Romà Solà Brunet (27 November 1886 – 1 March 1927) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

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 ...

and

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 c ...

on 27 November 1886, Solà began his football career at his hometown club Espanyol in 1904, the season in which the club's goal was defended by 4 different goalkeepers without any of them showing superiority over the others, and likewise, Solà only played a single Catalan championship match for the club. Solà joined Espanyol's rival Barcelona the following year, remaining there for seven years, from 1905 to 1912, playing a total of 35 official matches. He was an integral piece in Barcelona's first great team in the early 1910s, which had the likes of the Wallace brothers (

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

and Percy), Paco Bru,

Alfredo Massana Alfred Massana i Urgellés, also known as Alfredo Massana Urgellés (27 July 1891 – 24 March 1924), was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for Espanyol and FC Barcelona. He had a great placement and vision of the game. Known as a ...

, and Manuel Amechazurra, with whom he won a three-peat of Catalan championships between 1909 and 1911, along with back-to-back

Pyrenees Cup The Pyrenees Cup (), officially Challenge International du Sud de la France, was an international football competition contested by Spanish and French clubs based in the territories of Pyrénées (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Languedoc, Midi-Py ...

s in 1910 and 1911, and 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 ...

in 1910 (FEF), starting in the latter final, which ended in a 3–2 win over Español de Madrid. He also started in the final of the 1910 Pyrenees Cup, which ended in a 2–1 win over

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

2–1, thus contributing in the club's first piece of international silverware. In October 1911, Barça president

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 Barcelona and Zürich. ...

expelled several "rebel" players from the club following a controversy with brown amateurism, and this group of dissident players from Barça, which was made up of the likes of Solà, Bru, José Quirante, the Wallace brothers, and the Comamala brothers ( Carles and Arsenio), decided to found

Casual SC The Casual Sport Club, commonly referred to as Casual SC, was a football team based in Barcelona, Spain, which existed from December 1911 until its dissolution in June 1913. It was founded in late 1911 by a group of dissident players from FC Bar ...

in 1912. In March 1913, Casual participated in the most important tournament of its short history, the fourth edition of the

, with Tormo starting for Casual in the quarterfinals against Barça, which ended in a humiliating 7–0 loss. When the club disappeared in June 1913, some of its players joined RCD Espanyol, but Solà retired.

International career

On 18 November 1909, Solà earned his first (and only)

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for the Catalan national team in a match against ''Equip Blanc'' (White Team) at the

Camp de la Indústria Camp de la Indústria () or Campo de la calle Indústria was a multi-use stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It was initially used as the home venue of FC Barcelona, until the team moved to Camp de Les Corts in 1922. The capacity of the stadium was 6,000 ...

, on the occasion of a benefit match for the injured people in the

Second Melillan campaign The Second Melillan campaign ( ) was a conflict in 1909 in northern Morocco around Melilla. The fighting involved local Riffians and the Spanish Army. Historical background The Treaty of Peace with Morocco that followed the 1859–60 ...

, starting in a 6–2 loss. On 9 February 1910, he started for Barça in a friendly against Catalonia at the

, helping his side to a 3–2 win.

Death

Solà died in Barcelona on 1 March 1927, at the age of 40, and his obituary mentioned the grieving siblings, Aurelia, Amparo, Miguel and Julio, sister-in-law Dolores Meya. At the time of his death, he was the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

of , a Barcelona automobile and motorcycle club.

Honours

FC Barcelona * Catalan championship: 1909–10, 1910–11, 1911–12 *

: 1910, 1911 *

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sola, Roma 1886 births 1927 deaths Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers RCD Espanyol footballers FC Barcelona players 20th-century Spanish sportsmen