The Return To Football
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ScribdTranslationsThe Return To Football
Uploaded by
ScribdTranslationsIKER RUIZ DEL BARCO
@elefutbol
The
return
to
football
in 80 stories
Today's Topics
IKER RUIZ DEL BARCO THE RETURN TO
FOOTBALL IN 80 STORIES
Today's Topics
© Iker Ruiz del Barco, 2024
Proofreading by Harrys Salswach
for the illustrations, © Gastón Mendieta, 2024
© Editorial Planeta, S. A., 2024
Today's Topics, a publishing house of Editorial Planeta, S. TO.
Avda. Diagonal, 662-664, 08034 Barcelona (Spain)
www.planetadelibros.com
First edition: November 2024
ISBN: 978-84-10293-21-2
Legal deposit: B. 17.897-2024
Composition: Maria Garcia
Printing and binding: Huertas Industrias Gráficas, S. TO.
Printed in Spain - Printed in Spain
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INDEX
Heating
INDEX..............................................................................................9
THE MAN WHO DIED OF PIERroberto Baggio.......................23
THE ORIGIN..................................................................................25
OF PHILOSOPHY.........................................................................25
Second
INDEX..............................................................................................9
THE MAN WHO DIED OF PIERroberto Baggio.......................23
THE ORIGIN..................................................................................25
OF PHILOSOPHY.........................................................................25
PART ONE
THE MAN WHO
DIED OF
PIERroberto Baggio
Year 1970. Fiorindo Baggio, Roberto's father, could not hide
his sad face after Italy's defeat in the World Cup final. A
painful 4-1 victory for that Brazil of Pelé, Jairzinho and
Gerson, caused tears to fall from a man who had to be
consoled by his three-year-old son. Robie, as he was called
then, hugged his father's leg and said: "Relax, Dad, I will
beat Brazil, I will win a World Cup for you."
And we don't know if it was God or just chance, but in
1994, fate put Roberto Baggio in a World Cup final, and by
chance it was against Brazil. The match ended in a penalty
shoot-out after a timid 0-0 draw.
Brazil scored three of the first four; Italy, just two. The
fifth and last one was for him, Roberto Baggio, who had just
won the Ballon d'Or that same season and had reached the
final, having an almost Maradona-like World Cup. The man
who had promised his father to win a World Cup against
23
THE RETURN TO FOOTBALL IN 80 STORIES
Brazil. The eyes of the entire planet were on him. It was
Italy's last hope. He took two steps back, huffed, but ended
up sending the ball sky high. Silence invaded all the houses
in Italy. On the pitch, Roberto Baggio looked down at the
ground with his arms akimbo. It was not a simple image of
defeat. It was as if that prodigy had lost its soul. Never
before has such a devastating image been seen on a football
field. Infinite sadness could be seen in his eyes. The
representation of a frustrated dream. The broken promise of
a child who one day swore to his father something he could
never give him. Nothing and no one could console him for
more than five years. He even had nightmares about that
penalty for a long time.
And after that, a phrase began to become popular in
Italy: "Socrates died poisoned, but Baggio died standing."
24
THE ORIGIN
OF PHILOSOPHY
Athletic Club
Year 1911. Spanish football was still learning to walk. Eight
years ago, in 1908, the country's first official competition
was born: the Copa del Rey, initially known as the Spanish
Championship.
A year earlier, Athletic Club had been proclaimed
champion and demanded to play the 1911 edition in
Vizcaya. On April 9 of that same year, a few hours before
the start of the tournament, Real Sociedad, under the name
of Vasconia Sporting Club, reported to the Spanish
Federation the presence of two English footballers who did
not comply with the regulations. So, for a foreigner to
compete in the Spanish Championship, he had to prove that
he had been living in the country for more than six months.
Sloop and Martin, British forwards for the Bilbao team, were
accused of breaking the rules. Both had been hired regularly
for this tournament, but, according to the Basques, they had
been in Bilbao for more than six months.
