1899'') is a private tennis club in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The facility has 18 clay courts, including a stadium court with a capacity of 8,400 and show court fo ...

. Ernest, a Spanish national tennis champion, played tennis with, among others,

Joan Gamper Hans Max Gamper-Haessig (; 22 November 1877 – 30 July 1930), commonly known as Joan Gamper (), was a Swiss-born football executive and versatile athlete. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Spain, most notably FC Barcelona and FC Zür ...

and when Gamper founded

in October 1899, the Witty brothers quickly became involved. They used their company to imports regulation balls, referees whistles and nets from England. Legend also has it that the Witty brothers also imported the legendary club colours, the ''blaugrana'', from the original colours used by Merchant Taylors' rugby team. However

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

and other clubs that Gamper played for and his home canton of Zurich and have all been credited and/or claimed to be the inspiration. Either way, Old Merchant Taylors' BaaBarians hockey team carry FC Barcelona shirts as their away strip in tribute to Arthur Witty. In early December 1899 the club played its first official game against an ''English Select'' at the ''Velòdrom de la Bonanova'', now known as ''Turó Park''. The teams only had ten men each and the ''English Select'' actually included several

players, among them, Arthur Witty. The ''English Select'' won the game 1–0 with Witty scoring the only goal. On Christmas Eve 1899 Witty made his official debut for the club in a 3–1 win over Català SC.

was one of several football clubs formed in the city around this time and soon there was enough teams to organise a regular competition, the

Copa Macaya The Hispania Athletic Club Tournament–Alfonso Macaya Cup, popularly known as the Copa Macaya, was a football competition contested by clubs from Catalonia which ran from 1900 until 1903, disappearing at the same time of its organizers, Hispania ...

. Witty was a member of the FC Barcelona team which won its first ever trophy, the Copa Macaya in 1902. He also played for FC Barcelona in 1902 when they were invited to enter the first ever

. After beating Madrid FC, later to become

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, 3–1 in the first round, they lost 2–1 to Club Vizcaya in the final. Witty also helped the club win the Copa Barcelona in 1903. Between 1899 and 1905 Witty played 74 games, mainly as a full-back for FC Barcelona.

FC Barcelona President

Witty became president of

on 17 September 1903 after having previously served on the board of directors. During his presidency the club won its first Championat de Catalunya with a squad that included Ernest Witty and

Romà Forns Romà Forns Saldaña (died 26 April 1942) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He made his debut as a footballer in late 1902 playing one season for Irish FC but spent the rest of his career with FC Barcelona and the Catalan XI, always as a fo ...

. The latter was one of several young reserve players Witty introduced into the team. By now

had acquired a strong fan base within the city and Witty arranged for the club to play their home games at the ''Carrer Muntaner''. Witty also organised the club's first trip abroad which resulted in their first game against a non-Spanish team. On 1 May 1904

beat

Stade Olympien des Étudiants Toulousains Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is l ...

3–2. The same opponents were then invited back to

to play the inaugural game at the ''Carrer Muntaner''.

won this game 4–0 with two goals from

. Witty stepped down as president on 6 October 1905.

After Barcelona

In June 1924 Witty briefly became involved in controversy when he invited the British Royal Marine band that played ''

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, b ...

'' at ''Les Corts'', after their attempts to play the Spanish national anthem were jeered. As a result, Witty became disillusioned at the politicization of

club and, while remaining a fan, he gradually began to distance himself from the club. During the 1930s Witty and his son, Frederick Jr., established the family company as traders and helped introduce well known names such as Cadburys,

Johnnie Walker Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Sco ...

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...

and

Bovril Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick and salty meat extract paste similar to a yeast extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston. It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar, and as cubes and granules. Bovril is owned and distrib ...

into the Spanish market. Witty also served as President of the Barcelona Ship Agents Association until 1936 and was a leader in the

and Spanish shipping communities. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

the company was exempted from a takeover by a workers committee as it was technically a British-owned company and it continued to trade successfully. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Witty left Spain, leaving the business in hands of a lawyer. He returned during the

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ...

years and regained his status as a leading shipping agent. Together with his brother he also opened a successful sports shop.

Honours

* Copa de la Coronación **''Runner-up'' 1902 *

: 1 **1901–02 * Copa Barcelona: 1 **1902–03 * Campionat de Catalunya: 1 **1904–05

Sources

* ''Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football'' (2003), Phil Ball

* ''Barça: A People's Passion'' (1998), Jimmy Burns

External links

Arthur Witty at www.fcbarcelona.cat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witty, Arthur FC Barcelona players FC Barcelona presidents Footballers from Catalonia Spanish footballers English footballers Association football defenders People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby Spanish businesspeople Businesspeople from Catalonia English businesspeople 1878 births 1969 deaths English emigrants to Spain