The most unique philosophy in football started with an accusation, a protest and a fit of pique. It also began with a couple of Englishmen who shouldn’t have been there, or so it goes. Messrs. Sloop and Martin (full names unknown) were in the Athletic Club team that won the Copa del Rey in Getxo in 1911 and that wasn’t right, their opponents said. They were pretty much ringers, the charge had it: neither man had resided in Spain for the requisite two years that would make them eligible to play, and so there were demands that their opening match against Fortuna Vigo be made null and void and the players kicked out.
That didn’t happen, not yet, but plenty did. Real Sociedad pulled out of the competition completely in protest. Then Español and the Valladolid Cavalry Academy, who knew that the winner would face Athletic in the final, refused to play their semi. That’s one version of the story, at least, although it’s not entirely confirmed and, having presumably changed their minds later, Español did play the final. Athletic won it and the complaints continued. The entire competition was annulled then reinstated. Eventually the federation ruled that teams could only field three foreigners and they had to have been residents for three years.
– The Basque derby: Athletic Club vs. Real Sociedad on ESPN+ (Saturday, 3 p.m. ET)
Feeling accusing fingers pointing their way, Athletic reacted, something to prove. Oh, that’s the way you want it? That’s the way you can have it, then. Three foreigners? How about none?! And never mind Spaniards, they’re all from Vizcaya. A kind of: we’ll show them. And they did too. No foreigner played for them ever again.
It might have started as a bit of a huff, chest out in umbrage, but it became historic. Pride often comes before a fall but this was the best thing they ever did. That was the origins of an approach that evolved over the years, reaching expression in the 1958 Copa when an Athletic side known as The Eleven Villagers, an entire team of locals, defeated Alfredo Di Stefano’s Real Madrid who had been European champions three years running. Usually known as a Basque-only policy, they have followed it for over a century, the sense of connection to its community profound.
No one else does it, Chivas in Mexico the only club that’s similar; it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that no one else could do it either. Still less so now; every club has an identity, tries to construct one, but building an approach so deeply integrated into and intertwined with its surroundings, its society, surely couldn’t be done, not like this. It takes time to write a story like this and few places that could allow for it like the Basque Country does, expressed not just by Athletic but the other clubs there. Saturday’s derby against Real Sociedad will underline that.
Even if one day it failed, the policy is not for changing, entirely non-negotiable, as Ander Herrera recently told ESPN. “I had this conversation the other day with the physios, people who have been here for ever. I’ve asked: ‘What do you prefer? Change the philosophy or have Athletic get relegated to the second division one year?’ And the response was unanimous: go down. You can’t lose that philosophy because that’s what makes the club special.”
And it hasn’t failed, far from it. In 125 years, Athletic never have gone down. Only three clubs have spent their entire history in Spain’s first division. The other two are Real Madrid and Barcelona. Athletic are a kind of resistance, holding back the tide.
“I remember when [cycling team] Euskaltel joined the Tour De France [in 2001], the stages in the Pyrenees were packed with thousands and thousands of fans in their orange shirts. It wasn’t just about cycling: it was identity, nationhood. Back then they competed like Athletic do, with only Basque cyclists. Over 125 years we have built a structure and a story too. It is hard to find somewhere that has that degree of identification with its history and society. I have friends for example who are not football fans, have never kicked a ball, but are full-on Athletic fans. It’s not even about football, it’s history.
“The philosophy limits you in theory but while you lose in one way, you gain something greater. That idea of an academy that’s so much a part of its environment, those values, that society, the fact that you play with people from here means that you keep the talent you develop more than most clubs. Very few go and if they do it’s because Manchester City have paid the buy-out clause for Aymeric Laporte, Chelsea have paid it for Kepa Arrizabalaga or Manchester United have paid it for Ander Herrera. The few that go tend to go to clubs with the very highest aspirations. You don’t lose many to other ‘middle-class’ Spanish clubs. That sense of belonging is there.”
Is there an economic component too? Athletic, after all, also have the economic muscle to pay well. “With players of the highest level, obviously you need to be economically strong,” Gonzalez admits. “But there is also a personal component that makes the difference and helps keeps people at the club. Maybe you have a better financial offer elsewhere you still prioritise being at Athletic. There’s a commitment towards Athletic.”
In Athletic’s last game against Osasuna on Monday night, all 11 starters had been in the club’s academy. Former coach Marcelinho described Athletic’s dressing room as the easiest in the world: there is a shared culture, upbringing, ideals and commitment. An accusation over a hundred years ago made them stronger; it made them who they are.
“You can’t measure that but I think it’s impossible to find a dressing room quite like ours anywhere,” Gonzalez says, “and the identification with the club runs right through the staff, everyone there. I’m from Bilbao, I am a season ticket holder, I have been a fan for as long as a I can remember and you never have any doubts. I don’t see our philosophy as a limitation, not at all, but as a strength.”
