Half a century and eternal gratitude

On 29 June half a century ago, the Lions won their twenty-third Copa title by beating Club Deportivo Castellón 2-0 at the old Vicente Calderón in Madrid. A triumph that was celebrated with effusiveness on the pitch, in the stands, in the dressing room and in front of thousands of people who welcomed the team to Bilbao. Now, 50 years later, Athletic Club paid tribute to those champions, showing a special remembrance for the seven members of that squad who, unfortunately, are now deceased. 

The event, held in the North Hall of La Catedral, was also attended by Manolo Clarés, a former Castellón player who took part in the final, and José María Arquimbau, a well-known journalist from Castellón, member of the Centenary Commission and emblem of the Castellón team. Likewise, Vicente Del Bosque, former player of the black-and-white team and Simon Taylor, member of the board of directors of CD Castellón, have also sent messages to thank Athletic Club for the initiative that allows them to remember the unforgettable 1973 Cup Final.

During the initiative, the Club showed its "eternal gratitude" to the members of the winning team for the triumph five decades ago in an event attended by Ángel María Villar, Daniel Astrain, Carlos Ruiz, Javier Clemente, Jose Mari Igartua, Jose Miguel Aizpuru, Juan Carlos Vidal, Miguel Navarro, Rafa Viteri, Txema Lasa and Víctor Marro. They were joined by relatives of Félix Zubiaga, Fidel Uriarte, Jose Angel Iribar, Natxo Biritxinaga and the Rojo brothers. Athletic Club gave them all a screen-printed T-shirt, the "Txapeldunak" model, commemorating that final. A small gift that the Club will also give to the ex-footballers or relatives of those who, for various reasons, were unable to attend. All of them have shown their gratitude to the Club for the tribute to an epochal team that opened the door to modernity. 

One of the most emotional moments of the tribute came from Ángel Villar and Manolo Clarés, protagonists of that 1973 final, who, on behalf of their teammates at Athletic and Castellón respectively, recalled the great match at the Vicente Calderón. 

Under the orders of Yugoslavian coach Milorad Pavic

The group made up of Jose Angel Iribar, Iñaki Sáez, Felix Zubiaga, Agustín Guisasola, Daniel Astrain, Ángel María Villar, Txetxu Rojo, José Ángel Rojo II, Txema Lasa, Fidel Uriarte, Antón Arieta, Víctor Marro, Txutxi Aranguren, José Ramón Martínez Larrauri, Joseba Betzuen, Jose Mari Igartua, Rafa Viteri, Carlos Ruiz, Josu Ortuondo, Jose Mari Zuluaga, Juan Carlos Vidal, Javier Clemente, José Antonio Beitia, Ricardo Ibáñez, José Miguel Aizpuru, Nico Estéfano and Miguel Navarro completed a ninth-place finish in LaLiga to then bring the Copa joy to the fans.

In the knockout competition, in the round of 16, Real Oviedo was the first opponent for Los Leones. Having overcome the tie against the Asturian side, Athletic faced Sevilla, winning the second leg at San Mamés with a resounding five to two scoreline. In the semi-finals, against CD Málaga, the team coached by Pavic won by two goals to one at San Mamés and, on the night of San Juan, secured their ticket to the final thanks to a late goal by Txema Lasa in La Rosaleda.

The final, at the Vicente Calderón

On 29 June, amidst enormous expectation, thousands of red-and-white fans travelled to Madrid. Despite the fact that the match was televised live, a record 17 million pesetas were raised in a Copa final and tickets were quickly sold out. The desire for achieving the triumph was notorious in the red-and-white environment, celebrating effusively the victory against a CD Castellón that had in its ranks players of the level of Clares, Del Bosque or Planelles. Pavic, accompanied by former Lions Gonzalo Beitia and Venancio in the technical direction, took an attacking approach and Athletic was superior. 

The Lions started with Iribar, Sáez, Zubiaga, Guisasola, Larrauri, Villar, Rojo II, Lasa, Txetxu Rojo, Uriarte and Arieta, while Aranguren and Carlos came off the bench during the second half. Anton Arieta opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, while Zubiaga sealed the final in the 54th minute. At the end of the match, euphoria broke out both on the pitch, with the champions being carried on the shoulders of the fans, and in the dressing room where they toasted with the trophy.

The best was yet to come, as the team returned by train, stopping off in Miranda de Ebro. Once in Durango, the champions got on a lorry to travel through most of the municipalities of Bizkaia, passing through Amorebieta-Etxano, Galdakao and Basauri before arriving in the capital. Welcomed by a crowd of around 25,000 people, according to the chronicles of the time, which Pavic compared to the crowd that gathered to follow the appointment of US President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953, the red-and-white players celebrated the title from the balcony of the town hall.

The yearning for social change

A celebration that coincided in space and time with the death throes of the dictatorship, which meant that the yearning for freedom was clearly making itself felt. Also in the celebration of that Copa, as in the Club's archives there are photographs in which ikurriñas, then banned, can be seen in the crowd. An era of social and cultural resurgence, with the standardisation of Euskara Batua, the creation of the first Ikastolas or the flourishing of literature and music in the Basque language as examples of this, in which Athletic Club also managed to recover its official name after decades of imposition with the name "Atlético de Bilbao". Society, like the television sets of the time, was eager to move from black and white to a new era in colour.

1973 was a very special year for the Club, which celebrated its 75th anniversary. A celebration marked by growth, modernisation and the Club's Copa Winners' title. The recent purchase of land and the setting up of the Lezama facilities, inspired by the French training centre in Vichy, were a structural boost for Athletic, which had also just expanded the capacity of San Mamés with the new East Stand, incorporating a considerable number of members. The creation of the official magazine and the launch of the hand programme for the matches at La Catedral were other novelties. 

Football was changing at great speed and proof of this is that the news in those days at the end of June 1973 spoke of the reopening of the market for footballers from outside Spain in LaLiga. The imminent arrivals of Cruyff at FC Barcelona and Keita at Valencia CF were proof of this, thus giving way to a long list and opening a new era in the championship. At the same time, Athletic Club fought hard against the phenomenon of the "oriundos", which provoked the arrival of numerous footballers, mainly from Latin America, who claimed to have roots in different parts of Spain, a circumstance that did not conform to reality in many cases, but which allowed numerous clubs to field several foreign players in excess of the regulations in force. Different obstacles of all kinds were also faced by the club. 

The 1973 Copa title was the sporting cherry on top of a new era for the Club. A victory that the Club wishes to remember by paying a well-deserved tribute to the protagonists of one of the greatest successes in the Club's modern history and to remember the champions who are no longer with us, such as Aranguren, Arieta, Beitia, Estéfano, Txetxu Rojo, Uriarte and Zubiaga, as well as Pavic, Venancio, Biritxinaga and Perdiguero among the members of the coaching staff.

Eskerrik asko txapeldunak!