William Mauchan

William was introduced to football in the United Kingdom, and had the official title of referee issued by the Football Association, a title that allowed him to referee several football matches in the Catalan capital.^[2][3] William took part in some of the first football matches in the city in the winter of 1893–94 (at the time, cricket was traditionally played in the summer, and football in the winter), in clashes between the Scottish Colony of Sant Martí and the English Colony of Barcelona.^[2] In May 1895, William refereed football matches held at the Velódromo de la Bonanova on the occasion of the opening of the racing season on 12 May.^{[2] [a]}

At the start of 1900, William and his La Escocesa co-workers set up a football team to pass the time, calling it Escocès FC.^[4] His 17/8-year-old son Peter was also a founder of the team, but while he represented them on the pitch, William did it off the pitch as a referee. Team captain John Hamilton was also a referee, and he too oversaw at least one match of Escocès FC, although the nature of their relationship has not been confirmed. William acted as a line judge in the team's debut against FC Barcelona on 2 February 1900, and then he was the referee of their second ever match a week later, on 11 February, also against Barça.^[5] This game was filled with heavy and reckless tackles, causing some falls and collisions, which the referee Mauchan tried to solve quickly. However, some of the players came to extreme violence to the point that the game became impossible to manage with fairness and legality,^[6] and thus, by the end of the game, Mauchan had become the very first referee to show a red card in Spanish football after sending-off one player from each team, the Englishman Stanley Harris from FC Barcelona and the Scottish Willie Gold from Escocès/Català, thus becoming the very first referee to send-off a Barcelona player.^[3] Escocès FC's third match against Català FC on 25 February was refereed by Hamilton, and Escocès fielded two Mauchans, but William was too old at the time (aged 44), while Archibald was too young (aged only 15/6 at the time).^[3]

When Escocés FC folded in November 1900, Hispania AC ad FC Barcelona took advantage of its dissolution to incorporate several of its most prominent players, such as his son Peter, who was recruited by the latter, thus became the first-ever Scottish player to wear the Barça shirt alongside George Girvan and Alexander Black.^[4] He was the referee of the last match of the first edition of the Copa Macaya, which was one of the most important matches in the early history of Catalan football because it would decide the winner of the tournament between FC Barcelona and Hispania AC, with the latter only needing a draw to win it, and the result smiled at Hispania as they held Barça to a 1–1 draw, with Mauchan disallowing a second goal from Barcelona (scored by John Parsons) for offside, a decision that was heavily contested, with Barça claiming bias refereeing in favor of the organizers of the tournament.^[3][7]

His three youngest kids, John, David and William, founded CE Júpiter on 12 May 1909 at the Cebrian Brewery in Sant Martí.^[3] Once in the United Kingdom, William became a correspondent for Mundo Deportivo and promoter of tours of British teams in the Catalan territory. Scottish Motherwell FC and English Burnley FC played friendlies against FC Barcelona in 1927 and 1949, both promoted by William.^[3]