Julián Ruete | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 5th and 7th President of Atlético Madrid | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1912–1919 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Ramón de Cárdenas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Álvaro de Aguilar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1921–1923 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Álvaro de Aguilar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Juan Estefanía | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1887-01-29)29 January 1887 Madrid,Kingdom of Spain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 15 March 1939(1939-03-15) (aged 52) Barcelona, Spain | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Julián Ruete Muniesa (29 January 1887 – 15 March 1939)[1] was a player, referee, coach and football manager in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century. He was also a director of theRoyal Spanish Football Federation.
Some of his main achievements was getting the funds for the construction of a new ground forAthletic Madrid (now known asAtlético Madrid), theCampo de O'Donnell in 1913.[2]
He was born at the beginning of 1887 inMadrid, a city in which he would develop an extensive career linked to football. Between 1904 and 1910 he was a player, member and secretary of the Board of Directors of the Madrid Football Club (now known asReal Madrid).[3] His position wasmidfielder, but took no part in any of the club's four consecutiveCopa del Rey final wins between 1905 and 1908, instead serving ascaptain of the reserve team.[4] In 1910, he played for Athletic de Madrid.[5] He also played forAthletic Bilbao, featuring in one Copa del Rey match in1909 and another in1911.[6]
In 1912, he was elected President of Athletic de Madrid for the first time, a position he held initially until 1919. During his tenure he oversaw the move to a new ground, theCampo de O'Donnell in 1913.[2]
Two years after leaving the presidency, in 1921 he was elected again, remaining in office until 1923. In this second term, the club made very important advances such as the construction of a more advanced new stadium, theEstadio Metropolitano de Madrid, becoming independent from their original parent club Athletic Bilbao, and winning theCentro Championship for the first time in 1920-21, thus participating in the Copa del Rey for the first time, where they unexpectedly, but convincingly defeatedReal Unión in the semi-finals, but then lost thefinal to their 'cousins' from Bilbao.[7]
In addition to his relationship with Atlético Madrid, Ruete went much further in his relationship with the world of football. He was afootball referee, being among the 5 men who established the College of Referees of theCentral Regional Federation on 15 April 1914, which was the first College of Referees inSpain. Together with the likes ofManuel Prast andJosé Manuel Kindelán, Ruete was a member of the College's first constitution, serving as its first Secretary. However, he resigned from the position just a few weeks later, on 19 May, to become one of the first category referees.[8]
As a referee, he oversaw the first game of thePrince of Asturias Cup, an official inter-regionalfootball competition contested by theregional selections of Spain. The game was held at theCampo de O'Donnell on 10 May 1915, between the teams ofCentro (a Castile/Madrid XI) andCatalonia, ending in a 2-1 win to the Catalans.[9] He also refereed the final of the1917 Prince of Asturias Cup between Madrid and Catalonia, this time ending in a controversial win to Madrid, because in the 70th minute, with the score already at 2-0, the Catalan side had a goal disallowed in the 70th minute for having scored directly from acorner kick, a circumstance not allowed at the time, and this event led Ruete to send off a visiting player due to the protests, to which the Catalan team left the match in protest.[10][11]
He also worked as a coach, training Atlético and Nacional and acting as technical secretary ofClub Deportivo Castellón.
Between 1921 and 1922 he was the manager of theSpain national football team, leading the nation in four games that ended with victory.
He died inBarcelona in March 1939.