Champions Campeonato Region Norte 1913-14 to 1921-22

Season	Champions / League	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
	Region Norte
1913-14	Athletic Club	10	8	2	0	34	7	18
1914-15	Athletic Club	10	7	1	2	23	8	15
1915-16	Athletic Club	12	9	1	2	30	5	19 *
1916-17	Arenas Club	4	3	0	1	8	4	6
1917-18	Real Union de Irun	12	7	2	3	26	13	16
	Campeonato de Vizcaya
1918-19	Arenas Club	8	7	1	0	26	6	15
	Region Norte
1919-20	Athletic Club	8	6	1	1	14	6	13
1920-21	Athletic Club	7	6	0	1	20	8	12 ^
1921-22	Arenas Club	8	6	1	1	19	11	13

Note: The Above Records are the Final Records of the Champions of Region Norte.

Note: * Athletic Club finished level with Real Sociedad on Points and were due to playoff with them for the Title but Real Sociedad never turned up. Athletic Club awarded the Title, awarded game not counted in Table/Record.

Note: ^ Racing Santander did not compete in the second half of the season, thus the other four teams only played 7 games and Racing Santander 3 (with one game v Eradio also not played in the first half of the season).

Report

Athletic Club of Bilbao were the most successful team during the Region Norte decade of Spanish regional soccer from 1913 to 1922 winning the Championship five times during this span. The Era 1913 to 1940 was one in which the top Basque Soccer Clubs: Athletic Club de Bilbao, Real Socieded and Osasuna all played in the Regional Leagues. Other Basque teams to win the Region Norte were Arenas Club (three times) and Real Union de Irun (once). The Region Norte was split up into the two Basque Provinces (Vizcaya and Guipuzcoa) in 1922 and the other teams such as Racing Santander also competed from then until joining the Spanish National League (La Liga) in the their respective regional leagues.

The Basque Country in Northern Iberia (Spain) and South West France has a proven genetic link with The Welsh and Irish Celts, with geneticists proving a strong genetic link between the three races/peoples going back to the Neolithic, before farming was introduced from the Near East [References: 3]. The three languages are among the oldest in Europe, with Basque pre-dating Indo-European languages thought to have arrived in Europe with farming, and Celtic languages showing a strong link with North African branch of Afro-Asiatic languages as well as Indo-European languages, uniquely in Europe. [References: 4-5] Athletic Bilbao celebrated St. Patrick’s Day in 2018 by lighting up the famous San Mames stadium in Green on the Eve of the Day itself [Reference: 6]

References / Further Reading

Bibliography

[2] Luis Javier Bravo Mayor & Jose Vicente Olmos Mico (2017) “Campeonatos Regionales Vascos 1913-1940” CIHEFE (Centro de Investigaciones de Historia y Estadistica del Futbol Espanyol). Mantuano, Madrid. Available to buy online at: https://www.soccer-books.co.uk/acatalog/CIHEFE-Spanish-League-Histories-p1.html .

Websites

[3] BBC Wales (2001) Genes link Celts to Basques [Internet] Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/1256894.stm [Accessed 24 May 2021]

[4] Encyclopaedia Brittannica (2021) Basque Language [Internet] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Basque-language [Accessed 24 May 2021]

[5] Encyclopaedia Brittannica (2021) Celtic Languages [Internet] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Celtic-languages [Accessed 24 May 2021]

[6] Athletic Bilbao (2018) St. Patrick’s Day [Internet] Available from: https://www.athletic-club.eus/en/news/2018/03/15/saint-patricks-day/ [Accessed 24 May 2021]

Images

[6] Fruugo.ie (2021) 100068720_max Sticker Sticker Adhesif Car Vinyl Flag Card Basque Country Euskadi [Internet] Available from: https://img.fruugo.com/product/0/72/100068720_max.jpg [Accessed 24 May 2021]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dervla Kincaid (nee Mulcahy).

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 24 May 2021

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2021

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.