SPORTS KIROLAK ATHLETIC, REAL AND ALAVÉS ENJOY A GOLDEN SEASON Basque soccer nearly touches heaven The streets of Euskadi swarmed with joyful people because of soccer results. Each of the capitals had a reason to ce- lebrate. In Bilbao, in the year of the cen- tennial, the Athletic gave reasons to dream of a second position in the lea- gue that gives way to the famous Euro- pean “Champions League”. Donostia was all dressed up in white and blue to celebrate the third position, and Vitoria- Gasteiz was just delirious after the pro- motion of “glorious” Alavés to the first division, after 42 years of absence. And as if this was not enough, the Basque victories found in the Real Madrid a convenient “scapegoat”, for Athletic and Real had better positions than the team from Madrid in a season in which the Alavans had eliminated it from the Cup. Practically there is nothing more we could ask for. The night of Friday May 15th, was certainly unusual. In the first place be- cause of the day; we are used to cele- brate soccer matches on Saturdays or Sundays, so that night didn’t seem favo- rable. Moreover the League was still open. Except for the first position, con- quered by the Barcelona team in prece- ding matches, all the rest was still to be decided: the first positions, the teams that would take part in European com- petitions and those to be demoted. So- me domestic quarrels, such as who would get a better position, Athletic or Real, what was going to happen with Real Madrid, etc., also had to be eluci- dated. It was a vibrating night, both for those who were watching the matches from the pitch or on the many retrans- missions broadcast on the radio and te- levision, that kept switching from one pitch to the other. There was nobody on the streets, and the refrigerators of every bar in Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia we- FOTO: AYGÜES re full of champagne bottles eager to be The Real on the other hand, achieved a surpassed them. From that moment on, uncorked. worthy triumph that placed the Donostia towards midnight, all Euskadi left home And it happened. A goal by Joseba team before Real Madrid, which did for a “gau-pasa”, and the whole wee- Etxeberria guaranteed the second posi- more than compensate them for the fact kend was full of feasts, music and mass tion in the League for the Bilbao team. that their neighbors from Athletic had celebrations. ■ 26 SPORTS KIROLAK Vitoria returns to First division after 42 years RIBE O AULINO : P OTOS F José V. Merino the golden division of Spanish soccer, pictures of Jorge Valdano –who be- in 1956, Vitoria was a small provin- came world champion with Argenti- cial town getting ready for one of the na– at the time he landed on Vitoria May the third 1998 was a date most amazing expansions that have barely out of his teens, coming from marked in red in the modest list of mi- taken place in the peninsula. By that the Rosario Newells Old Boys, kept lestones of the white and blue team. time its population was about 68,000 them company. On that date two goals scored by Se- and the rest of Alava amounted to ne- With this background it is not sur- rrano and another one by the local arly 70,000. At present this capital is prising that a crowd of more than 30 idol Sívori took the Alavés to the First a city of 217,000 souls, and in the thousand people gathered under the Division for the third time in its 77 ye- province there are only about 65,000 rain on the day after the exploit, de- ars of history. With the 3-0 against inhabitants. Vitoria has been steadily manding the presence of the soccer the Rayo Vallecano, no only the Men- luring thousands of people from su- heroes. There were people of all dizorroza team became one of the rrounding regions for 4 decades, ages, among them a grandfather with twenty teams of the next Stars Lea- mainly because of the industrial his grandson on top of him saying: gue, one of the best in the world, but growth experienced by this city. “look at them, my son. The last time Vitoria also gained prestige. “This is Between both dates the city com- we were in the First I had just finished going to be the icing on the cake, a pletely reshaped its face, while the my military service 42 years and two result worthy of a good capital like Alavés wandered through a kind of generations ago. Aupa Alavés!” Vitoria, which will have from now on trip in the desert, without many suc- A week after these celebrations, a team in the élite, a team that will cesses to remember. This team, consi- Lehendakari José Antonio Ardanza become the symbol of a city without dered as a Second Division Barcelo- declared in an article published in El symbols”. Those were the words of na, because of its flourishing eco- Correo that “we never lost hope of Gonzalo Antón, the strong man in the nomy, entered a downward spiral in seeing Alavés among the best, as the club, who was overflowing with joy the eighties, when they lost the op- hymn says. Now the difficult part although he had not yet fully digested portunity of promotion to Osasuna has been achieved, and while the the victory. The statements of the di- from Navarre. The club even sunk to old pitch of Mendizorroza is renova- rectors of the club, apart from the Third Division for debts, and in its ne- ted and made up for the next cam- very understandable satisfaction, we- arly empty showcases there were only paign, we face the even more diffi- re rooted in the few occasions this the remains of the glorious days in cult task of keeping the club on the club has lived such sweet moments. which Jacinto Quincoces and Ciriaco “trainera” of the best, with a modest The last time “The Glorious” reached Errasti were the team stars. Faded budget”. ■ 27 DEPORTES KIROLAK SPORTS KIROLAK 100 years through its leading characters here are two ways of telling the history in soccer. The first one is based on data, statistics, figures and dates. The second one T turning to its leading characters. These men who have enjoyed popular fervor and whose exploits, achievements and even anec- dotes have been told from one generation to the next. This is how Athletic has created its own “mythology”. Pedro Mari Goikoetxea RAFAEL MORENO “PICHICHI” This is doubtless the first great myth of the red and white history. The chroni- cles of the time tell that “Pichichi” was renown for his demolishing kick, his in- telligence and his tricks to confuse the rivals. His talent for soccer made of him a real idol for the masses, and his name has always been a synonym for goal. That is why “Pichichi” has meant for se- veral decades, best goal-scorer. He was the author of the first goal in San Ma- més in 1913, and he won the silver me- dal in the Antwerp Olympic Games (1920). The painter Aurelio Arteta im- mortalized him in one of his paintings, and his bust occupies a place of honor in the soccer “Cathedral”, San Mamés. The goal legend died under thirty, in 1922, a short while after he abandoned The Captain of the Brazilian Selection placed flowers on the monument to Pichichi before soccer, apparently because of typhoid the match played to celebrate the centennial of Athletic. fever caught after eating foul oysters. His death, premature and strange, en- ciedad that took place in Atotxa, a lauste entered in history as the embodi- hanced the myth. clash between Belauste and Arrate star- ment of fury and strength. ted a real battle and brought about the BELAUSTE suspension of the match. MISTER PENTLAND Anyway Belauste won his place in José María Belaustegigoitia Paga- history because of a sentence he pro- He was the coach who won more zaurtundua, contemporary and friend nounced during the match between prizes in the history of Athletic. He took of “Pichichi”, shared with him the habit Spain and Sweden in the Antwerp charge of the Bilbao team in 1922 and of playing often with a handkerchief on Olympic Games (1920). His colleague thanks to his work the players became his head. However the style of this pla- Sabino, another Athletic player, was professional. He changed the training yer had little to do with that of the Bil- about to commit foul play when Belaus- systems and their periodicity. During his bao goal-scorer. With an impressive te shouted to him “A mí el pelotón, Sa- first stage he won a Cup title. After an physique and a great capacity for ag- bino, que los arrollo” (throw me the absence of 4 seasons, Mister Pentland gression, he was practically impossible ball, Sabino, I’ll knock them down). He returned to the helm of the red and whi- to stop. His fury caused great admira- did just as he said. Belauste shot the ball te team with an unprecedented success. tion among the red and white suppor- with the head and threw it into the net The Athletic team added 2 leagues and ters, but it also brought him some trou- knocking down several Swedish defen- 4 cups to the already overflowing show- bles. During a match against Real So- ders in the process.