Football and the Spanish Civil War: Beyond El Clásico

07/08/2019  -  4.30

Alex Alexandrou and Louie Alexandrou

Much is made about the El Clásico rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid with its antecedents in the Spanish Civil War that raged between 1936-1939. Barcelona supposedly representing the Republicans and Real Madrid supposedly representing the Nationalists with no other part of Spain involved if you are an alien that has just landed on planet earth and have come across this bitter footballing rivalry.

However, there is much more to football and the Spanish Civil War and this was vividly brought to the fore at the International Brigade Memorial Trust’s (IBMT)18^th Len Crome Conference that took place earlier on this year at the Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

The writer, presenter and researcher Daniel Gray, author of Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War, gave a presentation highlighting the plight of Basque children and the role football played in many of their lives. He told the tale of six Basque refugee children – Emilio Aldecoa, Sabino Barinaga, Jose Bilbao, Antonio Gallego and Raimundo Perez Lezama, who all became professional footballers in England.

In the Spring of 1937, the Nationalists aided by their Italian Fascist and German Nazi counterparts attacked the Basque region with such ferocity, in what would prove to be the testing ground for the “Total War” concept, killing several thousand Basques, with the greatest atrocity occurring at Guernica, that has become a symbol of this conflict. Notably, through Picasso’s depiction of it in one of his most famous and haunting pieces of work. This led to the decision to evacuate close on 40,000 children to various parts of Europe and the USSR, so they would be spared the brutality of what was to come in the remainder of the war.

At first, the British Government led by Stanley Baldwin, the Prime Minister, stuck to its “non- interventionist” stance by refusing to accept Basque children to be taken in but eventually bowed to public pressure. They were brought to Britain on the converted cruise liner named Habana, arriving at Southampton. From where, they were dispersed around Britain, being looked after by members from all strata of British society. Football became a pleasurable pastime for many whilst for six boys it changed their lives.

Emilio Aldecoa was spotted playing for an English Electric works team and was signed by Wolverhampton Wanderers becoming not only the first Spaniard to play professional football in England but the club’s top goalscorer in the 1943-44 wartime football season. He went on to play for Coventry City, where for six matches he played alongside his compatriot Jose Bilbao.

Sabino Barinaga and Raimundo Perez Lezama both played for Southampton’s youth team with Raimundo playing in goal for the first team three times. Brothers Antonio and Jose Gallego were signed by Cambridge City (then a non-league team) were they both excelled. Antonio was signed by Norwich City but it did not work out for him and he returned to Cambridge City. Whilst Jose signed for Brentford and went on to play for Southampton and Colchester United before he too followed his brother back to Cambridge City.

Not all these young men returned to their homeland. Those that did, carried on playing football and seemed to have escaped the repercussions that were wrought on many of their fellow Basques by the brutal Franco regime.

Emilio Aldecoa played for Athletico Bilbao, Valladolid and Barcelona; Sabino Barinaga played for Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Real Betis; and Raimundo Perez Lezama played for Arena then Athleticio Bilbao.

The evacuated Basque children are still remembered in Britain, principally through The Association for the UK Basque Children (BCA ’37 UK). The Association was set up in 2002 to honour and remember the young children who had to flee the fighting in their homeland, some for a brief period and others who did not return. Primarily, the Association is involved in educational and research activities based around firstly, collecting and archiving artefacts and documents. Secondly, telling the story of the exiled children through publications as well as exhibitions and workshops for schools, local history societies, universities and any other group or organisation who is interested in this fascinating subject. The Association has a website - basquechildren.org with a reference section you can browse and read more on the experiences of the Basque children in Britain including more on how football became so important to them. The Association has a number of publications that can either be ordered online via the website or why not visit its stall when it is next set up at a forthcoming IBMT or related Spanish Civil War event.

Sid Lowe, The Guardian’s Spanish football correspondent and author of Fear and Loathing in La Liga: Barcelona vs Real Madrid, highlighted in his talk at the conference, that more Basque refugees fled the war in the form of the Basque National Team. Between 1937-1939, the team toured and played around Europe, visiting France, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Russia, then on to Norway and Denmark before crossing continents and landing in Argentina, where the Basques were not allowed to play. However, they did play in both Cuba and Mexico, followed by being invited to play in the Mexican League, where they finished as runners-up. As Sid pointed out, this tour proved to be both a humanitarian and political mission.

Of particular interest, was a rare opportunity to watch the full version of the film – With the Lincoln Brigade, that was directed by Henri Cartier Bresson and first released in 1938 (a short excerpt can be found on You Tube). This was courtesy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA). The black and white silent film gives an insight into the behind the line lives of the volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade whilst they were fighting in Spain. There was footage of Brigade members playing football whilst recuperating from injuries. Football was also used by the International Brigades to develop camaraderie as the Brigades was split up into teams and played against each other. For example, on ALBA’s website in its blog section, there is an excerpt from an issue of The Volunteer (magazine set up by veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade) reporting on a match between the Officers and Commissars of the British Battalion and the Officers and Commissars of the Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion (affectionally known as the Mac-Paps). The headline read - How the English Trimmed the Mac-Paps “Futbal” Whiskers - which gives you a fair idea as to who won the game!

Sid Lowe pointed out that among the International Brigades was Bosko Petrovic, a Yugoslav pilot shot down in 1937, who had also represented his country at football.

There you have it, there is more to Football and the Spanish Civil War than El Clásico.

Biographical Information

Alex Alexandrou is the co-founder and convenor for the Football and War Network.

Louie Alexandrou is a budding military historian and student at Linslade Academy.