An Open Letter to Opposition Fans (esp. Other Offside Writers)
By: Paul | October 6th, 2009
Dear fans of other teams and especially Offside writers for Athletic’s opponents,
NEVER refer to Athletic Club Bilbao as “Bilbao”. You may have noticed me coming in commenting on posts by recent opponents saying this, but I decided to write this so everybody is aware that the team’s name is not Bilbao.
So what should we call them? Acceptable “official” names are Athletic Club Bilbao (the only time it’s 100% acceptable to use “Bilbao” when referring to the team), Athletic Club, Athletic, or, and please use this sparingly, Athletic Bilbao. Unofficial nicknames that can be used are Los Rojiblancos, Los Leones, or Zurigorri. NEVER call them “Bilbao”.
So, you may ask “what’s the problem with that name?” Well, for starters, I’m not even 100% sure that Bilbao is even in the official team name, I believe it’s only on the crest- I’m relatively sure that the official name for the team is Athletic Club- no Bilbao involved. Regular reader and commenter Isabel also explained:
I’ve noticed that calling the team just Bilbao (as opposed to Athletic, Athletic Club or Athletic Bilbao) is quite common amongst non-Spanish supporters. But anyway, here’s a long-ass explanation: Although there was at one point in time a club called Bilbao FC, it was started by the English workers who came to the Basque Country. The Basques saw that and thought that new game was pretty cool and decided to start their own club, taking the name “Athletic Club” the Athletic portion being a sort of homage to the British who introduced the game to us. Then, during the era of the Franquismo, the name was forcibly changed to the “more Spanish” Atlético Bilbao. But once that was over, they reverted back to the way it always was.
The main reason why most Athletic supporters dislike the club being called Bilbao is because in the past and even now, a lot of people use that as a taunt and a reminder of the times we were forced to change our name.
Plus, on a really shallow note, I like the sound of Athletic, Athletic Club or Athletic Bilbao more. (I couldn’t have said it better myself, for a reference to what our friend Isabel is talking about check out wikipedia)
That’s about it. NEVER call them “Bilbao”.
Sincerely,
Paul
P.S. Atletico Bilbao, Athletic de Bilbao, and Athletic Club de Bilbao are also unacceptable (there is no Spanish in the team’s name anywhere).
P.S.S. If you’re a Real Madrid fan, call them whatever you want because I hate your team anyway.
Category: Athletic Bilbao Team News
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*writes this down*
Posted from
United States
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How about ‘the big boys of the Basque country’? Is that acceptable? *awaits backlash*
Posted from
Australia -
I hate your team too, so I will continue to call them Bilbao, Athletic or whatever I want. Maybe I will just refer to them as Vizcaya from now on, since I am a non-European fan who knows nothing about Spanish football.
Posted from
United States -
Go go go go Bilbao!!!! =P
Posted from
United States -
There is a cracking book by Phil Ball called Morbo that covers this
Posted from
United Kingdom -
You should forward this to the ITV commentators as well.
Posted from
United States -
“P.S.S. If you’re a Real Madrid fan, call them whatever you want because I hate your team anyway.”
Love it. Keep up the great work buddy.
Posted from
United States -
Athletic Club is the the official name although Athletic Bilbao is commonly used.
@ Corey: Even die-hard Madridistas in Spain call it Athletic as calling it Bilbao as a taunt has lost its edge due to non-Spaniards using that name so much. Oh and calling it Vizcaya (or Bizkaia) isn’t much of an annoyance as the current Athletic Club was formed from a merger of Bilbao FC and Team Bizkaia.
@ Steve: I’ve read that book and I absolutely love it. It of course focuses a lot on Real Madrid and Barça (which I don’t mind as although I belong to Athletic, Barça and Valenci, at the end of the day I’m just a slave for good football and I enjoy the history and one can’t forget that Real Madrid has played good football and has a lot of history) but it pays great attention to Athletic as well. I also love how he points out that at the mural painted in Sevilla’s Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, Athletic’s name is in the españolizada version of “Atlético Bilbao”. Very interesting stuff.
Posted from
United States -
“P.S. Atletico Bilbao, Athletic de Bilbao, and Athletic Club de Bilbao are also unacceptable (there is no Spanish in the team’s name anywhere).”
This is exactly what I hate about Basques and Catalans; they are geographically in Spain, their teams are in the Spanish league and yet they are so against their own country and language, its almost racist.
Posted from
United States -
What an ignorant comment by Brian, and what disrespect towards the Basques by Corey. Hey I’m not Spanish, I will not pretend I know how Catalans and Basques feel, and therefore I will never judge them on anything like that, you idiots should do the same.
Posted from
United States -
@Brian: Seriously, it’s a FACT that there is no Spanish in Athletic’s name, and if you can prove me wrong on that count I would love you to do it. The team didn’t do it as a snub to Spain, they did it as a tribute to their English founders.
Plus, it’s important to keep in mind that Basques and Catalans are unique people with their own languages and history- Spain is basically dominated by Castillians, so I don’t see how this is much different from the United Kingdom. Should Scots, Welsh, and the Northern Irish all abandon their own cultures just because the English are basically in charge?
Posted from
United States -
I know there is no Spanish in Athletic Bilbao – just the fact that so many Basques and Catalans hate the country and the Spanish language is something I disapprove of.
Posted from
United States -
@ Brian: While I do agree and accept that SOME Basques and SOME Catalans hate Spain and don’t want to a part of it, I think we also have to keep in mind that there are also Basques and Catalans who feel quite comfortable the way things are and have no desire to change that. There are also Basques and Catalans who are on the fence about the issue as this thing isn’t quite split into two sides or black and white, there are grey areas.
Plus, there are so many deep-rooted issues behind Basque and Catalan nationalism so to dismiss their views as simply being racist is quite unfair especially since there are some nationalists who don’t even see themselves as being part of the Iberian race.
I suppose what I’m getting at is that I would hope you at least try to understand that there is more to the issue than simply “Basques and Catalans being racist and hating Spain”. You might not agree with their desires for self-determination but if you try to dig deeper you might, at the very least, see things through their eyes and understand why they don’t feel like a part of Spain like say others do.
Posted from
United States -
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with basically the same thing.
Posted from
United States
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