Ernest Witty Cotton was an Anglo-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 ...

, tennis player and businessman. In 1899 Witty, a Spanish national tennis champion, 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 ...

and in the early 1900s he played football 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 ...

. He was also a successful trader and his family company, the Witty Group, continues to operate today. He is the younger brother of

Arthur Witty Arthur Whitty Cotton, also known as Don Arturo, was a footballer, club president and businessman. Whitty played for FC Barcelona in the first Copa del Rey final and later served as club president between 1903 and 1905. He was also a successful ...

Early years

Witty was the son of Frederick Witty, a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

entrepreneur, who settled in Barcelona. 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. Ernest and his brother Arthur 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 ...

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral ...

, where sport was regarded as a major part of a young man's development. On their return to Barcelona the two brothers joined their father's company which now became known as Witty Sociedad Anonima, Witty S.A.

FC Barcelona

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

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 ...

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

. Ernest played

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

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 FC Barcelona 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 Swiss clubs that Gamper played for and his home canton of Zurich have all been credited and/or claimed to be the inspiration. In 1905 Witty, together with

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 ...

, also helped FC Barcelona win its first

Catalan football championship The Catalan football championship ''(Campionat de Catalunya)'' was a football competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain before La Liga was established in 1929. In December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, ...

Honours

Footballer

FC Barcelona * Catalan Champions: 1904–05

Sources

*''Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football'' (2003), Phil Ball. * ''Barça: A People's Passion'' (1998), Jimmy Burns.

External links

Ernest Witty at the Witty Group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witty, Ernest Year of birth missing Year of death missing Businesspeople from Catalonia Footballers from Catalonia English businesspeople English footballers FC Barcelona players People educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby Spanish businesspeople Spanish footballers Spanish male tennis players Spanish people of English descent Association footballers not categorized by position