Words: Aitor Salinas-Armendariz // @SA_Aitor
The commercialisation of football seems unstoppable. The forces that want football to be a consumer product under the show-business model continue their advance, creating a system where profits are maximised and everything else comes second. They want an environment where the fans don't matter, or they matter as long as they don't get in the way. They are just limited to cheering, only to keep the ball rolling in this business. Yes, there will be a small margin for certain political campaigns: folklorism and low-intensity claims subject to narrow margins which ensure that no good commercial agreement is spoiled. In short: ‘Please, let’s keep politics out of football.’
It is particularly curious how the waves of this trend have reached the shores of the Bay of Biscay, to the point of going up the Ibaizabal river and arriving at the gates of San Mamés, the Cathedral of Football. ‘Football and politics should not be mixed’. A growing whisper that can be heard around the football club with arguably the strongest political identity in Europe.
Nevertheless, I am here to bring you a story of football and politics. It happened in Bilbao.
All nations have founding fathers or mothers; parents to the community. The small but millennial Basque national community has its own constellation too. Among many names, few shine with such intensity and social consensus as that of José Antonio Agirre Lekube, the first lehendakari – president – of the Basque Government, and a leading figure in the democratic institutionalisation of the Basque people (or, at least, of its western territories).
The personal career of Lehendakari Agirre is, surely, the one dreamed of by any Basque person: graduate from the University of Deusto, lawyer, mayor of Getxo, lehendakari of Euzkadi, and, above all, football player for Athletic Club.
Agirre made his debut for Athletic on 27 November 1921, at the age of 17. He remained with the team for 5 seasons. He scored 5 goals in official competitions and 12 more in friendlies. He took part in great matches such as the 5-0 win against Real Madrid in the Cup quarter-finals (with Agirre assisting the first goal) and the 2-0 win in the Basque derby against Real Sociedad in the Cup semi-finals of that same 1922/1923 season (in front of 13,500 spectators according to the chronicles, a record at the time). Athletic went on to win the final against Europa Barcelona. This was all under the famous British coach Fred Pentland (or ‘Mr. Pentland’), an icon of that early 20th century victorious Athletic and the epitome of the club's British character and traditional Anglophilia.
He also excelled in matches against international opponents, such as in Athletic's 3-0 win over Viktoria Plzeň on 26 December 1923 (Agirre scored 2 of the 3 goals), and Athletic's 2-1 win over Zurich's Der Fussball Club on 4 January 1925, with Agirre assisting.
Athletic Club squad photo on José Antonio Agirre’s debut.
Photo Credit: Athletic Club
José Antonio Agirre played his last official match on 18 October 1925 in a regional championship match against the club Acero, which the zurigorri – red-and-white – won 2-0. His last actual match with Athletic's first team was on 8 December 1925, a friendly Basque derby against Osasuna, with a 5-1 victory for the lions featuring, once again, a goal from Agirre.
After his retirement from football, he finished his legal training in 1926, and by 1929 he had already begun his professional career as a lawyer. He combined this professional activity with two activist focuses: the Catholic Youth of Biscay and his membership of the Basque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV).
In 1931, local elections were held, which would lead to the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. Agirre was a candidate for the council of Getxo, a municipality in the metropolitan area of Bilbao, known for being home to the upper bourgeois. EAJ-PNV won a majority and Agirre was elected mayor at the age of 27. That same year he was elected MP to the Spanish Parliament for the constituencies of Biscay and Navarre, as a member of the Basque minority. His election for Biscay was renewed in the 1932 and 1936 elections.
His career as a football player, and especially as a player for Athletic, increased his popularity. This was witnessed by his own political rivals: Santiago Carrillo (historic Spanish communist leader) described in his memoirs how Agirre was the best-known Basque nationalist MP outside the Basque Country, not so much for his political career but for his football background as striker for Athletic Club. He also attributed his high popularity, especially among the youth of Bizkaia, to his sporting activity and, he added, his overflowing sympathy and his character as a leader. Likewise, Indalecio Prieto (historic Spanish socialist leader, former Minister of Defence during the Civil War) linked the growing sympathy that Agirre acquired in the electorate to his past as a member of Athletic’s forward line.
