Nice, extroverted, joker, good dancer and better soccer player. Francesc Betancourt, Ciscu to friends, has gone down in history for being the first black player to play in official matches with Barcelona. It has just been 25 years since his death, on March 28, 1998, and although he is especially remembered for what was then a distinctive physical feature, in reality those who knew him highlight his humanity and joy.
Betancourt was born on Carrer de Ausià s March in Barcelona on February 4, 1913, to a Cuban father and a Catalan mother, from L’Arboç. He began to hit the ball in the goal of the building, where his parents lived, and was soon expelled onto the street. “We could spend hours and hours and hardly a car passed by from time to time,†he recalled. “I learned to play with the strangest balls imaginable. When I finally had a ball at my feet, everything seemed easy to meâ€.
In his career as a footballer, another characteristic of the time, he played for countless modest teams: Fortpienc, Grà cia, Badalona, ​​Sabadell, Constancia, Girona, Martinenc, Molins de Rei, Tà rrega… and for Barça. Modest with respect, because, to cite a few cases, when Betancourt played for Badalona the escaped team was a brand new Second Division. And the same can be said of his passing through Sabadell.
During the civil war, Betancourt became deeply involved in the union of soccer professionals and became part of the board that promoted the organization of the Mediterranean League, a tournament played in the 1937 season that took over and continued, within of the circumstances, of the Spanish League.
Betancourt played for Barcelona between 1942 and 1944. A striker, a friend of flourishes and juggling, highly appreciated by the Les Corts crowd, quick and with a good shot, he explained years later: “I would have paid to play for Barcelona! We were a group of friends and although we were not all Catalan there, everyone spoke Catalan, even Bravoâ€, in reference to the boisterous Ceuta winger that he often had to replace. And he explained: “I loved dancing, I could spend the afternoon dancing non-stop and the next day go out and play like nothing happened.”
He arrived at Barça already a veteran, at the age of 29, as a substitute. “I was a tapaforats,” he said. But he is also an essential character in any wardrobe, an element of cohesion and a good atmosphere that he provided when it was his turn to go into action. He played 14 official matches (3 goals) and another 55 friendlies (29 goals!) As he was claimed by the fans of the Catalan regional fields where Barcelona used to thrive in those days. It was also a well of anecdotes, like the one he explained about traveling by train, when he realized that there were two girls who, seeing him, were undoubtedly whispering about the color of his skin. Betancourt approached and passing his hand over his forehead said: “And from before the war, it doesn’t fade!”
He started at Badalona in 1931 and returned in 1950, already at the age of 37, again in the Second Division, a very tough category with 32 teams in two groups and a large Catalan presence: Sabadell, Sant Andreu, Gimnà stic, Girona… The Second Division matches they filled the fields and were test laboratories for future figures. In that Badalona, ​​Betancourt coincided with Agustà Faura, later a brilliant defender for Espanyol, and with Jordi Vila, about to jump to Barça de les Cinco Copas.
Once retired, he combined his job occupation in textile factories with the direction of various teams from the Catalan lower categories. He got involved with the Barça Veterans Association, where he was once again an element of participation demanded everywhere. When the 100th game for the former players was held in 1960, Betancourt, who was 47 years old at the time and was Ripoll’s coach, had already played 50 games with the former Blaugrana players. “A soccer player is born an amateur and dies an amateur,” they told him, and he declared: “In the professional, the brain rules and in the amateur, the heart.”
