Gaspar Rubio Meliá (14 December 1907 – 3 January 1983) was a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

forward and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Club career

Born in

Serra, Valencia Serra () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Camp de Túria in the Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous commu ...

, Rubio amassed

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 61 games and 37 goals over the course of five seasons, representing in the competition

Real Madrid 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 ...

(1928–30),

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

( 1934–35),

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

( 1940–41) and

Recreativo Granada Club Recreativo Granada is a Spanish football team based in Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1947, it is the reserve team of Granada CF and currently plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Miguel Prieto'', with a ...

( 1942–43). With the first club, he netted 72 times in 75 competitive appearances. In 1930–31, he also played briefly in Cuba with Juventud Asturiana and in Mexico with

Real Club España Real Club España, A.C., simply known as Real España or Club España, is a Mexican sports club based in Mexico City. The club hosted a large variety of sports and other activities such as aerobics, basque pelota, cue sports, billiards, canoein ...

. Nicknamed ''El rey del astrágalo'' (King of the

astragalus Astragalus may refer to: * ''Astragalus'' (plant), a large genus of herbs and small shrubs *Astragalus (bone) The talus (; Latin for ankle or ankle bone; : tali), talus bone, astragalus (), or ankle bone is one of the group of foot bones known ...

) due to the many ailments he had in that foot bone, Rubio subsequently worked as a manager with several teams – including as

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

– but never in the top flight. In 1957 he moved to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

where he would settle after his retirement from football, coaching

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a Mexican professional football club based in Mexico City, that competes in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football. Founded in 1916 as Sinaloa, also later named as Lusitania, then as U-53 ...

and Deportivo Toluca FC.

International career

Rubio gained four

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for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in less than one year, scoring nine goals. Seven of those came in his first two appearances, with a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

(5–0) and four against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(8–1), thus becoming the first Spanish footballer to score two international hat-tricks. His record remained untouched for more than 60 years, until Emilio Butragueño netted his second international hat-trick on 19 December 1990 against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, and remained unbroken for more than 80 years, until both

Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He is the curr ...

and

David Villa David Villa Sánchez (; born 3 December 1981) is a Spanish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Villa is th ...

scored their third hat-trick for Spain on 20 June 2013 against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

in a 10-0 win. Rubio also played a major role in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

's first ever loss outside the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

, netting twice in a 4–3 triumph in

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 ...

on 15 May 1929.

Death

Rubio died in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

on 3 January 1983, at the age of 75.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubio, Gaspar 1907 births 1983 deaths People from Camp de Túria Footballers from the Province of Valencia Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Levante UD footballers Real Madrid CF players Atlético Madrid footballers Valencia CF players Real Murcia CF players Granada CF footballers Real Balompédica Linense footballers UD Melilla footballers Real Club España footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cuba Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Granada CF managers Levante UD managers UD Melilla managers Hércules CF managers CD Atlético Baleares managers Orihuela Deportiva CF managers UE Lleida managers Atlante F.C. managers Expatriate football managers in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cuba 20th-century Spanish sportsmen