Editing Recreativo de Huelva (section)

===Background===
Huelva was introduced to football by the British employees of the [[Rio Tinto Company Limited]] (RTCL), who began to arrive in 1873 to work at the copper mines of [[Rio Tinto (river)|Rio Tinto]].<ref name=Cradle>{{Cite web |url=http://lafutbolteca.com/tag/escocia-cuna-del-futbol-espanol/ |title=Escocia, cuna del futbol español |trans-title=Scotland, the cradle of Spanish football |language=es |website=lafutbolteca.com |date=1 November 2012 |accessdate=16 January 2025 }}</ref><ref name=Group>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thescotsfootballhistoriansgroup.org/riotinto |title=RioTinto |language=es |website=www.thescotsfootballhistoriansgroup.org |accessdate=16 January 2025 }}</ref><ref name=Vigo>{{Cite web |url=https://elpais.com/ccaa/2015/04/07/galicia/1428438109_464849.html |title=El fútbol llegó a Rio Tinto... o a Vigo |work=El País |trans-title=Football arrived in Riotinto... or Vigo |language=es |publisher=El Pais |date=12 April 2021 |accessdate=16 January 2025 |last1=Pontevedra |first1=Silvia R. }}</ref> Huelva thus became the home to a vast British colony, among whom a certain [[William Bice]] stood out, as he was the one who began organizing the first "kick-abouts" between the club's members, which were possibly the very first kick to a [[Ball (association football)|football ball]] on Spanish soil.<ref name=Group/><ref name=Vigo/>{{efn|In that same year, another colony of British workers did the same in Vigo, with the investigations about which one was the dean of football in Spain remaining inconclusive and open to debate by historians.<ref name=Vigo/>}} This colony eventually gave birth to a club in 1878, the Rio Tinto English Club (known in Huelva as ''[[Club Inglés Bella Vista]]''), where the mine workers played their favorite sports, such as [[cricket]], rugby, and [[Club Inglés Bella Vista#Football team|football]].<ref name=Cradle/><ref name=Group/> The first president of this club was the Scot [[John Sutherland Mackay]], the newly-arrived company doctor.<ref name=Group/> There are reports of football games between Rio Tinto and Huelva as early as 1882, but these teams were never officially established, so there is no legal record of their existence.<ref name=Group/>

{{Quote box
 |quote  = ''The importance of Rio Tinto is that the British left a legacy and ended up creating the Recreativo de Huelva in 1889. There was continuity.''
 |source = Alejandro Quiroga<ref name=Vigo/>
 |width  = 25%
 |align  = left
}}

Rio Tinto FC was the catalyst of the ''Sociedad de Juego de Pelota'' ({{Langx|es|"Ball Game Society"}}), which was founded in 1884 by Dr. [[William Alexander Mackay]], the brother of John Sutherland, who was a lover of sports and thus wanted to use physical exercise to improve the health of his patients.<ref name=Mackay>{{Cite web |url=https://recreativohuelva.com/oscar-arias-nuevo-director-deportivo-del-decano-2/ |title=William Alexander Mackay, un siglo como Hijo Adoptivo de Huelva |trans-title=William Alexander Mackay, a century as an adopted son of Huelva |language=es |website=recreativohuelva.com |date=7 July 2023 |accessdate=16 January 2025 }}</ref> He began organizing football and cricket games, usually between his compatriots living in Riotinto and those crews of the British ships, which were held in a large area of marshes filled with flooded soil opposite the Gas Factory run by fellow Scotsman [[Charles Wilson Adam]],<ref name=Cradle/><ref name=Mackay/><ref name=A100>{{Cite web |url=https://recreativohuelva.com/100-anos-del-fallecimiento-de-charles-adam-y-100-anos-del-fin-del-doctor-mackay-al-frente-del-club/ |title=100 años del fallecimiento de Charles Adam, y 100 años del fin del doctor Mackay al frente del Club |trans-title=100 years since the death of Charles Adam, and 100 years since the end of Dr Mackay's tenure at the Club |language=es |website=recreativohuelva.com |date=10 September 2024 |accessdate=16 January 2025 }}</ref> who also played in some cricket matches himself.<ref name=Huelva24>{{Cite web |url=https://www.huelva24.com/recreativo/132807-historia-los-fundadores-charles-adam-201912271012-nth.html |title=La historia de los fundadores Charles Adam, Pedro Nolasco de Soto y José Muñoz |trans-title=The story of the founders Charles Adam, Pedro Nolasco de Soto and José Muñoz |language=es |website=www.huelva24.com |date=27 December 2019 |accessdate=16 January 2025 }}</ref>

The earliest known example of this dates dating to March 1888, when the club played football and cricket matches against the sailors of a merchant ship called ''Jane Cory'' who had just arrived in port; Mackay even invited a Spaniard [[Ildefonso Martínez]] to play.<ref name=Mackay/><ref name=ESPN>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/37409527/recreativo-anniversary-celebrations-british-irish-roots |title=Recreativo Huelva's anniversary celebration has British and Irish roots |website=www.espn.co.uk |date=19 December 2014 |accessdate=22 January 2025 }}</ref> Eventually, in the late 1880s, the local population began gathering there to watch this curious sport, which soon gained followers among the local youth, and as they became familiar with its rules, some of them asked Mackay to participate, which he happily accepted, as he did not conceive of his recreational club as something exclusive to the British colony.<ref name=Mackay/> Ildefonso Martínez, [[José García Almansa]], Alfonso Le Bourg, and some others, thus became the first Spaniards to play football.<ref name=Mackay/>