This article published at ESPN describes the current situation with two of Euskal Herrias football teams, Real Sociedad de San Sebastian and Athletic de Bilbao:
Basque ups and downs
By Phil Ball
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Interesting to see Real Sociedad back at the top of the Spanish First Division after three angst-ridden seasons in its nether regions.
No-one was expecting this sudden turn-about of fortunes, least of all the club itself, accused a couple of years ago by ex-national manager Javier Clemente as 'lacking guts' and being 'natural pessimists'.
Clemente, now spending his days on the golf course, was controversially employed by the club three seasons ago when they sacked the German Bernd Krauss. Clemente made his name first as player and then as manager of Basque cousins Athletic Bilbao in the 1980s, and steered them to their last league title in 1984 - the last time that a Basque side won the Spanish championship.
Bilbao is the largest and most industrialised of the Basque cities and is in the Vizcayan region, whereas Real Sociedad hail from the more service-oriented region of Gipuzcoa. When Clemente was handed a contract by Real Sociedad, there was much muttering abroad, most of it concerning the signing of 'an enemy'.
The facile idea that the Basque Country is some sort of culturally homogenous homeland was nicely exposed by the suspicion of Sociedad's supporters towards the pugnacious little Clemente, and he only lasted just over a season. His cat-and-dog relationship with the Gipuzcoan press culminated in his accusation that the region was 'pessimistic' and cynical, whereas Vizcaya was more 'alegre' (happy) and forward-looking.
Fast forward to October 2002 and the nail-biting has shifted firmly from San Sebastian to Bilbao. Athletic, so keen on promoting themselves as the region's major club, find themselves down near the bottom of the table, surrounded by cousins Alavés and Osasuna, with Sociedad threatening to disappear over the horizon.
Of course, it's early days yet, and Raynald Denoueix's team will have to tighten up at the back if they seriously wish to aspire for the title, but it's strange the difference that a few summer months can make.
Three weeks ago, Jupp Heynckes, Bilbao's German manager in his second spell with the club, lost his temper with the local press after they complained of his tactical 'anarchy', responding with the unfortunate claim that he was a 'luxury' for the club, adding that they should appreciate the fact that they had such a distinguished manager at the helm.
He was forced to apologise three days later after the furore that his words caused, and he may yet live to regret his faux pas if the results continue to be poor.
Folks from Bilbao are famous for their special sense of identity and their often misplaced and overweening self-confidence - but the rest of Spain has a grudging sort of affection for them, especially Spanish football historians who know that the club was the country's dominant force up the Civil War in 1936.
Times have changed, but the club still regard themselves as special. The fact that Heynckes won a European Cup as manager of Real Madrid did not give him the right to patronise such an historically great club, and there remains a feeling that he will never be forgiven for his misjudgement.
The whole scene in the Basque Country is as fascinating as it is complex, and woe betide the visiting journalist who thinks he or she can get a quick-fix conclusion from a few day's analysis.
This season's major theme so far, apart from Sociedad's great start and Bilbao's internal doldrums, was the signing by the current leaders of Boris, a young Spanish defender from Oviedo.
Sociedad broke ranks with Bilbao back in the late 1980's when they signed John Aldridge from Liverpool, effectively closing the door on their own Basque-only policy. Since then, foreign players have arrived (and left) in cartloads, whilst Athletic Bilbao have doggedly pursued their century-old practice of only employing the sons of the region's fertile soil.
But the signing of Boris by Real is the first time that they have taken on a 'Spanish' player - foreign signings having been previously regarded as less politically awkward. A straw-poll amongst supporters last week revealed that only 7 per cent of the club's supporters were 'preoccupied' by the signing, but when you're top of Europe's best league, you can afford to be a bit more tolerant.
Boris made his debut as a first-choice defender in this weekend's 2-2 draw in the derby with Alavés, and the event seemed to pass by almost unnoticed. This comes as something of a relief, since the club's policy in the past has smacked of xenophobia towards Spain, as if the country's players were somehow racially and culturally unworthy of representing a Basque institution.
It's an awkward little issue, and one that has attracted occasional sideways glances at Bilbao's exclusionary policy which at first sight looks even more radical. Foreign managers like Heynckes and Howard Kendall have always been part of the scene, but the players have been Basque since time immemorial.
It looks like a cute piece of cultural heroism, standing firm and alone as the howling winds of European federalism and multi-ethnicity blow all around, but it rather depends which side of the fence you're standing.
And when things start to go wrong at the 'Cathedral' - as Athletic's San Mamés ground has always been nicknamed, the club always seem to want to have it both ways.
Heynckes, a few days before his infamous 'luxury' speech, claimed that the team's bad start was a reflection of the fact that the club had an inadequate playing staff, limited as it was by the Basque-only policy. 'If Barcelona only had Catalans playing, ask yourself where they would be in the league' he protested.
This was a fair point, but ultimately an irrelevant one. Barcelona's claim to being the flagship of Catalan culture has a slightly hollow ring to it nowadays, but Athletic cannot slap themselves on the back when times are good, then complain about the slings and arrows when things go awry.
Their own often patronising attitude towards Real Sociedad's signing of foreigners ignores the fact that it was their own poaching of the all the best Basque talent that forced their cousins to open up the ethnic doors in the first place.
Complicated indeed - but to return to a purely football-based observation, Athletic's permanent presence in the top flight since La Liga was inaugurated in 1929 is nothing short of a miracle, and political correctness should never be allowed to detract from this fact.
Real Sociedad's great start has also had the papers singing their praises, several of them pointing to the fact that it is 21 years since they led the league table by one point or more - the very season (1981-82) when they won their second consecutive title.
They've scored 17 goals in 6 games, and seem to have discovered a new star in the speedy little Turkish forward Nihat, a player whom Toshack brought over from Besiktas last season. The Welshman was sacked soon after, but his eye for a player has proved as unerring as ever, and the Turk is attracting all sorts of plaudits.
# Elsewhere, the big boys were falling like flies. Barcelona, Celta, Deportivo and Real Madrid all lost games that they were expected to win - if such a phrase is really valid these days, and Madrid's defeat at Santander was particularly interesting, given that the home side's second goal was scored by local hero Pedro Munitis, currently loaned out by the team that he sunk.
Not only is he on loan from Madrid but they are also stumping up 70 per cent of his wages. There was some controversy during the week prior to the game, since there was no written agreement that Munitis would not turn out against his official employers - a legal loophole that Santander decided to exploit.
Madrid, as far as is known, did not object, and since Munitis was up for it (he claims that he was cold-shouldered by the club last season) they wrote him onto the teamsheet. Inevitably, he scored, and should Madrid lose the title by three points this season, little Munitis is unlikely to be returning to the capital in a hurry.
.... ... .
No comments:
Post a Comment