Carrer de la Llibertat, currently Carrer La Reina in El Cabañal.
Levante F.C. and Gimnástico F.C. form part part of the first story of Valencian football. From 1909 onwards it is possible to follow the trail of these two sporting institutions.
The Levante first team, with José Ballester in their ranks
In the first week of September 1909, a brief press release, published in some newspapers in the city of Valencia, confirmed the birth of Levante as a sports club linked to the practice of football. However, it can be traced to an earlier date given that, since December 1908, there is evidence of matches starring Levante F.C. José Ballester became the first president of this club associated with the universe of Maritime Towns.
Board of Youth Workers (Patronato de la Juventud Obrera)
In parallel, around the same dates, Gimnástico was formed, linked to the Board of Youth Workers. Amador Sanchis was its clear figurehead as the president. It seemed like a fantasy to become involved, at that time, with the prominence and the tremendous development and impact that this sport was going to achieve across the world. Over time, football stormed the borders of the five continents to become a widespread phenomenon with an extraordinary following, but the path was difficult. The epiphany of football in Valencia is connected to the experience of the 1909 Regional Exhibition. That summer the city enjoyed a competition in which local and national clubs were represented.
The games that were played in the 1909 Regional Championship
Football was introduced to society, although its practice could be traced back before that time. Perhaps the immense importance of Levante F.C. and Gimnástico released from the patronage of the Board of Youth Workers during the second decade of the recently started 20th century, was their firm commitment to the development of this sport and their cosmic role in the structure of football in the city through agencies that came into existence alongside its growth to guarantee its survival. On the La Placheta campus, in the facilities of the Board of Trustees located in the Tendetes neighbourhood in Campanar, in the Exhibition area, and later in the Campo de la Soledad, football caught on and began to gain followers.