Campeonato de Guipuzcoa Champions 1918-19 to 1939-40

Season	Champions	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
1918-19	Real Sociedad	11	8	1	2	26	16	19 *
1919-20	Real Union	4	3	1	0	13	2	7 **
1920-21	Real Union	12	10	2	0	51	6	22
1921-22	Real Union	4	2	1	1	5	4	5
1922-23	Real Sociedad	4	1	2	1	4	3	4 ***
1923-24	Real Union	6	5	1	0	19	4	11
1924-25	Real Sociedad	16	13	2	1	52	10	28
1925-26	Real Union de Irun	16	13	0	3	74	21	26
1926-27	Real Sociedad	10	8	1	1	33	9	17
1927-28	Real Union de Irun	10	5	3	2	27	16	13 ****
1928-29	Real Sociedad	8	7	0	1	34	15	14
1929-30	Real Union de Irun	10	8	1	1	36	9	17
1930-31	Real Union de Irun	10	7	1	2	35	14	15
1931-34	see Note 5
1934-36	see Note 6
1936-37	No Football in Spain
1937-38	see Note 7
1938-39	Real Sociedad	10	9	0	1	47	4	18
1939-40	Zaragoza	10	9	0	1	42	11	18

Note: * One match unplayed and awarded to Real Sociedad.

Note 2: ** Eibar disqualified for not showing up at Real Union. Results expunged from record.

Note 3: *** Real Sociedad and Real Union finished level on 4 Points each – Real Sociedad won Title Playoff 2-1.

Note 4: **** Teams divided into two Groups with top two in each group qualifying for Semi-Finals. Real Union de Irun, Real Sociedad and Osasuna all finished level in Group A on 4 Points each and played a Mini-League Playoff of two games each through which Real Sociedad and Real Union de Irun qualified for Semi-Finals on 3 Points each. Real Union de Irun defeated Esperanza in Semi-Finals 5-1 and 7-1 and then drew both matches with Real Sociedad in the Final 4-4 and 2-2, thus another playoff match with Real Sociedad was necessary which Real Union de Irun won 2-1.

Note 5: No Campeonato de Guipuzcoa from 1931-32 to 1933-34 with teams playing in the Campeonato Mancomunado Guipuzcoa-Navarra-La Rioja-Aragon.

Note 6: No Campeonato de Guipuzcoa from 1934-35 to 1935-36 with teams playing in the Copa Vasco (Basque Cup)

Note 7: No Campeonato de Guipuzcoa during 1937-38 with teams playing in the Torneo Brigadas de Navarra.

Report

The Era 1913 to 1940 was one in which the top Basque Soccer Clubs: Athletic Club de Bilbao, Real Socieded and Osasuna all played in the Regional Leagues. While interrupted by the Spanish Civil War between 1931-32 to 1937-38, the most successful club in the Basque Region of Guipuzcoa Championship during this era was Real Union de Irun (previously Real Union) which won 8 Guipuzcoa titles. Real Sociedad were the second best with 6 titles to their name. The only other winner of the Campeonato Guipuzcoa was non-Basque team Zaragoza who played in the league that year. [Reference: 2]

The Basque Country in Northern Iberia (Spain) and South West France has a proven genetic link with The Welsh and Irish Celts, with geneticists proving a strong genetic link between the three races/peoples going back to the Neolithic, before farming was introduced from the Near East [References: 3]. The three languages are among the oldest in Europe, with Basque pre-dating Indo-European languages thought to have arrived in Europe with farming, and Celtic languages showing a strong link with North African branch of Afro-Asiatic languages as well as Indo-European languages, uniquely in Europe. [References: 4-5] Athletic Bilbao celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in 2018 by lighting up the famous San Mames stadium in Green on the Eve of the Day itself [Reference: 6]

References / Further Reading

Bibliography

[2] Luis Javier Bravo Mayor & Jose Vicente Olmos Mico (2017) “Campeonatos Regionales Vascos 1913-1940” CIHEFE (Centro de Investigaciones de Historia y Estadistica del Futbol Espanyol). Mantuano, Madrid. Available to buy online at: https://www.soccer-books.co.uk/acatalog/CIHEFE-Spanish-League-Histories-p1.html .

Websites

[3] BBC Wales (2001) Genes link Celts to Basques [Internet] Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/1256894.stm [Accessed 24 May 2021]

[4] Encyclopaedia Brittannica (2021) Basque Language [Internet] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Basque-language [Accessed 24 May 2021]

[5] Encyclopaedia Brittannica (2021) Celtic Languages [Internet] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Celtic-languages [Accessed 24 May 2021]

[6] Athletic Bilbao (2018) St. Patrick’s Day [Internet] Available from: https://www.athletic-club.eus/en/news/2018/03/15/saint-patricks-day/ [Accessed 24 May 2021]

Images

[6] Fruugo.ie (2021) 100068720_max Sticker Sticker Adhesif Car Vinyl Flag Card Basque Country Euskadi [Internet] Available from: https://img.fruugo.com/product/0/72/100068720_max.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2021]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dervla Kincaid (nee Mulcahy).

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 24 May 2021

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2021

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.