Athletic and Youth Academy "Cantera"

Chances are that if you’re in the pub with your friends and the inevitable topic of football is discussed, and perhaps less inevitably Spanish football is mentioned, then Athletic Club Bilbao will not be high on the list of subjects.

But perhaps it should be. Amongst the arguments of "who’s better Messi or Ronaldo", "who will David Villa join", and, "oh by the way who’s round is it", Athletic Club barely get a look in. However in today’s ever declining lack of footballing morals, ethics and loyalty, Athletic Bilbao at least deserve a drunken supportive rant.

Formed by British migrant workers in 1898, Bilbao has become somewhat of a romanticised club. They are team whom are idealised in a modern world where cheap footballing imports and the EU have almost brought the great youth systems of Europe it their knees.

Gone are the days of the Lisbon Lions who won the 1967 European Cup with players who were all born within 30 miles of Glasgow. Look at every Premier League team in England, only an average of 3 English players per team start every weekend. And yet, in a small part of Northern Spain a team has consistently defied the globalization of football and strove to preserve its values and fundamental beliefs in an age where football is slowly falling into an abyss filled with greed, monetization and self-interest.

The sun quietly descends behind the San Mamés Stadium, or "The Cathedral" if you’re a "Los Leones", as it is still sometime before the hustle and bustle of the new La Liga season comes to these shores. When you think of all the great names that have graced this pitch: the prolific Telmo Zarra, José Ángel Iribar and Joseba Etxeberria to name just a few you begin to see the curiosity that surrounds this club. They are all Basque. They all hail from the Basque region of Northern Spain. And what makes the club more intriguing is that since 1912, almost 100 years ago, the Athletic Bilbao team has only consisted on Basque players. Remarkable. Do you think you would ever see Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson only playing footballers born in London or Manchester? Or even Barcelona and Real Madrid only playing with fotballers born in Barcelona or Madrid?

This policy of Youth Academy "Cantera" is one that the club, the supporters and the Basque people are immensely proud of. By implementing this policy the club is ensuring the survival and promotion of the Basque game, they choose to nature their own talent rather than buy an import. It is also more than this. It is a stand against centralization. A voice that yells “we are Basque!”. During the 28 year reign of General Franco the Basque people suffered terrible oppression; their unique language, culture, customs, style were all banned, persecuted and oppressed because they didn’t fit in with the ideal of a one-nation Spain. It was conform or suffer the consequences. Support for Bilbao was a vote against Franco. Much in the same way that Barcelona is self-described as ‘more than a club’, Athletic Bilbao are similar, but they take it a step further.

And yet, not everyone looks upon Athletic Bilbao as the ideal football club.. Admittedly these critics mainly come from outside the region but perhaps they do have a point when they say that Cantera is restrictive to Bilbao’s progress. While it has cemented its position in footballing history as a club that is genuinely local (if you overlook the fact that it was created by foreigners), it has also been somewhat left behind when it comes to success.

They haven’t won a domestic trophy since 1984 and since we have entered the 21st century their highest finish has been 5th. Not bad you might say considering they are up against the likes of Real, Barcelona and Valencia who can open their cheque books and sign anyone from any part of the world, but when you consider their success historically in that they have won 8 La Liga titles and sit 3rd behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in terms of league titles won; the policy of Cantera looks outdated and obsolete. A throwback to a distant age when football was idyllic and naïve.

And yet this isn’t the view of the club nor the fans. Their last president, Fernando Garcia Macua, announced that “we’d rather go down than change our habits, I know the supporters feel the same.” They have only a 3 million strong population in which to find their next Telmo Zarra.

If the Arsenal Board decided that the club could only buy players that are part of, or have descended from, the 7.5m people that live in London there would be a revolt. But yet we look upon Bilbao as well, somehow right and honorable. Of course clubs should have a ‘local’ presence, of course they should protect and nurture their own; it’s a sorry state of affairs that most clubs have neither the will nor the courage to do so.