25
THE RETURN TO FOOTBALL IN 80 STORIES
The Federation allowed them to continue playing the
championship. On April 9, they won 2-0 against Fortuna de
Vigo, with goals from Sloop himself and Andrew Veitch, a
third English footballer who was able to prove his six
months of residence in Spain. The following day, the
Spanish Federation of Football Clubs rejected Real
Sociedad's complaint and the San Sebastian team decided to
withdraw from the tournament. Hours later, Barcelona beat
Gimnástica de Madrid 4-0, but the Catalan team was
denounced for fielding four foreign players. Although the
FECF ordered the match to be replayed so that it would be
played only with Spanish players, Barça refused and decided
to withdraw from the competition.
In the semi-final, Athletic beat Gimnástica de Madrid 2-
0, although the team from the capital decided not to take to
the field in the second half. The people of Madrid left,
claiming that they were going to miss the train back home.
Rather than learning to walk, Spanish football was still
crawling. It was clearly an amateur structure without any
kind of cohesion between the clubs. The regulations and -
rules of the competitions were still being developed and
disagreements between them often came to light.
On April 15, 1911, the final between Athletic Club and
Club Deportivo Español of Barcelona was played on the
Jolaseta field in Getxo. The people of Bilbao, for fear that
the Federation would impose some kind of sanction on them,
de-
They decided to take the field without the controversial
Sloop and Martin. Andrew Veicht was the only British
26
player in the team's ranks and, in turn, the last foreign player
to wear the Athletic Club shirt. The txuri-gorris ended up
winning 3-1 in that final.
With the clubs completely divided, the Federation
sought a way to end the conflict in the following season, and
prevented the participation of foreign footballers.
Furthermore, the trophy was withdrawn from Athletic and,
although it was later re-validated, the Bilbao team abstained
from attending the 1912 edition as a form of protest.
The years went by and Athletic began to draw only on
footballers from the province of Vizcaya. From 1926
onwards, they began to incorporate players from Guipuzcoa,
Alava, Navarre and some others from the Basque territory.
Between 1947 and 1948, the Franco dictatorship allowed -
Spanish clubs to sign foreign players. It was then that teams
like Real Madrid and Barcelona began to bring in players
like Puskas, Di Stéfano and Kubala. Athletic, however,
mired in a delicate economic situation, then realised that it
had been playing only with Basque footballers for decades
and began to incorporate the story of "philosophy" until it
became the cornerstone of the club's identity.
Any philosophy is born from a journey of growth and
discovery. In the case of Athletic Club, the seed of its
identity took root on the football fields of a Spain that was
still learning what this sport was. Antonio Machado said:
"Traveler, there is no path, the path is made by walking."
This is how Athletic began to forge its own path, with its
own identity that no other club in the world has dared to
follow, until it became something more than a football team:
27
THE RETURN TO FOOTBALL IN 80 STORIES
a cultural symbol for all the Basque people. That is why
Bilbao proudly boasts of this philosophy, of this way of
dreaming that has also kept it in the First Division, which
shows us that values and identity are above any title.
Because at the end of the day it is these ideals that define us
and guide us on our path.
That's why every time I'm asked what Athletic Club is, I
always answer the same: dreaming.
Because San Mamés continues to be filled with dreams
every weekend.
Because all the children of Bilbao dream of playing for
Athletic.
It is the dream that the grandfather leaves as an
inheritance to his grandson.
It is dreaming about those idols who left their mark on
the history of the club.
It is dreaming about the present and the future.
It is dreaming of making more people happy.
It is dreaming of overcoming obstacles, of defying
expectations.
It is dreaming of living with passion, loving intensely,
even if only for an instant, the stranger at our side.
It is dreaming of wearing the shield on your chest as a -
banner of pride.
It is dreaming of playing with those of the land, being
part of a philosophy and dying with it if necessary.
Because Athletic Club is that: a way of dreaming.
Football, believe me, is secondary.
28
