Ignacio María Agirrezabala Ibarbia, nicknamed Chirri II (10 May 1909 – 11 September 1979) was a 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. He played four times 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 ...

Career

At club level, he played for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

for eight seasons, coinciding with the introduction of

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 ...

in 1929; he won three national titles ( 1929–30, 1930–31, 1933–34), three consecutive Copas del Rey (

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

, also contributing to a fourth in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

although he did not take part in the final) and several editions of the regional Biscay Championship, all before he elected to withdraw from playing at the age of 26. Chirri II was an integral part of what became known as the 'first historic front line' of Athletic Bilbao, combining with José Iraragorri, Bata, Guillermo Gorostiza and Lafuente (as well as Víctor Unamuno). He has been characterised as a playmaker whose focus was on the creative and technical aspects of the game, in contrast to most forwards of the era who relied mainly on physical power to overcome opponents. He is said to have initiated the practice of destroying the bowler hat worn by the coach

Fred Pentland Frederick Beaconsfield Pentland (29 July 1883 – 16 March 1962) was an English football player and coach. Pentland played club football in the Football League for Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough, in the Southern Football League f ...

after victories, which became a regular ritual for the successful team. When the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

broke out in 1936, Agirrezabala joined the

Basque Country national football team The Basque Country national football team () represents the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country in association football, football. It selects players from the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country autonomous community ...

which toured Europe and Latin America in exile, remaining in Argentina when the rest of the squad moved on to Mexico where they founded a club team, CD Euzkadi. He worked in an engineering and construction firm before deciding to return to Bilbao with his family after eight years, where he became a director of a company in the same industry. His elder brother Marcelino, known as ''Chirri I'', also played for Athletic Bilbao and Spain; the siblings both played in one friendly match but never took the field together in a competitive fixture.

References

External links

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Chirri II
at '' SE Fútbol'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Agirrezabala, Ignacio 1909 births 1979 deaths Spanish men's footballers Spain men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Bilbao Spanish expatriates in Argentina Athletic Bilbao footballers La Liga players Basque Country men's international footballers 20th-century Spanish businesspeople Businesspeople from the Basque Country (autonomous community) 20th-century Spanish sportsmen