So next time you’ve have one too many beers in the local and have moved on to why Messi is a hundred times better than Ronaldo, spare a thought for Bilbao. Because unless the Basque country has a sudden baby boom of superstars, Cantera might not be around for another 100 years.

Athletic Bilbao live out the Basque ideal

One of Europe's more successful clubs won't accept foreign players at any price. It gets worse. They only recruit from their own parish and prefer footballers who can get their tongues around an unfathomable language spoken by a mere 650,000 people. Bixente Lizarazu and Andoni Goikoetxea sailed through the auditions, but they had the alphabet on their side.

The club in question is Athletic Bilbao. The language is Euskera, or Basque. The model is unique. It's also unshakeable. Italian officials studied the Bilbao example last season when Serie A was in a mess. Their conclusions are still under wraps.

Athletic are the most exclusive club in world football and proud of it. If you're not Basque, you can't join. Their favourite saying is: Con cantera y aficion, no hace falta importacion. It translates as: With home-grown talent and local support, you don't need foreigners. Howard Kendall felt a trifle strangulated by it when he was Athletic's coach in the 80s. Their Basque neighbours, Real Sociedad, matched them for half a century but officially abandoned the policy by signing John Aldridge in 1989. They reckoned the Basque Country was too small to sustain two top clubs.

Not once in more than a century have Athletic's 35,000 members even discussed the possibility of opening their doors to the rest of Spain, never mind the world at large. "Why should they?" asked Andoni Zubizarreta, the goalkeeper in Javier Clemente's league and cup-winning side of 1984. "Some think it's a limitation, but I see it as a strength. It unites us. It's our reference point."

The club showed an extraordinary photograph of the 'double' celebrations which occupied both banks and every bridge over the River Nervion as the players' barge led a fleet of vessels reminiscent of the Armada.

Athletic have been trophyless since that day. Even 'Zubi' concedes that it gets harder and harder to win things. The atmosphere in San Mames, their crumbling bowl of a stadium, is different from anything you'd experienced in the Bernabeu, the Maracana or the San Siro. Thirty-six thousand Basques felt like a nation.

So why do Bilbao insist on home-grown talent when there are only about three million Basques to choose from and the French side of the Pyrenees prefers rugby anyway? More to the point, can they ever be truly competitive again? After all, there was no Bosman ruling when they won eight league titles and 24 Copas del Rey.

Their last president, Fernando Garcia Macua, seemed surprised by the question. "It's not written into our constitution that the team has to be all-Basque. It's just a philosophy we've had from the start and we see no reason to change."

What if Athletic are in the second division next season? "We'd rather go down than change our habits," he said. "I know the supporters feel the same." Paradoxically, Athletic are a foreign creation, started by British workers who left Sunderland and Southampton to work in the steel and shipbuilding industries.

Jose Angel Iribar, the club's legendary goalkeeper in the Sixties and Seventies who achieved notoriety by carrying the illegal Basque flag on to the pitch as soon as General Franco died. He was bullish about the future: "Our cantera (youth academy) is still one of the strongest in Spain. The spirit among young men who grow up together playing for the club they supported as boys is something every club envies."

When Athletic are losing, their crowds grow bigger. It's almost biblical. Followers connect with the players in a way that Bayern Munich fans can't hope to connect with Mario Gomez or Chlesea fans with Fernando Torres. They've watched them come through the academy; been to their confirmations; bumped into them in the shopping mall. If it sounds parochial, it shouldn't. In Barcelona they´re delighted when Alexis, David Villa or Alex Song joined them but it gave them the most pleasure when Xavi, Busquets, Tello, Pique, Puyol or even Messi for being of their youth academy, came through the ranks.

