Josep Sunyol

[Barcaman]

Time to tell the story of Josep Sunyol. FC Barcelona president back in 1935-36

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Sunyol became a board member in 1928 and reports from that time describe him as a great person, respected by his peers and of a great personality.
During the Spanish Republic, Sunyol led the left wing political group "Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya" (Republican Left of Catalonia).
But he was also noted in sports as proprietor of the magazine "La Rambla".

In July of 1935 Sunyol became the president of FC Barcelona.
It is said that the members choose him as they believed he was the man to sort clubs finances.
That season Barca won the Catalan championship and made it to the Spanish Cup final.

Sadly, Sunyol’s rising star and potentially stellar career was ended tragically on 6th of August, 1936. As a part of his political activism, Sunyol was in a visit to Republican troops near Madrid. Not knowing he entered Franco`s territory he was surprised by his troops and arrested.
There was no trial for him and his comrades. All were executed.

This is one of the saddest episodes of FC Barcelona history and no Barca fan should forget about his story.

 

[FCBNOF]

Thx for sharing his story, quite sad really.

Still, he's not yet forgotten

 

[Evil]

Thanx for posting this Bojan, alot of people did'nt know the full story of Sunyol including myself. Very tragic indeed, Oh well, this is just 1 more reason to add to the million of why I hate Real Madrid and Franco ...

 

[Esteve]

I read about Sunyol & his untimely death a few years ago. Very dark period in our club's history

 

[Corb]

Today, 76 years ago, he was shot and executed by Francoist fascist troops.

 

[mitkoa7x]

RIP Sunyol, you died a free man.

 

[Galning]

RIP Sunyol, forever a big part in Barça's history.

 

[Corb]

 

[frog-fcb]

78 years rip josep

 

[CatalinR10]

rip

 

[DonAK]

RIP

 

[Flavia]

[tw]597067435955625984[/tw]

Nice.

 

[Antimadridista1]

Great political move from Bartomeu. He's done everything right since Zubizarreta's departure.
Supporting the team, calling the training center "Tito Vilanova" and shutting his mouth as much as possible so the media can focus on the team.

 

[El Flaco]

Yesterday, 80 years ago, Josep Sunyol was murdered by francoist national troops.

Rest in peace, President. Descansa en pau, President.

Found an interesting post in regard of this topic.

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Josep Sunyol i Garriga, (1935-1936)

Death of a President: The tragic story of Josep Sunyol

(...)

Sunyol became interested in football ten years prior to his election and murder (1925), when FCB prior stadium to Camp Nou, Les Corts, was forced by Primo de Rivera's dictatorship[SUP]1[/SUP] to close for a 6 month period (that ended up being 3) after, quoting wikipedia:"FC Barcelona fans jeered the Spanish national anthem and then applauded God Save the King, performed by a visiting British Royal Marine band". The club founder, Hans 'Joan' Gamper, was forced then exile after the incident for being accused of promoting Catalan nationalism (he would commit suicide 4 years later in Barcelona, where he returned under strict conditions and due to a depression worsened by economical problems due to 1929's recession). After the Les Corts incident, actual catalan nationalists like Sunyol got interested in sports and particularly football as a medium to promote ideas that were being repressed by the ruling authoritarism. He founded the sports newspaper La Rambla, which was meant to promote catalanism through sports.

([SUP]1[/SUP] Spain had a militar dictatorship prior to the Franco one, between 1923-1930.)

The actual FCB directive designated last year "Sunyol's year", commemorating 80 years from his election and his following short mandate of 1 year as FCB president until his murder. They meant to recover the knowledge about what his forgotten figure meant, and they even promoted an ok documentary film about his short life that lead tv audiences in Catalonia when aired a few months ago — unfortunately, the doc is only in catalan and lacks of subtitles.

A few excerpts from this piece about his life and career:

A proud left-winger despite being a millionaire from a bourgeois family, growing up in the shadow of the 1920s Primo de Rivera dictatorship radicalised him, and there are several indications that his thinking was significantly ahead of its time.

One of his most notable acts at Barça was pushing for Anna Maria Martinez Sagi to be named as the club’s first ever female director, back in 1934.

A sign of how Sunyol’s legacy has been forgotten, many won’t realise it. When Barcelona win a trophy, their fans traditionally celebrate at the Canaletes fountain near Plaça Catalunya. The reason? It was once the location of the newspaper’s offices. In the days before widespread telephone or radio use, supporters used to gather outside the telegraph-equipped building in anticipation of journalists shouting away scores down to the masses below.

Between 1939 and 1962, Barça were prohibited from mentioning his name in any official documentation. The regime’s disdain for him is no surprise considering his endeavours outside of FC Barcelona: on three occasions between 1931 and 1936 he was an elected member of Spain’s congress, as part of the left-wing ERC party.

To this day, as it is with more than a hundred thousand of republican soldiers[SUP]2[/SUP], Sunyol's remains haven't been found —nor authorised to be searched— and supposedly lie somewhere in the Sierra de Guadarrama, where he was murdered along La Rambla journalist Pere Ventura i Virgili, their driver and a republican lieutenant.

([SUP]2[/SUP] Spain is the 2nd country in the world with most unopened mass graves, with between 100.000 and 150.000 unfound bodies and more than 2.000 mass graves to be exhumed yet — source1 — source2)

In his last published article in July, 1936, Sunyol reaffirmed his faith in social democracy and freedom principles. His figure wouldn't be recovered from the dictatorship forced oblivion until the late 90s.