Aitor Lagunas, accompanied by special guest Lander Otaola, hosted the second day of ‘Letras y Fútbol’ on Wednesday with a live recording of the ‘Brazalete Negro’ podcast
Wednesday evening’s ‘Letters and Football’ event was a very special sesion in which Aitor Lagunas, a journalist and writer specialising in foreign football, recounted a bizarre and wonderful story that took place in France in 1979 for his ‘Brazalete Negro’ podcast.
The live recording of the episode featured also featued Lander Otaola, a Basque actor and Athletic Club fan, who dramatised several parts of the story.
A group of trade unionists from the city of Nantes could think of no better way to draw attention to the plight of the town of Longwy than by stealing the French Cup (Coupe’79) that FC Nantes had just won.
As Aitor Lagunas said at the beginning of the podcast: “This is the story of the 700 kilometres that separate a run-down working-class town in France, on the border with Belgium, from a pretty, affluent city where the River Loire has the scent of the Atlantic.
“This is the story of the four men who travelled the length and breadth of the country in a car, dreaming that a football cup could curb capitalism’s voracious appetite. This is the story of a right-wing singer who supports the workers and a man in a yellow jersey who couldn’t care less about them. This is the story of a club shaped by an exile from Bilbao – José Arribas – who won whilst the market allowed him to. This is a story with no winners.”
Speaking of José Arribas, Athletic Club featured a profile of the legendary FC Nantes manager in issue 28 of its official magazine in 2010.
Aitor and Lander re-enacted the events that took place between 6 and 13 August 1979. It was a script worthy of Hollywood, with a closing line on a par with films such as ‘Casablanca’ (“Louis, I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”) or ‘Some Like It Hot’ (“Well, nobody’s perfect”).
When the time came to return the cup to its rightful owner, one of the trade unionists apologised, saying: “We’ve looked after it very carefully… We haven’t even drunk from it.”
‘Letters and football’
‘Letters and football’ is a cultural festival organised by the Athletic Club Foundation, with special sponsorship from the Meliá Bilbao hotel and support from the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Culture and Sport.