Iñigo Cabacas Gogoan Zaitugu

Athletic Bilbao supporter died after being shot by police Shoot in head by Spanish police after match against Schalke. 28 years old Iñigo Cabacas Liceranzu , supporter of Bilbao, died Monday 9th March after struggling for his life the last days. A smaller riot broke out in city after Athletic Bilbao played against Schalke 5th March. It's said two fans had a little dispute while drinking after the match. Police came and shoot some rubber balls, while fans replied with bottles. According to newspapers Iñigo were hit in the head by a rubber ball fired from the Basque Police. Iñigo was sent to hospital where he was in coma, and today he sadly past away. Spanish police are known for their brutality against football supporters. It's still not 100 % confirmed what or who killed Iñigo, but we hope we will see justice in this tragic case! Narration of a witness' testimony appeared in social networks: "I witnessed what happened on Thursday. After the football match I agreed to meet my brother and girlfriend to have a drink at the Kirruli, as we use to, and just after arrival we saw two people, both wearing Athletic shirts, wrestling each other. People nagged at them as it was time of celebration and nothing else happened. We continued discussing the match, laughing... and some 5-10 minutes later (I think) some four vans of sepoys [slang for Basque police forces], masked as a matter of course, and with the guns readied. People began crying and whistling against them because nobody understood what they were doing there, much less with that attitude. And they just began shooting indiscriminately (three of them specifically). It must be said that the area where all happened is a narrow street and that they were shooting at head level from some 20-30 meters. People scattered around and soon (some 5 minutes later) we heard a girl asking for an ambulance. I and my brother went there and saw a person bleeding from the head. I and someone else run towards them (the black ones [the anti-riot police]) asking for an ambulance and one said "it will come".  Not knowing what else to do we went back to the place where the body was, together with 6-7 other people, and suddenly I noticed how I was beaten with a baton on the arm and the back (from behind, while squatting). Raging I told them: "look what you have done, you have killed him" and one of them replied "that I must see myself" and hit me twice again and sent me away. The ambulance had not yet arrived, not a siren could be heard either. Besides, the police vans impeded the access of any vehicle. The Police claims that they attended a call saying that someone was injured. If so, where was the ambulance? Why four vans full of sepoys arrived instead? Why masked armed men descended from them if they had to succor a person? How could have we been partying with a person in such a state? From here I ask the murderer or murderers to show their faces, that their wives/husbands, sons/daughters, friends know that they have a monster, an amoral person without conscience and a happy trigger at home. I ask the responsible people (all politicians without exception) to condemn the incident and that justice be made. I ask that they take the weapons and the masks from them and that a morality test be made before they can join this shit of insecurity corps we have. Ask a why and, even if it is useless, a compensation. I want to say that I am ready to declare this wherever is needed.  Go Iñigo!"

ATHLETIC HISTORY 1988-2011

Athletic played a very special match to celebrate his Centenary against Brazil.

 After the hangover as a result of the Centenary celebrations, the club was runner-up in the 1997-98 league season, and then participated in the Champions League the following season, and then Fernandez's reign came to an end in 2000. Later two well-known people, Txetxu Rojo, and Jupp Heynckes were to sit on the bench, and in the 2004-05 season the team made it back to Europe, via the UEFA, under the guidance of an ex-player Ernesto Valverde.

After Valverde had left, the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons were the darkest in Athletic history, breaking almost all the negative records of the club. Tremendously difficult times not only on a sporting level (the most negative of all the times in the standings as far as the league is concerned) but institutionally speaking with resignation of President Fernando Lamikiz as well.

This black two-year period is now behind the club and, at the moment, the team is coached by Joaquin Caparrós, a young team, with top footballers, where the generational changing of the guard is taking place without any major traumas, and where people from the youth teams (cantera) in Lezama are being got behind.

It is also during this time, after years of negotiations with local political institutions, that a vital project for the viability of the club has been crystallized: the construction of the new San Mamés Football Field, which will commence in 2009.

That Club, which was founded more than a century ago in the image of the English clubs, is now an organization with more than 33,000 members. A Club which is famous for upholding a peculiar trait which was published in an article in its day by the French sports newspaper L'Equipe, when defining the club as a "unique case in the history of football world-wide". This peculiarity is none other than maintaining the tradition of having Basque players, or players from the Basque Youth teams, a policy which has enabled the Club, throughout its entire history, to be at the top.

