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Regional daily tweet sparks row between rival Spanish football fans

Rival Spanish football supporters argued over which of their clubs was their nation’s first following a tweet by a regional daily.

Fans of Sevilla FC and Recreativo Huelva debated their own teams’ respective claims on Twitter after the Leicester Mercury posted that the former was Spain’s oldest.

The Mercury had posted the information on its ‘Mercury LCFC’ account after Leicester City FC were drawn against Sevilla in the knockout stage of the Champions League last Monday.

However, the tweet prompted Recreativo’s official account on the social networking website to request a correction – putting forward its own claim to the title.

mercury-sevilla

Recreativo was founded as a physical recreation club in 1889 by two Scottish miners, but played its first football match against Sevilla the following year.

Sevilla supporters lay claim to the crown because their club, set up in 1890, was purely dedicated to football upon its foundation – with Recreativo only taking up the sport at their invitation.

Mercury sports reporter James Sharpe told HTFP: “We had referred to Sevilla as the oldest football club in Spain in one of our tweets and were surprised to see the official Recreativo Huelva account reply to us to put us right and ask for a clarification.

“Turns out that Sevilla, I think, are the oldest purely football club in Spain where Recreativo Huelva were a recreational club that played more than one sport but were formed a year earlier. These two teams played out the first official game in Spain in 1890.”

How the Mercury covered the draw on its back page

How the Mercury covered the draw on its back page

He added: “I was more than happy to post a correction and give them a shout out, and they seemed happy with it too, saying that Leicester City were a role model for other smaller clubs aspiring to great things.

“It did seem to spark some conversation between the rival fans though, I think there is a bit of niggle there. I don’t think it’s the first time people have overlooked them on this point.”