San Mames: Transcending. Athletic Club and a greater meaning for football

Words: Dave Harry

Images: Dave Harry

If some football clubs are largely the thing of those that support them, there are those who transcend that and stand for something bigger, representing the whole of their people and region, for better or worse.

I’ve lived and worked in two such places, Plymouth and Portsmouth, which like Bilbao are proud industrial working-class cities though with respect, neither Argyle nor Pompey do it on the scale of Athletic Club.

“UNIQUE IN THE WORLD”

Athletic claim it, they are it and the museum at the San Mames proudly flaunts it: the local connections and rule that players can only come from the Basque Country; the role as a Basque flagship and the complex relationship with Spain; the successes of its men, women and academy sides on a national and international level; and to this Anglophile at least, its links to the British.

Its Athletic, not Athletico.

The game was introduced by the British workers and Basque students who had studied in the UK; the club’s original colours were influenced by Blackburn Rovers (the red and white stripes to reflect the city colours, were adopted in 1910); the original members who included Cornishman Alfred Mills; and in the latter 20th century, Athletic were managed by Howard Kendall.

He stayed for two and a half years and whilst he didn’t replicate the success he had at Everton, he had a strong rapport with the fans and on leaving his role said “I’m leaving the best club in the world. If I go to England or any other club, I don’t think they will be as good. Athletic is the best”.

©Dave Harry/ Terrace Edition. Athletic Club street art. Bilbao.

Kendall did though, lead the club to a fourth place finish in his first season and oversaw a famous 5-1 win over Atletico Madrid – a club set-up by Bilbao students in Madrid and originally called Athletic as well, indeed until 1921 they were a subsidiary (child) club to Bilbao.

Both clubs changed to Atletico in Franco’s reign. They had no choice but if the Madrid version kept the Spanish name, in Bilbao they’re proud of tradition and when they were able to change, they became ‘Athletic’ again.

In 2012, the two sides met in the Europa League Cup Final but a Marco Bielsa managed Athletic lost 3-0.

No matter, in Bilbao the clubs nickname is ‘The Lions’ and the fans roar wasn’t silenced and they still remind Atletico of their roots, most famously at a game in October 2022 when they unveiled a banner with the legend “Ongi etorri gurasoen etxera” (“Welcome to your parents’ house”).

The history references, again. The club’s breathtaking San Mames stadium was built on the same site as the one that hosted England in España 82, a compact ground with a famous arch running along one of the stands – like Wembley’s towers, the arch didn’t survive the modernisation but the club values its heritage and it was carefully removed and installed it at the small stadium inside Athletic’s training complex (Lezama).

But the heritage and tradition that Athletic is most known, most “unique”, for, is the rule that the players must hail from the Basque Country. This limits the club to selecting sides with players from within a three-hour radius of the city and the rule applies to all its teams.

©Dave Harry/ Terrace Edition. San Mames.

The regional rule has not stopped them producing great players.

Famous alumni include Rafael "Pichichi" Moreno, who the ‘Pichichi Trophy’ (the Spanish golden boot) is named after – he is still revered so much that when a visiting club first plays at Athletic, its captain must lay flowers at the statue of him that sits pitch side between the two dugouts – and AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola.

It's also not stopped them being successful. Athletic have never been relegated and have won 8 La Liga’s and 24 Copa Del Reys – 32 domestic trophies and only Barcelona and Real Madrid have won more, whilst the women’s side have won the Primera Division Femenina five times. Both have reached European finals.

All of this is phenomenal but what really warms the heart are two big things. First the value the club places on its members. Athletic are one of only four La Liga sides still owned by its membership and the members names adorn a special walkway in the club museum. The second stretches wider and to the metropolitan area of Bilbao itself.

If Athletic Club and its successes are a living embodiment of the club motto “Con cantera y afición, no hace falta importación” (“with home-grown talent and local support, there's no need for imports”), the Bilbao city motto “Muy noble y muy leal e invicta” ("Very noble and very loyal and unbeaten"), well, whilst the ‘unbeaten’ line might not always ring true, ‘noble’ and ‘loyal’ unequivocally do.

Athletic flags and murals illustrate the loyalty to the club across the city whilst the charm and welcoming nature of the people themselves, reflects the characteristics of the most noble of a people, and a most noble of clubs.

One that is looking upwards, always.