Joaquin Caparros first season at the front of the team is a calm season, in which we must highlight the convincing victories in Mestalla or Vicente Calderon. Ends up in eleventh position in Liga, with 50 points, and reaches the quarterfinals in Copa, where Racing brings down the red & white team.

The 2008-2009 season will always be remembered for the Copa Final that Athletic Club disputes in Valencia against FC Barcelona. After 24 years, Athletic once again reaches a final and Bilbao and Biscay in general bend over backwards for the team. The end result is not in our favour, but the memories are unforgettable for the whole rojiblanca family. 

In Liga, the team did not maintain enough regularity to feel relaxed and there were some complicated moments. But after defeating Betis in San Mames, four days before disputing the final, salvation was unequivocal.

The 2009-10 season will be remembered as the season in which it debuted in the newly created UEFA Europa League. After years of absence, the Athletic was placed back in the continental soccer scene and rub come back with the big clubs in our area. Joseba Etxeberria retired after 15 seasons wearing red and white.

And in 2010-11 the Athletic Club closed its sixth league participation, thus encouraging the Europa League qualifiers. 

ATHLETIC HISTORY 1973-1998

After the diamond anniversary and after having won their twenty-third Copa title, many people had already perceived that the path Athletic were taking would become more and more difficult in light of the course this sport of the masses was taking. If in the past one could count on one hand the number of foreign players in Spanish football -the well-known controversy of native players over nationalized ones-, well after the 1972/73 season, each team had the possibility of having two foreigners in its ranks, a fact which meant a substantial change to Hispanic football, however, today this number may seem ridiculous.

It started with the signing on of these two foreign players and then went on to the free signing on of European Community players in accordance with the Bosman Law, as well as the inclusion of four Non-European Community players in the starting eleven line up in the 1996-97 season, only 24 years have gone by since then. An incredible step forward, let's not forget, for a sporting competition. Step by step things got more complicated in order to maintain the red-white philosophy, and although the debate regarding the maintenance of this philosophy was talked about in the streets in the mid-90's, the supporters, in general, reacted by sustaining this policy of support to the youth teams.

A time of major transformation when football became a source of daily news, the permanent centre of attention for the fans and the general public and was considered "public property". Change is the word that best defines the last decade of XX century: Champions league, a world-wide league is spoken about, biennial World Football Championships... The clubs of yesteryear are now companies, the budgets through the roof, the out of the ordinary benefits becoming increasingly more important and necessary... It's safe to say that there has never been so many organizational innovations made in football history, not even in the 20's when a choice had to be made between professionalism and amateurism.

With reference to the sport only, the League was becoming more and more competitive increasing the number of matches bit by bit, with eighteen teams in the 1972-73 season, twenty in the 1989-90 season, and twenty-two in the 1995-96 season, a far cry from the ten founding teams of the 1928-29 championship. More and better players are demanded by the big teams, which implied the signing on of new players... and changing with the times without altering the essence of the club.

In spite of the difficulties, Athletic achieved some amazing feats, like being runners-up in the Copa and the UEFA in 1977. 

And, especially, the titles in 1980's, the prodigious years of the Clemente era, with victories against some of the best players in the world (Maradona, Schuster, Hugo Sanchez, Stilike...), which allowed an entire generation, to sing the Alirón song for the first time. Years of Leagues and Copa triumphs, of barges (Gabarra)... from joy and overflowing euphoria which seemed endless.

On the other hand, after so much success and Clemente's departure, the 1985-86 season took a dangerous turn dividing the masses because of the signing on of players, the new generation switch which was much more difficult than expected, and the unusual coming and going of Club coaches (ten all in all from the 1985-86 season to the 1995-96 season). The positive aspects of the "post-Clemnete" period was the sensation that Kendall caused in Bilbao, the game deployed by Heynckes, that magical night against Newcastle, the debut of players like Alkorta, Urrutia, and, especially, Julen Guerrero, who was the captain during this decade.

