Real Club Victoria

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Institutions · Year: 1910

The Sporting Club Victoria, this was its original name, dates back to the early 20th century and was founded by Pepe Gonçalves and a group of friends around 1910, with him being both captain and coach of the football team. Although the date of its foundation, taken as definitive, has been the one previously mentioned, there are some chroniclers of the time who place it in 1907, when some young people from Puerto de La Luz played football in a team called Victoria and gathered in the entrance halls of its members.

Several locations have housed this Club, always in the La Isleta area, among which the following stand out: in 1910, on Pescadería Street, today López Socas; on La Naval Street, behind the Hermanos Millares Theatre, today Hotel Imperial Playa, in 1912; between 1922 and 1923 it was on Tenerife Street, corner of Sagasta; in 1927, it moved again to La Naval Street no. 2 corner with Las Canteras; in 1939, after the Spanish Civil War ended, the Club acquired for the first time its social headquarters on Juan Rejón Street (current no. 91) opposite Castillo de La Luz. In 1949, this property was sold and the plot where it is currently located was acquired, although it was provisionally installed at Marítimo (Sagasta Street), until the current premises were inaugurated on 28 December 1954.

The name Victoria is in honour of the English queen and its colours are due to the Newcastle football team, where Pepe Gonçalves studied as a boarder in his youth. In 1994, coinciding with the centenary of Pepe Gonçalves' birth, a twinning with the Newcastle football club took place.

On 5 February 1923, with Mr Claudio de la Torre as president, His Majesty King Alfonso XIII accepted the appointment as Honorary President of the Club and by Royal Decree it was granted the title of Royal as reflected in the crown that adorns the crest. Likewise, on 14 March 1973, the then Prince of Spain, Juan Carlos I, accepted the Honorary Presidency of this Royal Club.

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