It’s not all that often that an international from one of the bone-fide European football powers ends up playing in the League of Ireland. But just that did happen in the mid 1960’s when Spanish international Alvaro Ros Rodriguez, better known simply as Alvarito joined Shelbourne in 1965.

Alvarito was born in 1936 in the small town of Ujo in Asturias, an industrial area synonymous with the coal mining industry. He was a two-time Spanish international who featured in away matches against Chile (a 4-0 win) and Argentina (2-0 loss) in 1960. For Spain in these games he played alongside the likes of Alfredo Di Stéfano, Luis Suarez, Juan Segarra and his Atlético Madrid teammate Enrique Collar.

Alvarito played for Oviedo early in his career but spent his best years at Atlético Madrid, winning two Spanish Cups (Copa del Generalisimo as it was during the Franco dictatorship) as well as the 1961-62 Cup Winners Cup against that competitions inaugural Champions, Fiorentina.

Despite this success Alvarito was never a regular with Atlético, he suffered injuries including a severe leg-break in a game against Valladolid, and was mainly understudy to Spanish international Isacio Calleja when he returned from injury. That injury not only limited his club career but also put paid to whatever hopes Alvarito might of harboured of a recall to the Spanish national team ahead of the 1962 World Cup.

He did start in the final of the 1959-60 Copa del Generalisimo, a famous 3-1 win over city rivals Real Madrid in a packed Santiago Bernabéu. Atlético went into that game as complete underdogs, not least because their rivals the great Real Madrid that had demolished Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in the final of the European Cup final just a month earlier. That famous victory meant that Real had won the first five European Cups and their side was full of stars including Ferenc Puskás, Paco Gento, Alfredo Di Stéfano and José Santamaría. However the Atlético humbled their city rivals and lifted the cup after scoring three unanswered second half goals after Puskás had giving Real an early lead.

Alvarito’s experience of the League of Ireland with Shelbourne was short-lived. Upon leaving Atlético Madrid he spent a single season with Real Murcia before joining Shelbourne as a player-coach in 1965, while studying English in Dublin. Because of injury he hadn’t played much competitive football for five months prior to having signed for Shelbourne, he was also not completely unfamiliar with Shels and their players having seen them play against his former club Atlético in the Inter City Fairs Cup only a month before he joined. Alvarito made his debut in a 2-1 win for Shels over Dublin rivals Drumcondra.

Some impressive performances followed with Alvarito operating in both full-back positions but a combination of recurring injury and difficulties with the language meant that his stay was brief. What followed after leaving Shelbourne was over 20 years of coaching in the Spanish lower leagues, something that Shels can look on with a little bit of pride as they gave him his first coaching role in the game.

Directly after his spell with Shels Alvarito took up an offer from his friend and former international teammate Ferenc Puskás to cross the Atlantic and join the Vancouver Royals in the NASL where Puskás had recently been installed as head coach. Alvarito’s English lessons must have done him some good as he spent a number of years coaching in the United States before returning to Spain to continue his coaching career. He became most associated with UD Melilla, a team based in a autonomous Spanish city of Melilla, on the coast of North Africa.

Alvarito passed away in June 2018 at the age of 82 in the Spanish city of Melilla.