Basque & dawn

Away from the glitz and glamour of Madrid and Barcelona, football has found a fertile breeding ground in Basque Country and become a part of life in that region of Spain, as Ayantan Chowdhury discovered while on a visit there...

If somebody has to plan a football trip to Spain, Madrid and Barcelona would be the usual suspects. Players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have made these names synonymous with La Liga fans across the globe. Not many would choose to head over to Basque Country instead. But a visit to the autonomous community in northern Spain throws open a whole new world of Spanish football — four different clubs, each unique and united in their love for the Beautiful Game! 

The lives of folks over there revolve around the sport. At any point of the day, you will find people of all ages and gender, speaking about their team’s performance. And depending on which city you go to, there will be restaurants and bars decked in club colours and adorned with flags. It seems like the game is in the air with almost every kid on the block kicking a ball around. To be a part of such a trip, culminating in the fiercely-contested Basque Derby, is quite the eye-opener for someone from the subcontinent.  

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The most famous of the quartet is Athletic Bilbao. The club is based out of Bilbao, the largest city in the region. A city far removed from the usual hustle and bustle, citizens term five cars congregating at a signal as traffic jams! Most ardent European football lovers will have heard of the Los Leones and their famed Cantera policy of employing professional players native to or trained in the greater Basque Country, which includes Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Navarre (in Spain); and Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre (in France). To put this into perspective, the club last signed a player (Yuri Berchiche) one year and seven months ago. Such transfer inactivity is unheard of in modern football. Their adherence to principle has gained them fans and critics alike. 

“We will not shift from our philosophy. It is ingrained in our history, something that makes us special. Even Real Sociedad used to have a similar policy but it has been almost 20 years since they changed their stance. Whatever the circumstance, no matter how difficult it gets for us, we will continue to bring through young Basque talent. Through this, we have developed a special bond with the fans,” former defender and current sporting director Rafael Alkorta said. So, where does all the money go? Most of it is invested in the state-of-the-art training complex called Lezama, around 10km from the city. The impressive facilities, inaugurated in 1971, have been consistently improved and redeveloped to the point that it now boasts four full-size grass pitches, four full-size artificial pitches, an indoor pitch and a gymnasium. There is also a small stadium on the site, where Athletic’s reserve team — named Bilbao Athletic — play their football. Such an establishment has allowed the club’s endless conveyor belt of talent to keep producing players like Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte, Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga and PSG’s Ander Herrera. The club knows they cannot compete with the big players but ensure they get a premium rate for their players.

Another major project that Athletic have financed in recent years is the construction of a new stadium that holds over 53,000 people and was named the Best Sports Building in the World at the 2015 World Architecture Festival. It could not have been better located — on the Bilbao riverfront (The Ria), smack dab in the middle of the planned city lies the imposing San Mames, a colosseum-like structure termed as the ‘Gastronomic cathedral’.A tour through their storied museum throws up interesting anecdotes — how the club was mainly formed by English miners who worked at the iron ore mines, their difficult years following the Spanish Civil War, their successes over the years. While their trophy cabinet may not have expanded in the same manner as was the case till the 1950s, every member of the club’s staff will be at pains to point out that Athletic were one of the founders of the La Liga and one of only three sides to have never been relegated to the second division.

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There are underdogs and then there is SD Eibar. Right next to Biscay, lies the small city of Eibar with a population of about 27,000.  Fun fact: It is currently the smallest club playing top-flight football in the top five European leagues. The club came into existence post the Spanish Civil War and with such meagre means, the club had never really considered promotion to the top flight a realistic possibility, with former president Alex Aranzabal stating in 2014 that the club’s natural place would be the third tier. 26 seasons in LaLiga SmartBank — the second tier — were therefore seen as an achievement.
The lowest ebbs in their history came during the 2012 and 2014 seasons. On the first occasion, the club had to disband their B team to cut costs while the senior side languished in Segunda Division B. The other was even more serious. In 2013-14, the club was threatened with relegation back to division three due to their inability to have a share capital of at least 2,146,525.95 euros. The club started a crowdfunding campaign and with the help of international media coverage, managed to garner 11,000 shareholders from 69 countries.

The 7,000 capacity Ipurua stadium, overlooked by residential buildings, feels like it belongs to a forgotten era. The facilities are top-notch with the club trying to improve their VIP and hospitality units, but such a small ground existing in an era of the sport going global is something that truly hits you. The club and the stadium is a true reflection of the term David vs Goliath and it is difficult not to instantly like what the club is trying to do. “We always prided ourselves for punching above our weight while we were a part of the second division. The aim was always to try and maintain Segunda division status and if we ever did fall back down, try to come up as soon as possible. From then to now — coming face-to-face with European heavyweights — is something that we still pinch ourselves over. We are a small city with limited means and our current standing is a message to the people here as well as all across the globe that ‘another kind of football is possible’. Long may the dream continue,” Jon Ander Ulazia, club director admitted.

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The capital city of the Basque country — Vitoria Gasteiz — is home to Deportivo Alaves. The city, awarded the title of European Green Capital (in 2012), is a beautiful town which has kept its medieval roots intact. The club, nicknamed Babazorros, will be celebrating its centenary next year. Curiously, the club is owned by Baskonia Alaves group, a sports business group, more famous for their basketball team — Saski Baskonia.The club is considered to be the least successful of the three main Basque clubs and has been a part of the La Liga only since the 2016-17 season. Since taking over, the new owners have managed to erase the 21m euros debt the club was saddled with and are trying to establish themselves as a mid-level side. Strategic investment in NK Istra, a Croatian feeder club, as well as in the J-League, ensure talent from across the globe is spotted early. The club has plans to reach markets in South America and Africa in the future.

