Athletic, Athletic, zu zara nagusia...

The Bilbao Athletic played the Barcelona Football Club in the Copa del Rey final this week. Picture the Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final times ten.

The Athletic are unlike any other football team in the league in that all their players are from the Basque Country, while big-budget teams like Barcelona recruit the best players from around the world. Athletic fans are particularly rabid, as their fandom is tied up in nationalism. Some even consider the Himno del Athletic (sung here by hundreds of school children), the unofficial national anthem of the Basque Country.

The anticipation of the Copa final was incredible. Thirty thousand Basques took time off work to fly to Valencia for the final. Here in Bilbao, storefronts and balconies had been flying the red and white Athletic flag for weeks. Kids and teachers alike came to school in red and white. Several huge screens were set up all around the city, and the San Mamés stadium was sold out for an evening of music and the game on the big screen. Thousands and thousands of people, dressed in red and white, filled the streets as of the afternoon for the 10pm game.

But they lost the game. The ecstatic buzz that was in the air before the game turned into palpable disappointment. But the pride that Bilbainos have for their team meant that most people partied into the wee hours in spite of the letdown, as if to prove their unconditional love for the Athletic. But unlike Canada or the US after such a stunning loss, there was very little violence: very few fights, no rioting, and only a bit of vandalism.

Friday afternoon the Athletic returned to Bilbao from Valencia. The crowd that came out to see the team give a speech on the balcony of the town hall, and the city-wide party that ensued, was almost as impressive as Wednesday night. In any case, more than you'd expect for the losing team, or, the sub-campeones as they were being called on the Athletic website.