With greater stability, Luis Fernandez then took charge, revolutionary for the team and the fans, in 1998 Athletic had the honour of being the first club in first division to celebrate its 100th anniversary, which was topped off with the club being the League runners-up of that season.

Concerning the institution the club's new song (1983), the receptions on the barge, the inauguration of new Club Headquarters at Ibaigane in 1988, and, mainly, the celebration of the Club's Centenary should be highlighted.

ATHLETIC HISTORY 1954-1973

The 1953-54 season was considered by the specialized press as the "The decline of the Gods". It was truly a time of transition, but soon figures as important as Arieta, Carmelo Uribe, Mauri, Maguregui...began to strengthen; names that assured the continuity of a champion team.

Once again the generational gap took place without any problems. Still present was the extraordinary game of the eleven comprised by Lezama, Celaya, Oceja, Nando, Bertol, Mieza, Garate, Iriondo, Venancio, Zarra, Panizo, Gainza... when another great team was created, the "Eleven Villagers", thanks to the wealth of the Biscayan cantera (youth teams); that of Carmelo, Orue, Canito, Garay, Mauri, Maguregui, Arteche, Marcaida, Arieta, Uribe and, again, the great Piru Gainza.

It is the team of Fernando Daucik; the one that won a League (1955-56) and two Copas (1955 and 1956), the one that officially debuted in European competition and disputed the electrifying match against Manchester United in the European Cup, and the one that won the 1958 Copa, without the Czech as coach, against the powerful European champion, Madrid, at the Bernabeu. All in all, a team that brought joy to the red-white fans in the 50s and who added to the sporting curriculum of the Club.

During the two decades to follow that is the sixties and seventies, one of the most unfairly treated stages in Athletic history took place. Yes it's true, that there were not so many triumphs as in the past (the 1969 and 1973 Copas were won and the 1969-70 League Cup and the 1966 and 1967 Copas were held up high), nevertheless, this was a period when a definite step to get behind the cantera (youth teams) was taken. The (1961) Youth team was officially created and Bilbao Athletic (1964) made their reappearance. The opening of the football academy in the installations of Santa Maria de Lezama (1970), allowed for the promotion of the youth teams" policy to be signed in gold letters. Here the future was planned starting from the lower-division teams, work which went unmentioned, not so eye-catching but equally important as the work done by the premier team, which would guarantee the sporting achievements that the premier team were to obtain in the future.

The good work being done with the lower division teams were soon to offer its rewards and thus, in addition to the triumphs harvested by the Youths (they won the Copa from 1962 to 1967), soon afterwards they would join the Athletic players, a player who stood out was Txetxu Rojo. Txetxu, after having played with the Youth team for 2 seasons became part of the he professional team in 1965/66 season and remained there until the 1981/82 season and is the second player who has played the most number of matches in Club history.

If Txetxu Rojo was considered to be a charismatic player, what can be said about another legendary Athletic figure: Jose Angel Iribar Kortajarena, 18 seasons (from 1962/63 to 1979/80), with a match record of 467 League titles, 93 Copas, and 55 European Competition titles. A top goalkeeper who continued in the footsteps of the great Athletic goalies (Ibarreche, Vidal, Blasco, Lezama, Carmelo), and who have made that position a special one for the fans.

With regards to San Mamés, during this period some important changes were made giving the stadium a similar appearance to the one it has today. The Southern Stand was built in 1957, the Northern in the 1961, lights were installed in 1964, and the Eastern Stand was inaugurated in 1972. If we include the changes made as a result of the 1982 World Cup the final result would be the current stadium.

Therefore, a crucial period in which the Club's structures were completely modernized, which allowed the club to compete on equal terms against the rest of the teams who counted on 'support" such as having two foreign players in their side following the 1972-73 season.

It was in the year 1973, when Athletic celebrated its diamond anniversary. 75 years of sporting unity at the service of Basque Football.