Julián Ruete Muniesa (29 January 1887 – 15 March 1939)[1] was a player, referee, coach and football manager in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century.
[3] His position was midfielder, but took no part in any of the club's four consecutive Copa del Rey final wins between 1905 and 1908, instead serving as captain of the reserve team.
In this second term, the club made very important advances such as the construction of a more advanced new stadium, the Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid, becoming independent from their original parent club Athletic Bilbao, and winning the Centro Championship for the first time in 1920-21, thus participating in the Copa del Rey for the first time, where they unexpectedly, but convincingly defeated Real Unión in the semi-finals, but then lost the final to their 'cousins' from Bilbao.
[8] As a referee, he oversaw the first game of the Prince of Asturias Cup, an official inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain.
[9] He also refereed the final of the 1917 Prince of Asturias Cup between Madrid and Catalonia, this time ending in a controversial win to Madrid, because in the 70th minute, with the score already at 2-0, the Catalan side had a goal disallowed in the 70th minute for having scored directly from a corner kick, a circumstance not allowed at the time, and this event led Ruete to send off a visiting player due to the protests, to which the Catalan team left the match in protest.