This Saturday’s match between Athletic Club de Bilbao and Espanyolcorresponding to the tenth day of First Divisionwill start with controversy, and not precisely for sporting reasons. The Gipuzkoan club announced this Thursday that before the initial whistle, scheduled for 2:00 p.m., it will pay tribute to the mountaineer Martin Zabaletathe first Spaniard and Basque to reach the mythical summit of Everest, back in 1980. A decision that has divided the fans of the lions, since one part did not like that a mountaineer who celebrated wearing an ikurriña with the ETA emblem that feat that Athletic itself describes as “an incontestable success that filled a society in need of positive news with pride.”
The detail of the logo of the terrorist group, which accompanied another against nuclear energy, has gone unnoticed by the club, which in his official statement announced that “Martin Zabaleta and the Sherpa Pasang Temba, the first to place the Basque flag at the summit of the Everest On May 14, 1980, they will take the kick-off in San Mamés this Saturday in the clash against RCD Espanyol.
«On Saturday, October 19, at 2:00 p.m., they will appear together on the San Mamés playing field, accompanied by José Ángel Iribar and Álex Txikonto take the kick-off before the match between Athletic Club and RCD Espanyol. The fans, the same ones that vibrated 45 years ago glued to the radio bulletins and newspaper headlines that opened with the Basque success on Everest, will pay tribute to them in La Catedral,” he adds.
The reunion of Zabaleta and Temba for this controversial tribute on the lawn of ‘the Cathedral’ coincides with the celebration of the centenary of the Basque-Navarra Mountaineering Federation.
The announcement of this kick-off has caused a considerable stir among Athletic Club fans, since a part has not hesitated to show its discomfort at the tribute on social networks.
The day before the massacre that we remember today, the Basque mountaineer Martín Zabaleta crowned Everest and proudly left the ikurriña with the logo of #ETA : “I personally assume the slogan.” It was the year in which ETA murdered the most: 1980.#memory pic.twitter.com/aPrwQEM07V
— Consuelo Ordóñez (@ConsuorF) May 15, 2020
The image of Martín Zabaleta next to the ikurriña with the ETA logo was already criticized in its day, and has not ceased to be remembered by personalities such as Consuelo Ordóñez, sister of PP councilor Gregorio Ordóñez, murdered by the terrorist group, and in currently president of the Collective of Victims of Terrorism.
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