Jon Uriarte, the president of Athletic, denounced on Thursday, at an Ertzaintza police station in the center of Bilbao, the threats made to him by an ultra fan of the club, at the end of the . After the clash, in which the public address system and video scoreboards asked five times for the insults to stop from the stands, Uriarte, who has always been belligerent with the radicals, was walking with two other people on the corner of Licensed Poza Street. with Doctor Areilza, an area full of bars, where the fans gathered after leaving the field, when one of them, part of a group of five people, shouted at him: “Uriarte, son of a bitch, I you’re going to find out. Stop touching our balls a la Herri Harmaila”, a group integrated into the entertainment stands. The insults were repeated several times.
The president preferred not to stop in the face of the tense situation, but he did not let the harassment he suffered go by, so the next day he went to the police station to report the events, which are now being investigated by the Basque Police. An hour before the incident, at the exit of the cheering stands, especially for the most radical followers, there was an atmosphere of tension, when the agents of the security company that monitors the field, tried to identify the spectators. that they had hurled insults, which later translated into fines to the club, which has already been sanctioned three times this season, in matches against Getafe, Valencia and Atlético de Madrid. Due to the actions of the private security agents, a skirmish was organized, in which the Ertzaintza had to intervene.
The board is upset with the radicals, since the club paid 40,000 euros in fines last season and was trying, with that action, to identify the authors of the offensive shouts in order to send them a warning letter so that they would stop their behavior. under the threat of possible withdrawal of the subscription.
Herri Harmaila, who says she feels “harassed”, had called for a total animation strike for the match against Villarreal, like the half-hour strike she held in the last European match against Elfsborg, which was not supported by the entire stands. In this case, after the match against Real Madrid, they published a note on social networks in which they noted: “Once again the usual guys frustrated the end-of-match party. Threats and identifications to the promoters of animation. Illegal identifications of minors. The Ertzaintza beating with extensions. Parents with small children unable to leave the field. Uriarte, enough is enough!”
which indicates that, “tolerance and freedom of expression are values that identify Athletic Club and that require the acceptance of a model of coexistence where neither violence nor extortion have any place.” They recognize the facts, when they state that, “it is true that the president of Athletic was threatened when leaving San Mamés after the match against Real Madrid,” and that “he received an explicit warning of the consequences that messing with him would have for him.” the Herri Harmaila.” From Athletic, in no case do they attribute the threat to the aforementioned group, “whose vast majority, like the rest of the red and white fans, is an example of sportsmanship, coexistence, civility and respect”, and they warn that their commitment, “is one of tolerance zero towards any type of violence.”
The board reveals that, “it was the Club itself, meeting in an executive committee, that required the president to file a complaint in defense of the values that underpin the entity,” and recalls: “It elects its presidents democratically by suffrage. between its members, and the threats exceed a red line that cannot be ignored, because, beyond the name and person, the president represents Athletic Club, as stated in our Social Statutes, and the offenses that he receives based on his position represents an offense to the institution.”
