), was an Anglo-Spanish footballer, tennis player and businessman. In 1899 Witty, a Spanish national tennis champion, became a founding member of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona

Real Club de Tenis Barcelona

The Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899 is a private tennis club in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The facility has 18 clay courts, including a stadium court with a capacity of 7,200 and show court for 2,000 spectators. Since moving to its current location in the northwest of the city in 1953, the...

 and in the early 1900s he played for FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona

Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....

. He was also a successful trader and his family company, the Witty Group, continues to operate today. He is the younger brother of Arthur Witty

Arthur Witty

Arthur Witty Cotton , also known as Don Arturo, was an Anglo/Catalan footballer, club president and businessman. Witty played for FC Barcelona in the first Copa del Rey final and later served as club president between 1903 and 1905. He was also a successful trader and his family company, the Witty...

.

Early years

Witty was the son of Frederick Witty, a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 entrepreneur, who settled in Barcelona. Frederick, who belonged to a Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

 family, initially intended to emigrate to Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 but was persuaded to go to Spain by friends. In 1873 he founded his own shipping agency under the name of F. Witty, subsequently establishing business links between Spain and the United Kingdom. Ernest and his brother Arthur were educated at Merchant Taylors' School

Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby

Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby is a British independent school for day pupils, located in Great Crosby on Merseyside....

 in Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, where sport was regarded as a major part of a young man’s development. On their return to Barcelona the two brothers joined their father’s company which now became known as Witty Sociedad Anonima, Witty S.A.

FC Barcelona

Ernest and Arthur and returned to Spain with a love of sports. Unable to play rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 due to a lack of suitable pitches, the Wittys began to organise clubs1 =

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 games between company teams made up of employees. In 1899 Ernest also became a founding member of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona

Real Club de Tenis Barcelona

The Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899 is a private tennis club in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The facility has 18 clay courts, including a stadium court with a capacity of 7,200 and show court for 2,000 spectators. Since moving to its current location in the northwest of the city in 1953, the...

. Ernest played tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 with, among others, Joan Gamper

Joan Gamper

Joan Gamper previously known as Hans Kamper was a Swiss football pioneer, player and club president. He founded football clubs in Switzerland and Catalonia , most notably FC Basel, FC Zurich and FC Barcelona....

 and when Gamper founded FC Barcelona in October 1899, the Witty brothers quickly became involved. They used their company to imports regulation balls, referees whistles and nets from England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Legend also has it that the Witty brothers also imported the legendary club colours, the blaugrana, from the original colours used by Merchant Taylors' rugby team. However FC Basel

FC Basel

Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel is a Swiss football club based in Basel. They are one of the most successful clubs in Swiss football, having won the Swiss Super League 14 times, the third most for any Swiss club. They were most successful in the late 1960s and 1970s, winning the...

 and other Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 clubs that Gamper played for and his home canton of Zurich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

 and have all been credited and/or claimed to be the inspiration. In 1905 Witty, together with Romà Forns

Romà Forns

Romà Forns was a former Spanish/Catalan footballer and manager. He made his debut as a footballer in late 1902 playing one season for Irish FC but spent the rest of his career with FC Barcelona and the Catalan XI, always as a forward. He later served on the FC Barcelona board of directors and then...

, also helped FC Barcelona win it’s first Championat de Catalunya.

Honours

Footballer

FC Barcelona

• Catalan Champions: 1
  • 1904-05

Sources

• Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football (2003), Phil Ball.
• Barça: A People’s Passion (1998), Jimmy Burns.

External links

• Ernest Witty at the Witty Group