Romà Solà

Romà Solà
Personal information
Full name Romà Solà Brunet
Birth name Romà Solà i Brunet
Date of birth (1886-11-27)27 November 1886
Place of birth Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Date of death 1 March 1927(1927-03-01) (aged 40)
Place of death Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1904–1905 Espanyol
1905–1912 FC Barcelona
1912–1913 Casual
International career
1909 Catalonia 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Romà Solà Brunet (27 November 1886 – 1 March 1927) was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Espanyol and FC Barcelona.[1][2][3]

Playing career

Club career

Born in Barcelona 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.[1]

Solà thus joined Espanyol's rival Barcelona in the following year, remaining there for seven years, from 1905 to 1912, playing a total of 35 official matches.[2] He was an integral piece in Barcelona's first great team in the early 1910s, which had the likes of the Wallace brothers (Charles and Percy), Paco Bru, Alfredo Massana, and Manuel Amechazurra, with whom he won a three-peat of Catalan championships between 1909 and 1911, along with back-to-back Pyrenees Cups in 1910 and 1911, and the Copa del Rey in 1910 (FEF), starting in the latter final, which ended in a 3–2 win over Español de Madrid.[2][4] He also started in the final of the 1910 Pyrenees Cup, which ended in a 2–1 win over Real Sociedad 2–1, thus contributing in the club's first piece of international silverware.[5][6]

In October 1911, Barça president Joan Gamper 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 in 1912.[7][8]

In March 1913, Casual participated in the most important tournament of its short history, the fourth edition of the Pyrenees Cup, with Tormo starting for Casual in the quarterfinals against Barça, which ended in a humiliating 0–7 loss.[6][9] 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 for the Catalan national team in a match against Equip Blanc (White Team) at the Camp de la Indústria, on the occasion of a benefit match for the injured people in the Second Melillan campaign, starting in a 2–6 loss.[10] On 9 February 1910, he started for Barça in a friendly against Catalonia at the Camp de la Indústria, helping his side to a 3–2 win.[11] –

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.[12] At the time of his death, he was the manager of Penya Rhin [ca], a Barcelona automobile and motorcycle club.[13]

Honours

FC Barcelona

References

  1. ^ a b "Romá SOLÁ Brunet". periquito.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "Romà Solà Brunet (1905-1911) Porter stats". players.fcbarcelona.com. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  3. ^ "Solà, Romà Solà Brunet - Footballer". www.bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  4. ^ "Spain - Cup 1910". RSSSF. 13 January 2000. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  5. ^ "1910 Pyrenees Cup". RSSSF. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Challenge Internacional del Sur de Francia 1910-1914" [International Challenge of the South of France 1910-1914]. www.cuadernosdefutbol.com (in Spanish). CIHEFE. 17 February 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  7. ^ "¿Cuánto paga el FC Barcelona?" [How much does FC Barcelona pay?] (PDF). hemeroteca-paginas.mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 9 May 2004. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  8. ^ "Casual - Español" [Casual - Spanish]. hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 4 January 1912. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  9. ^ "Barça partidos de 1912-13" [Barça matches of 1912-13]. www.webdelcule.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  10. ^ "Match a beneficio de los heridos de Melilla" [Match for the benefit of the wounded in Melilla]. hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 18 November 1909. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  11. ^ "El partido de ayer" [Yesterday's match]. hemeroteca.mundodeportivo.com (in Spanish). Mundo Deportivo. 10 February 1910. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Necrològiques" [Obituaries]. hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 1 March 1927. p. 25. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  13. ^ "Football". hemeroteca.lavanguardia.com (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 3 March 1927. p. 13. Retrieved 30 December 2024.