‘Striking the Mighty Anvil Known as “Propaganda”’: Journalism and the Institutionalization of Sport in Spain, 1890–1920

Abstract

Sports journalism played a crucial role in the early institutionalization process of sport in Spain (late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries), prompting the creation of regional and, ultimately, national federations gathering clubs in each discipline with the aim of regulating, organizing and promoting these. This is particularly the case of the more relevant disciplines of the time: cycling, gymnastics, association football and athletics. In all four cases, governing bodies emerged later than in neighbouring, more developed countries like France, Italy and Britain/England, and the sporting press played a central role in promoting, organizing, and sustaining the corresponding regional and national federations. Although various journalists, editors and publishers played a crucial role in this endeavour, one individual stands out: Narciso Masferrer Sala. Masferrer was the cornerstone of sports journalism and institutionalization in Spain from the last decade of the nineteenth century until his death in 1941. Although not involved in the initial creation of the Unión Velocipédica Española, he took its reins in 1899 and steered the organization through the turbulent 1900–1913 period; he led almost single-handedly the founding of the Federación Gimnástica Española in 1898; he launched a successful campaign to set up the Federación Española de Clubs de Football in 1909 and sustained the entity through the stormy 1910–1913 years; and in 1915 he led the campaign to create the Federación Atlética Catalana, forerunner of the Federación Atlética Española, established a few years later.