“We need to tread carefully and ensure it is a profitable business decision. We are small fish in this ocean so making economic sense is a priority. Our team is a blend of clever international scouting and Spanish players and historically, over the last three years, we have ensured stability for the club. The next step is expansion and going for even bigger targets,” Iker González de Garibay, sponsorship manager, revealed.Those plans include the upgrading of the Mendizorrotza Stadium, a 19,840 seater ground. Alaves’ home ground is the second oldest in the La Liga, having been inaugurated 95 years ago in 1924. Valencia’s Mestalla is the only top-flight stadium that has been around for longer. The scheduled inauguration is in its centenary and it will cater to 26,000. Mendizorrotza will also look to attract fans who are not purely after football by mirroring the model applied at many of the top grounds in Europe and creating a shopping and leisure area aimed at families over an area of around 5,000m². The ambitious project, which will also increase the range of services on offer in Vitoria, will give one of the oldest stadiums in Europe a facelift and prolong its life by many years.

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The coastal city of San Sebastien or Donosti in Basque, was the venue of the latest Basque Derby clash. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, only 20km from the French border. Despite the city’s small size, events such as the San Sebastian International Film Festival have given it an international dimension. Another attraction is Real Sociedad, one of La Liga’s founding members.La Real, as they are called, were the mirror image of Athletic till 1989, when they let go of their All-Basque policy by signing Irish forward John Aldridge. But despite their change, their famed youth academy called Zubieta has not stopped producing players of repute, Antoine Griezmann and Xabi Alonso being examples.
With 12 members of Real Sociedad’s current first-team squad having come through the club’s academy, it’s clear that those in charge at the Basque club take youth development seriously. That’s why La Real invest so much into the facilities at Zubieta, located less than 10 kilometres or a short 15-minute drive from the centre of San Sebastián. Opened in 1980, Zubieta has evolved a lot since and the facilities are constantly improving. Currently, the complex boasts six 11-a-side pitches, four of which are natural grass pitches. There are also plans for a seventh to be added. It’s here that Real Sociedad’s women’s team and Sanse, the club’s reserve side managed by Xabi Alonso, play.

“Our youth team starts from U-13, unlike most European clubs which start from U-10. We have feeder clubs who provide us players and if they’re good enough, we start integrating them into our youth teams. It is a very thorough approach and its success lies in the number of players who have gone on to represent the first team. We also know that making it to the first team is a tough challenge and that not all of them will make it. That’s why it’s important that we don’t only teach them to be footballers. We have to be capable of developing people. We work closely with their schools and families to provide an integrated training programme,” academy director Luki Iriarte added.Their stadium Anoeta, known as Reale Arena for sponsorship reasons, has undergone a sea of changes since 2015. The older iteration had the players complaining about the lack of noise. That was due to a disused athletics track around the ground. In 2015, the club announced that it would begin renovations on Anoeta, enlarging the stadium as well as removing the track. Currently at a capacity of 40,000, the stadium is a source of pride for the Txuri-urdin (blue & white).

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The Derby, which began with the famous Kalegira wherein both sets of supporters march together to the ground singing songs, was a sight to behold. While La Real triumphed, the sense of belonging for each fan and where it came from was clear. The beautiful autonomous community and its love for football is a testament to local development and how the game can enhance a region’s economic condition as well as ring in multiple tourism-related opportunities. For people in Basque Country, It is more than just a game, it is a way of life.

San Mames
The stadium has become known as a gastronomic hub, a fitting tribute to the importance accorded to gastronomy within Basque culture. The ‘Gastronomic Cathedral,’ as it is known, spreads across over 6,000m² while the San Mames VIP Area is run by a team of critically acclaimed and Michelin starred chefs, including Eneko Atxa, Josean Alija, Zuriñe Garcia, Ander Unda, Sergio Zarate, Daniel Garcia & Fernando Canales.

The San Mames by Fernando Canales restaurant offers the best of local cuisine and draws heavily on local favourites from the region of Biscay, while those looking for something a little less formal will be enamoured by La Campa de los Ingleses (the Field of the English) which offers an incredible view of the San Mames pitch.

The mystery of Eibar

Eibar have a strong female influence at boardroom level, with a female president in Amaia Gorostiza. There are more than 11,000 Eibar shareholders in 65 different countries. Eibar are the third-most popular La Liga team in Japan after Barcelona and Real Madrid because of the presence of Japanese international Takashi Inui. Such is their popularity that at one point, they even had a Japan-based sponsor. When the Spanish king paid a visit to Japan, Inui and Eibar representatives were a part of the travelling party. The team initially played in the same red-and-white colours as nearby Athletic Club, but this changed in the 1943/44 season when the regional federation gifted them a set of Barcelona jerseys to play in due to a shortage of kits. The blue and claret stuck and Eibar still play in them.

Anoeta and Seagulls
While the newly refurbished Reale Arena is a sight for sore eyes, its location close to dumping yards saw a huge influx of seagulls with the groundsmen fed up of their penchant for messing up the turf. Their were even calls to build a roof and close it on non-match days. Instead, the club management came up with a cost-effective solution, employing the services of four eagles and a falcon to scare away the pesky birds! It has worked a treat and if one gets to visit the Anoeta, upon closer inspection one can always spot the five majestic birds sitting on the railings.