Joan Gamper
Hans- Max " Joan " Gamper Haessig ( born November 22, 1877 in Winterthur, † 30 July 1930 in Barcelona) was a Swiss athlete, football official, co-founder of FC Zurich and founder of FC Barcelona.
Life
Gamper was one of five children in Winterthur to the world. After his mother died of tuberculosis, the family moved to the hometown of his father, Zurich. The difficult family situation brought Hans Gamper sports.
Gamper felt in any sport well. He won cycling competitions as well as race in athletics. He played rugby, tennis, golf and football. Soccer was the sport that particularly inspired him. Hans Gamper entered 1894 with FC Excelsior. Two years later he founded with the FC Zurich, where he played from 1896 to 1897 and the first captain of the club history was.
In October 1898, he moved, at the request of his uncle, Emili Gaissert, which in the Catalan capital was domiciled, to Barcelona. As an accountant he found work at Crédit Lyonnais, the Sarria Railway Company as chief accountant and as a sports columnist. He also worked for two Swiss newspapers and helped to publish the magazine Los Deportes. He was also active in the sugar and coffee trade. He joined the local Swiss Evangelical Church and began to play in the district of Sarria- Sant Gervasi with other Protestants from the community football.
After about a year he had the idea to start his own football club and was looking through a newspaper ad by interested parties. Exclusively Protestant - - Finally, the association of 36 members was established and the name of FC Barcelona selected. Hans Gamper also introduced the club colors of blue and red, but there is debate as to whether he ( in which he played himself ) the color of his hometown club FC Excelsior Zurich took over or has been inspired by the colors of FC Basel.
Hans Gamper became the first captain of FC Barcelona, for whom he scored in 51 games 1899-1903 120 goals. He was one of the best football players of his time and keeps at FC Barcelona until today the record for most goals in a game. DC in three games 1901-1903, he scored nine goals.
Since then Spanish Constitution allowed only Catholicism as the religion, many players had to leave the club, including Hans Gamper. Gamper felt connected also the Masons. Not until 1908 that he could return to FC Barcelona and was elected president. One of the reasons was probably the marriage with a strict Catholic Swiss.
Gamper took the chair at the Board of Directors. After 322 days as President, he resigned for professional reasons. Gamper reached the financial rescue of the club and initiated the construction of the first own stadium. But Gamper did not forget to fight for his goals even against the resistance of the authorities, and was due to the accused again and again.
On 14 June 1925, a friendly match in honor of the Catalan folk choir Orfeó Català organized. 14,000 spectators booed during the Spanish national anthem and applauded the British anthem. Gamper was expelled for supporting the " Catalanism " for three months in the country, the sports ground was closed for six months. In addition, Gamper any contact with FC Barcelona was banned, making him hard hit, because he looked at his life's work as destroyed.
As a result of the Great Depression in the 1930s Gamper lost his entire fortune. Suffering from depression, he shot himself on July 30, 1930 in his home in Carrer de Girona Ranked # 4 in Barcelona. Thousands followed the funeral procession.
Others
In honor of FC Barcelona Gamper organized every year a tournament for the Joan Gamper Trophy.