Aupa Athletic! Our Spanish students visit the San Mamés football stadium

Last Tuesday, 22nd November, the football-mad among the Instituto Hemingway students explored the famous San Mamés stadium (or the Cathedral), home to Athletic Club Bilbao. The stadium was opened in 1913 and is the oldest in Spain.

Since its founding in 1928, Athletic is one of only three teams in Spain (the other two being Real Madrid and Barcelona) that has never been relegated from the first division. Athletic is also unique for its history of signing only players of Basque origin, a tradition of which the club is very proud. The club places a great deal of importance in the training of young Basque players and has indeed produced many footballing legends.

With a great deal of enthusiasm, we arrived at the stadium and embarked on our guided tour. We visited the President’s box, the press room, and after a brief and fascinating discussion of the history of the club, the changing rooms, where everyone took a picture of themselves in front of their favourite player’s locker. We walked out onto the pitch through the players’ tunnel, and with reverence sat on the reserve benches and touched the hallowed grass. Even those of us less keen football were desperate to see a match after all that!

After our fascinating tour, we went for a wander around the museum, which gave us the opportunity to get to know more of the club’s history. Particularly interesting was the display of gifts received by the club on important anniversaries; some of the students were even able to spot pennants from their own clubs. We also enjoyed the special exhibition on Mister Pentland, a legendary coach from the 1920s and 30s.

This trip is an example of the range of free cultural activities offered by the Instituto Hemingway, which give our students the chance to get to know the country and the culture of the language that they are studying.

There’s no better way to learn!