Muniain and Williams — The Times They Are A-Changin’
In one of the more traditional and passionate teams in all of Spain, there is a subtle and silent change happening in the Basque area. Athletic Bilbao, one of the oldest and proudest of its values, is adapting to the new times, while attempting to maintain itself true to its roots.
Athletic Bilbao is a team that only accepts players with Basque heritage on its ranks, a tradition that lasted on the clubs of its area until the 80’s. Its bitter rivals, Real Sociedad, also used the same idea until the signing of John Aldridge from Liverpool in the late 80’s, while the rojiblancos maintained their rules. Yet, in the last ten years, some changes would appear in these rather strict, nationalist rules.
Other possibilities of getting into the Athletic side now is that players that are products of canteras of Basque teams can play for Athletic, even though they might not be of Basque heritage or Basque-born. This way, a kid born in Mali, as an example, but based in Bilbao can dream playing for their home team, just as he was granted a “Basque Citizenship” for being on the Basque country for quite some time.
A more inclusive approach was also made to find promising players from abroad of the region of Bizkaia, where Bilbao is located. An influx of players from Araba, Gipuzkoa and Nafarroa (where both of our featured players come from) started to happen in the Lezama training field, with the youngsters from these places starting to flourish.
Iker Muniain is a short, creative and really premature player, who shone on the Leones first team at only 16 years old. Born in Pamplona, he started his career playing in the youth team of Txantrea when he was noted by Athletic’s scouts who saw a promising player. He may look like a veteran, due to his time in the first team — almost 10 years on the side — , but the diminutive midfielder can create havoc cutting inside from the left wing or playing as a number 10.
Iñaki Williams is a tall, fast and highly technical player that can act in the wings or as a number 9. Born in Bilbao, son of Ghanaian and Liberian parents, he was only the second black footballer to play professionally for Athletic — the first being Jonás Ramalho, son of Angolan and Basque parents. Not due to racism, rather than a rigid tradition of accepting only Basque-born/Basque descendants. With the more influx of foreigners to the Basque region, athleticzales like Iñaki now can afford to play for their beloved team.
Even more than that, the best part of the dynamic duo is that they are part of these changes in the youth recruitment, while also being best friends.
Iñaki and Iker’s addition to the Basque side brings freshness into a traditional side, while also maintaining the close to home and honouring the shirt by playing for his childhood clubs. For that, just as Bob Dylan would sing: The Times, They Are A-Changin’. And that’s just great.
