José Ramón Lomba de la Pedraja

José Ramón Macario Lomba de la Pedraja (29 February 1868 – 4 January 1951) was a Spanish professor, researcher, and critic. He is best known for his brief football career at the turn of the century, playing as a goalkeeper and defender for Catalá FC and FC Barcelona in 1899 and 1900, most notably in the latter's very first match.

Professionally, he was a professor at several universities, a writer, and a literary critic.

Early life and education José Lomba was born on 29 February 1868 in Santander, as the child of José Ramón Lomba de los Cuetos (1830–1891) and Amanda de la Pedraja Cuesta (1840–1928). He was the oldest of seven siblings, the others being Ignacio (1869–?), María Luisa (1870–1900), José Antonio (1873–1877), Fermín (1877–1946), Luis Felipe (1881–1971), and Clemente (1885–1968).

Football career FC Barcelona Lomba moved to Barcelona in the late 19th century, to continue his studies. He began to practice football, a sport relatively unknown at the time, at the Velódromo de la Bonanova with some friends and his brother, Fermín. At some point in late 1899, the Lomba brothers joined the ranks of Català FC, which had just become the first football team formed in Catalonia in October. They might even have belonged to the group of football enthusiasts led by Jaime Vila that formed the club in a meeting held at the Gimnasio Tolosa, although this assumption remains unconfirmed. Català was soon followed by Joan Gamper's FC Barcelona, which proved to be a failure as it only brought together ten players for its debut against Team Anglès on 8 December 1899, including the 31-year-old José Lomba of Català, who thus played in Barça's very first match, which ended in a 0–1 loss. In this match, Lomba assisted Gamper's second goal with "a superb pass" to help his side to a 2–1 victory. This scenario was repeated on 6 January 1900, but this time they lost 0–3. While his brother Fermín went on to play many more matches with the likes of Hispania AC, José apparently retired around the summer of 1900, since he was not mentioned in a match chronicle ever again.

Academic career After a competitive examination, Lomba obtained the chair of Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Murcia in 1920, being its first holder.

Personal life During his teaching years in Oviedo, Lomba lived at the "Covadonga" hotel. He liked to take long walks and kept a compass to know how many steps he had taken during the day. He also liked to sunbathe, wearing shorts. A servant went ahead, ringing a small bell and saying: "Mr. Lomba passes naked, Mr. Lomba passes naked," to warn the villagers.

Death Lomba died on 4 January 1951, at the age of 82 years.

Works

El P. Arolas su vida y sus versos. Estudio crítico (1898) El rey don Pedro en el Teatro (1899) Vida y Arte. Esbozo de Psicología literaria (1902) Obras en prosa y verso de D. José Somoza, con notas apéndices y un estudio preliminar (1904). Enrique Gil y Carrasco, su vida y su obra literaria (1915) Mariano José de Larra (Fígaro) como escritor político (1918) Mariano José de Larra (Fígaro), como crítico literario (1920) Artículos de costumbres de Mariano José de Larra (1923) Artículos de crítica literaria y artística (1923) Teatro anterior a Lope de Vega. Selección (1924) Teatro Romántico (1926) Venganza catalana y Juan Lorenzo de Antonio García Gutiérrez (1925) Artículos políticos y sociales (1927) Poesías de Padre Arolas (1928) Mariano José de Larra (Fígaro). Cuatro estudios que le abordan o le bordean (1936)