José Antonio Agirre addressing the Basque people.
Photo Credit: WikiWand
As mayor, he chaired the committee of mayors of the country in favour of the Statute of Autonomy for the Basque Country. On 1 October 1936, the Spanish Parliament passed the act. On 7 October, the Basque mayors, meeting in Gernika, unanimously elected José Antonio Agirre, leader of the PNV, as the first lehendakari of Euzkadi.
His government was formed after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. This extraordinary and emergency situation, together with Lehendakari Agirre's own conciliatory character, allowed his government to be endorsed and made up by a coalition of Basque nationalists, socialists, republicans and communists, i.e. the democratic forces.
Agirre concentrated most of the government powers. As opposed to any other war zone, he guaranteed respect for religious freedom, the security of the Catholic Church, the maintenance of public order, fair trials and submission to the ordinary jurisdiction of enemy prisoners, the respect for private property and political pluralism. His government built up a Basque administration of its own that absorbed almost all the powers of a state, following the PNV's political programme of creating a ‘Basque state’. Thus, Agirre turned Euzkadi, the first legal- political modern Basque entity, into a small semi-independent state. He maintained foreign relations through his delegations abroad, especially in France and Britain. He created the Basque police force (Ertzaintza), established the co-official status of the Basque language and the promotion of the national identity of the Basque people.
The historical context during which he governed led to a concentration of efforts in the field of warfare: he formed the regular army of Euzkadi (the Euzko Gudarostea), which grew to 100,000 soldiers, and he personally assumed its command. He also created the heroic Basque navy (Euzko Itsas Gudarostea / the Auxiliary Navy of Euzkadi).
Despite all efforts, the Basque Government was unable to cope with the military superiority of the rebel Spanish army, especially when it came to air force, as the bombardments of the Basque cities of Durango and Gernika evidenced. Agirre had to deal with the Nazi bombing of the town of Gernika, a sacred symbol of Basque tradition and freedom. Gernika had a population of around five thousand inhabitants at the time, no anti-aircraft defence, and was not a military target. The bombing took place on 26 April 1937, a Monday, which was the rural market day in the town. The brutal bombing and subsequent fire caused the destruction of 70% of the city's buildings. The Basque Government gave an official death toll of more than one 1,500 dead, which was corroborated by the international press. The day after the bombing, Lehendakari Agirre issued a note denouncing the Nazi air force at the service of the Spanish fascists:
‘They have tried to wound us in the most sensitive part of our patriotic feelings, showing once again what Euzkadi can expect from those who do not hesitate to destroy even the sanctuary that recalls centuries of our freedom and democracy’.
Franco knew that German aircrafts were responsible for the disaster, but he could not admit it publicly. Francoist propaganda, however, did not hesitate to attribute responsibility to Agirre himself:
‘Guernica has been set on fire and turned into ruins by the red-separatist hordes in the service of the criminal Aguirre, president of the republic of Euzkadi. The fire took place yesterday and Aguirre has launched the infamous lie -because he is a common criminal- of attributing this crime to the heroic and noble aviation of our National Army. If the holy tree of Guernica has perished in the catastrophe, it is Aguirre and his people who have caused it to perish. The Basques and the whole world must know that Aguirre has burnt Guernica. There is no other truth than this, which is the only truth.’
This accusation was crucially refuted by an impartial witness: the British war correspondent George Steer, whose chronicles of the bombing of Gernika were published by The Times in London. In these publications Georges Steer (author of The Tree of Gernika: A field study of Modern War) did have words for Agirre:
‘Back in the day, José Antonio had been a great football player. There was something very sportive in his way of seeing things. He was once again captain of a team which, even at the risk of losing [the war], was prepared to obey the rules of the game and the referee.’
