NEWCASTLE UNITED AND ATHLETIC CLUB - HOW ALIKE ARE WE REALLY?

Written by John Hird

“The game is about making sporting memories but occasionally, joyously, about making friends. Sounds like Newcastle United and Athletic Club fans did that in style tonight, strengthening friendships begun in 1994 in Bilbao” 

Henry Winter - Football writer

The party atmosphere around town during the visit of Athletic Club for the Champions League match on November 4th was a sight to behold and what football should be about.

WorFlags celebrated the bonds between the two sets of fans as did all ‘official’ and not so official NUFC fan groups.

Previous to the match Mick Martin wrote in the fanzine True Faith:

 “… it is Athletic Club Bilbao who I’ve long considered most like Newcastle United, city, support and the nature of the club itself.”

The North East football press, fanzines and fan groups all agree there is a special bond between the two clubs. 

On social media some NUFC fans took the opportunity to mock the Sunderland supporters’ group, the Bilbao Black Cats,who are based in the Basque Country, for highlighting the historic links between the two clubs. Unfortunately, neither that ‘banter’ nor the previously mentioned coverage addresses the elephant in the room.

Just how similar are Athletic and Newcastle United, as regards, “city, support and the nature of the club itself.”? 

It’s true that Bilbao, Newcastle and yes Sunderland too are proud working class cities with an industrial past based on shipbuilding, engineering, iron and coal.

The love and passion for football is central to the identity of Bilbainos and Geordies. No doubt about that. However, there are important differences which  professional journalists, fanzine editors and NUFC fan groups have a duty to address.

Firstly, Athletic are a fan owned club. The president and board of directors are elected by the ‘socios’ (members) who decide the policy of the club, such as playing only with Basque players.

Newcastle United on the other hand are owned by the human rights abusing Saudi regime. The Chairman of the club, Yasir al-Rumayyan is the right-hand man of the chief Saudi dictator, Mohammed bin Salman.  

Secondly, Athletic Club and particularly the fanbase have a progressive, pro-human rights set of principles. Like Celtic fans, Athletic fans have shown massive solidarity with the people of Gaza during the genocide. They ignored the prohibition of flying the Palestinian flag at matches imposed by La Liga. Finally, the club itself, under pressure from the fans on Saturday, October 4th, publicly called for an end to the genocide. Honey Thaljieh, Co-founder of women’s football in Palestine, 1st Captain of the Palestinian national team and Athletic Club’s 125th anniversary ambassador, a group of Palestinian refugees in the Basque Country, and representatives from UNRWA received a show of support at San Mamés before the Athletic Club vs RCD Mallorca kick off. 

The Saudi owners of Newcastle United meanwhile are persecuting Saudi citizens and Palestinians who protest against the genocide. Agence France-Presse correspondents confirmed on 13 October that they witnessed Saudi police tying up a worshiper who had chanted, “Speak about Palestine; Gaza is under attack,” to the imam during Friday prayers. Police vehicles were positioned in front of other mosques throughout the city, according to the news agency.

"The Saudi authorities’ denial of citizens’ freedoms to peaceful assembly and demonstration is notable when it comes to Palestinians and Palestinian solidarity efforts in the country. Saudi authorities have launched campaigns of arbitrary arrests against Palestinians in recent years, and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has confirmed that depriving these people of their freedom is discriminatory as it is based on their Palestinian national origin.”

To highlight these issues, NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing teamed up with Newcastle Palestine Solidarity Campaign on match day to hand out Palestinian flags to Athletic fans and the response was overwhelming. Fans took the flags, marched with them and had them inside St James’ Park. This simple act of solidarity by Athletic fans should be a point of reflection for Newcastle fans.

Before the takeover of Newcastle United by the Saudi state, many fan groups, official and unofficial, pledged to ‘keep talking about human rights’. Wor Flags even said in 2020: "If we felt that the Saudis were abusing women's rights, we would consider a display featuring a female fan in a black and white top."

Five years later not one fan group or fanzine has shown even the slightest solidarity with the countless victims of the club’s owners, despite being asked to by NUFCFAS and human rights groups.

Wor Flags have not put Saudi women like Manahel al-Otaibi in a black and white top in a flag display. Manahel was arrested and unjustly jailed, abused and tortured just for supporting women’s rights on social media. However, Wor Flags did do a display featuring Yasir al-Rumayyan, who as well as being Mohammed bin Salman’s man at the club is also a governor of the PIF which has been directly linked to human rights abuses.

The visit of Athletic Club to Newcastle was an authentic celebration of football and of the bonds between the two sets of fans, but we really need to learn from our Basque friends. They have given us an inspiring lesson in solidarity. Let’s take heed of the lesson.

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