«Curiously, Espanyol, a historic member of the highest category of Spanish football and which has four Copa del Rey, was the rival of the first promotion promotion that Sporting competed in in its history»
Fate wanted to pair Sporting with Espanyol in the promotion phase of the 2023-24 season. Curiously, the Catalan team, a historic member of the highest category of Spanish football and which has four Copa del Rey titles, was the rival of the first promotion promotion that Sporting competed in in its history. It was in the 1942-43 season, and in that season the red and white team was ranked fourth in the promotion phase of the Second Division, after Sabadell, Real Sociedad and Valladolid, so the first two were automatically promoted and Pucelanos and Asturians were promoted against Granada and the Perico team, classified in eleventh and twelfth positions in the top category. It is true that, despite being a relatively successful season in sports, it had not been easy for the Gijón team. There was the dismissal of coach Martín Marculeta after a heavy defeat in San Sebastián by 6 to 1, there were problems with paying the salaries of the squad and the club was forced to resort to the creation of different commissions to try to solve the problems. permanent problems of the entity’s coffers. As if that were not enough, at the end of the season they had to resort to signing a goalkeeper, Guillamón, due to the injury of the starting goalkeeper, Leicea, who, yes, was recovered for the most important match in the history of the club. Gijón until that date.
That key meeting to settle the sporting future of the red and white team took place, in a single meeting, in Madrid on April 18, 1943. The formations of both teams were the following:
RCD Espanyol: Martorell, Casas, Mariscal, Torres, Fábregas, Llimos, Macala, Jorge, Juncosa, Olivas and Huguet.
Sporting (then officially Real Gijón): Leicea; Ceballos, Luis Sion, Tamayo, Calleja, Cervigón, Díaz, Paladini, Chipía, Bachiller and Liz.
The truth is that Sporting lost the match 2 to 1, but the feelings were positive in terms of sports. They had dominated the powerful Catalan squad for a good part of the match and bad luck had been decisive in the Asturian defeat. The team from Gijón suffered an injury to their goalkeeper, Leicea, when they had barely been played for twenty minutes and the blue and white team were winning 1-0, both the work of Huguet. Since in those times changes were not allowed, it was the defender from Gijón Tamayo who provisionally occupied the red and white frame and did so for almost twenty minutes, in which the Asturians played with ten. After Sporting conceded 2-0, thanks to Juncosa, Leicea limped back onto the field and Tamayo took up his original position. Sporting improved significantly with equal numbers, but Paladini’s Asturian goal was of little use. The match ended two to one and Sporting had to wait until the following season to certify their promotion to the Spanish First Division.
He did it, this time, as champion of the category.
