Julio Arce: Guayaquil was a city of archers

As can be seen from all of us who experienced football in the first years of professionalism in Guayaquil and the era of the George Capwell and Modelo stadiums, Julio Arce Macías is portrayed as nostalgic when we start talking about those times. The same opinion is shared by Teodoro Ruiz, former Spanish central defender; Juan Morán, who wore a Patrie shirt; and Franklin García whose motto was always a fan motto in that era. In the northeast corner of 9 de Octubre and Chimborazo, one of the few that survived the pandemic, you can breathe football, although the meetings are only on Fridays; not everyday like before.

Julio Arce takes the lead because of his distinguished past as a professional goalkeeper in the country’s big teams. The conversation becomes livelier when they start talking about former goalkeepers and neighborhood football. Other parishioners have already joined. “Guayaquil has always been the birthplace of great archers. It is enough to mention Napoleón Medina Fabre, Enrique Romo, Pablo Ansaldo, Alfredo Bonnard, Cipriano Yulee. We all covered ourselves with our bare hands, without gloves, with a rough ball and did not bounce. Our fingers were pincers. All of us who played then left the neighborhoods. We grew up as soccer players playing on the street, without teachers. I played in Santa Elena and Julián Coronel, and later in Noguchi and Argentina,” says Julio Arce.

“My father took us to live in Cuenca and Babahoyo and there I put on my first jersey: that of a team called Chacarita that played in the Norero League. I played forward, but I wasn’t good, so one day someone shouted: ‘Cantinflas (that’s what they called me) in goal!’, and I was born a goalkeeper that day.”

Julio says he went to live at 11th and Argentinska Street, and in the salt mine, the boys from the neighborhood made a small field. The bows were made of round reeds and there he became convinced that his future was in the bow. He returned to Noguchi and Argentina to play in Indore and one day when he was stopping everything, the toreador hero Rigoberto Pan de Dulce Aguirre saw him and enrolled him in Argentina, his neighborhood team that played in the memorable Juan Díaz Salem League.

Soon after, the historic leader included him in the youth team of Barcelona SC. “He took me to the Aragón sports house and bought me complete equipment. Then he loaded me into his old car and took me to eat sausage soup at Cinco Esquinas. “Eat well, you’re thin,” he told me, and from then on everyone called me Skinny.

From Barcelona to the Motherland

He was the starting goalkeeper in the youth facility. He made his debut on Sunday 1953 at Capwell in the preliminary match of the third leg between Barcelona and Millonarios de Bogotá. Arce says they had a great team: “In defense I was followed by Luciano Macías, Miguel Esteves and Silvio Devoto, in the middle Eduardo Chorrosco Aguirre and striker Héctor Candia who was a great right inside, Perasso and Pupo Aguirre. In that team I had my first teacher, José Pelusa Vargas. He taught me how to handle the ball, and in the reserve, Pablo Ansaldo played in goal, and I played center forward or vice versa. Even penalty kicks were taught to me by Pelusa,” says the former goalkeeper, who is proud to have been in the first class in 1954 with Carlos Pibe Sánchez, Enrique Pajarito Cantos, Luis Niño Jurado, Luciano Macías, Simón and Clímaco Cañarte and Sigifred Agapito Chuchuca. , whom he holds responsible for the idolatry of the bullfighters.

In 1955, with Ansaldo and Jorge Delgado in goal, Barcelona loaned him to Patria, where Arce played alongside Ezio Martínez, Luis Patón Alvarado, Jorge Carito Izaguirre, Jaime Carmelo Galarza, Pancho Rengif, Mario Saeteros, Pedro Pila Hernández, Colón. Merizalde and Gereneldo Triviño.

In 1956, he asked for it on October 9 in one of the club’s best years. He was the starting goalkeeper with Plutarc Osorio, Carlos Castillo and Ricardo Valencia in defense. Two greats played as midfielders: Rómulo Gómez and Ruperto Reeves Paterson. And in front are Roberto Leyton, Marcos Gómez or Fabiani from Milagros, Pedro Figueroa, Lucho Drouet or Isidro Matute and Raúl Pío de la Torre. Arce was there for three seasons.

In 1958, in the October ranks, after the Sunday meeting, the soldiers were waiting for the unwilling football players. Julio Arce fell in attack. The team is gathered in the barracks. Honorato Mariscal Gonzabay of Miraflores, the captain-elect, said, “Arce is the goalkeeper.” Jaime Ubilla, Gonzabay and Argüello made up the defense; Flavio Nall or Hugo Pardo and Mario Zambrano, and in the artillery Pedro Camberra Gando, José Merizalde, Chalo Salcedo and Emilio Gato Márquez.

Julio says, “The technical director was Dantón Marriott, but the head of the regiment was Major Lorenzo Hinojosa. One day he showed us a book he had bought, which were football lessons by Hungarian Ladislao Kubala. When he finished reading, Hinojosa dismissed Dantón and assumed command. They used long sand tables on which they taught lessons from the war. Hinojosa brought out the soldiers and tanks and put in some uniformed soccer player dummies that he had made and that’s where he instilled his tactical lessons. It wasn’t that bad for us. We won 23 games and all championships in which we played. A sports magazine baptized me as a flying conscript, and a photo of me appeared in Quito with the title: ‘Mr. Shooter’.”

And he continues: “In 1959, Barcelona invited me to play at the opening of a home game at the Modelo stadium. I was the goalkeeper until the last moment. Suddenly, the coach, Yugoslav Zvonimir Gajer, called me to tell me that the leaders were looking for my great friend Hugo Mejia as reinforcements. I went to the locker room, got dressed and went to the stands. Gajer and the leaders came to see me there, and I replied: ‘Barcelona doesn’t need me’ and I stayed in the stands.”

In Colombia

That year, Oswaldo Guerra came looking for him to take him to Deportivo Quito. He had a pleasant stay with fellow travelers such as Argentine Juan Tito Burgos, Stalin Pajarito Charpantier, Juan Ruales, Carlos Garzón, César Pardo, Sánchez and Ernesto Guerra. Tito Burgos contacted Sporting from Barranquilla and Arce spent half a season there in Colombia. Another famous coach Pancho Villegas wanted to take him to Once Caldas de Manizales, but he preferred to return because Emelec wanted him.

The famous Uruguayan player and coach invited him to his house and announced that he would be placed in Nacional de Montevideo. “It was a great opportunity of my life, but I blew it. I was shy, I was a father for the first time and it was not good for me to be away from my family, with almost no communication,” Arce admits.

He returned to 9 de Octubre and then to Patria and played until 1965, when he injured his shoulder and had to undergo surgery. There he decided to prioritize work and quit football. “It gave me great pleasure. One day I came with Deportivo Quito and we beat Barcelona 1-0 with Carlos Ramallo’s goal. That night I cut into the wind, and the swollen bullfighter carried me on her shoulders, asking me to return to the Idol. The emotion still lingers when I think about it.”

The words of the goalkeeper who flew and caught the ball in the air without bouncing, all with his bare hands. (OR)