The little guy who changed the course of the first League and ended up in prison

On May 9, 1929, Thursday, the first Real Madrid-Barcelona at the white house in the League. It was the eleventh matchday and the game should have been played on the weekend, but it was postponed because several Real Madrid players had a match with the military team in Lisbon. The white team had been the leader since the first, when they beat the Europa. On their visit to Barcelona they won 1-2, but in the return they showed up after losing 5-2 the previous week in Barcelona, ​​against Europa.

That afternoon, the Madrid They were going to fall 0-1, hand over the top spot in the League to Arenas and Barcelona would get into the fight for a title, the first in league history, which would end up in their possession. Josep Tailor and Perciba changed it.

Born in Barcelona (1906-1962), from the neighborhood of Graciahis first steps were in the streets of his neighborhood, in the FC Spain. Barcelona took note of a player who, at just 165 centimeters, was a whirlwind of energy. On May 16, 1925 he wore Barcelona for the first time. It was just an accidental reinforcement for the two games that in a few hours Barcelona was going to win at Birmingham: 1-0 and 2-0, with his goal to close the second.

On June 29, 1926, in the house of the terrace (1-2), Sastre dressed in blue again. The rumor of the signing became reality. And the official debut with his new team came on October 10, at the start of the XXIV Catalan Championship: 2-3 for Barcelona in the visit to Espanyol’s field.

Thus began six seasons of Tailor in the Barça club, with which he was going to be champion of Catalonia four times, one of the Cup (1928, when it took three games for Barcelona to be proclaimed champion against Real Sociedad, the last with a 3-1 that Sastre closed ) and the first league in history.

The goal that turned the course of the first league championship was scored by Tailor to an empty goal after an action in which the Madrid goalkeeper, Cobo, had been left on the ground when fighting for an aerial ball with Arocha. The match ended with that 0-1 and formal protest from the Madrid because the referee refused to add the five minutes that the game was stopped due to an invasion of the playing field.

Bad start and France

In 1932, after six years at Barcelona, ​​Sastre left the club. And not in a friendly way. He was very angry when he found out that he was a bargaining chip in the operation with Santboià to sign Esteve Cifuentes, the player who in October 1938 would die in Nimes at the age of 26 due to a heart attack after playing a match.

Angry, Sastre broke up with Barcelona and went to Espanyolwhere he only played a couple of games. He returned to the Barcelona side of Barcelona and in the winter of 1933 he had to undergo surgery for a serious stomach problem. Recovered, for just over 1,000 pesetas, the Granollers. But his form was nothing like the energetic player of years ago. Your next stop, France.

And there he seemed to be reborn, in the ranks of the Club Français. Nicknamed The little SpaniardSastre formed the forward line with another former Barcelona player, Parera II, to the enthusiasm of the French fans. Although that adventure only lasted a few months. Sastre had married a famous dressmaker from Barcelona, Carmen Sala. The couple’s idea was to settle in Paris and both develop their activities there. “On the plaque, instead of Carmen Sala, couturier, I will put Spanish dressmaker, because foreigners wear a lot everywhere,” he said. Carmen.

War and 12-year sentence

But life did not take them along those paths. Badalona and Terrassa were his last teams with their boots on. The Civil War arrived and the name of José Sastre Perciba appears in the conviction files of the Territorial Military Court 3 and the Punishment Battalions. He was arrested shortly after he put down his weapons, at the age of 33. He received a sentence of 12 years and one day of temporary confinement reduced to six and one day of major prison. The accusation was of having had links with the secret police of the Generalitat. That penalty was reduced by half.

Having regained his freedom, he returned to his passionfootball. Now from the bench, to be coach of Sans, Lleida, Olot, Figueres, Amposta and Girona. Tailor He did not miss the football of his time. “Now, no matter what they say, there are players as good as before. “In football everything is invented,” he said in an interview with MARK he August 23, 1950. In that talk he remembered his income: 600 pesetas, then 800 and bonuses of 50 for winning at home and 100 for away games. And he lamented one thing: “I don’t know what a tribute or a benefit in my favor is, because I played so many others that I lost count.”

He died on June 2, 1962, at the age of 55.