The Last Stronghold: The sincere soccer of Athletic Club

A few years ago I went to the “Library of Sports” in Milan; absolutely the best to find books on the subject and asked if they had any books on Athletic Club. I was told they had none.

It seemed inconceivable that Italian sports journalists, who had often written affectionate articles on the incredible club from Bilbao, had not been capable of going beyond a few, often inaccurate, pages written only sporadically.

After a few years and many months of research and hard work, I hope to have filled that gap. In III Millennium soccer, Bosman’s law soccer, of dictator-presidents, Money God soccer and, in Italy and other countries, of scandals, one could just not remain silent or avoid speaking of the last defensive bastion of romantic and deeply-rooted regional football: the Athletic Club.

Certainly, in the Basque Country and in Spain much had been written on the club, nonetheless the most recent books were published in 1998, only 2 years after the Bosman sentence (too short a period to evaluate its disastrous consequences); besides, all had been written from an “internal” perspective, with few comparisons with other realities and sometimes, why not?, with little objectivity on the “heartfelt questions”.

My intention was to first write an updated history of Athletic; second, to write a book about Athletic directed to readers who don’t have that daily contact with the red-white reality; third, to write a book capable of analyzing all the peculiarities of the club; one that would express it’s uniqueness and explain why Athletic is determined to defend it.

In spite of my inexperience and flaws, I hope to have obtained that triplicate result. There is no doubt that it is the most updated Athletic book in circulation, as it covers events since the founding of the Club until the beginning of October 2006. It is also a very educational book, one where those who know little or nothing about Athletic can find a complete historical, sports and social view.
Finally, the pages devoted to demonstrating the uniqueness of the club constitute a constant and voluminous part of the work.

There are also contributions by important persons related to the zuri-gorri world (former-players, fans, journalists) and the opinions, on paper, by important Italian journalists on a club such as Athletic in modern soccer, in addition to the statistical tools elaborated by Nicola Nucci (journalist-partner of the Italian Lions Supporters’ Club), historical tools on the Basque Country as well as an extensive bibliography.

Simone Bertelegni
President of Italian Lions Supporters’ Club