In fact, Agirre was a European forerunner in envisioning a new type of propaganda to promote a political cause throughout the nations of Europe and America: putting football at the service of the democratic side's cause.
In 1937, the first lehendakari encouraged and actively promoted the organisation of the first official Basque national football team, the proudly recalled Euzkadi team. The aim behind the creation of this team was to raise funds for the Basque Government's social assistance and aid, and to expand the political cause abroad.
7 out of the 17 players who made up the team were Athletic players. The Euzkadi national team managed to forge a legendary track record, full of triumphs, taking the Basque cause and the cause of freedom and democracy around the world. It made its debut with a 3-0 win over the French league champions, Racing Paris, at the Parc des Princes in Paris. They defeated Olympique Marseille 5-1. The team completed an international tour in the Soviet Union (an ally of the Republican side) with a great sportive, economic and political echo. During this tour, Euzkadi played matches in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia. Euzkadi won against Lokomotiv (5-1), Dynamo Moscow (2-1 and 7-4), Dynamo Kiev (3-1), Dynamo Tbilisi (2-0), and Dynamo Minsk (6-1).
The Euzkadi team during their tour.
Photo Credit: WikiMedia Commons
The Basque national team played matches and collected multiple victories against international counterparts: 3-1 against Georgia, 2-1 against Czechoslovakia, 3-1 against Norway, and a stunning 11-1 against Denmark.
After the fall of Bilbao, the team crossed the Atlantic and kept playing in Mexico (where they won 13 of their 17 matches) and Cuba (where they won practically every match they played). Once the civil war was over, with the victory of the fascist side, the team was disbanded. Many of its players stayed in America, even playing in the Mexican League under the name of Club Deportivo Euzkadi in the 1938-39 season, fighting for the title.
Indeed, on 19 June 1937, Bilbao fell with the entry of Franco's army. Consequently, Agirre held the Basque Government in Paris until 1940. After the German invasion of France, Agirre managed to flee to Belgium, where he began an odyssey to escape from Nazi-occupied Europe and from the Gestapo, by whom he was wanted. From Dunkirk to Brussels, via Berlin, under a false identity, and from there to Sweden, where he finally embarked for America, the United States government authorised him to reside legally in their country. In New York he established and led the Basque Government in exile. In 1946, he returned to France, where the Basque Government was once again set up. Agirre finally died in Paris of a heart attack on 22 March 1960, in exile. Fulfilling his wish to return to Basque soil, his remains were brought to the Basque town of Donibane Lohizune, in North Basque Country (part of the French state), where he was buried.
Agirre always was a staunch Athletic supporter. After his retirement, he became a member of the club during the mandate of Manuel de la Sota, another Basque nationalist who endorsed Agirre personally in his capacity of president of the club to formalise his membership. To this day, Athletic Club still keeps Agirre’s original membership card: ‘Gentleman card. Stand seat 430’.
Agirre’s Membership Card.
Photo Credit: Athletic Club
However, Athletic did not remain safe from the repression that shook the Basque Country with the implementation of the new Franco regime, and the club was a target for the new authorities. In December 1940, the Spanish Football Federation issued an order mandating the elimination of all foreign names: henceforth, the club would be called ‘Atlético de Bilbao’. By 1944, members, ex-presidents, directors and ex-players were purged from the club's records because of their ideological affiliation, mainly Basque nationalists. This purge encompassed almost 40% of the club's membership at the time. Of course, among them was member number 285: Lehendakari Agirre, whose name was literally crossed off the club's register and excluded from the club.
In 2010, the Athletic Club board, headed by its then president Fernando García Macua, re- established the names of the victims in the club's registry and posthumously awarded Lehendakari Agirre the club's gold and brilliant insignia, the highest decoration.
Agirre remembered in statue and cariacature.
Photo Credit: Athletic Club