The Hamlet get ready to welcome fans from Athletic Club to Champion Hill

As the season heads towards its conclusion, this weekend coming brings with it one of the biggest days of the non-league calendar in recent times, Non-League-Day.

Always scheduled to fall during an international break, NLD helps non-league clubs to promote affordable and community-driven football led by volunteers, and hopefully bring in some extra revenue from football fans who might usually go and watch Premier League or Championship football, and allow them to support their local side.

To celebrate Non-League Day 2023, as well as welcoming our long-standing friends from Oxford City this Saturday, we will also be welcome fans and officials from La Liga giants Athletic Club.

Why Athletic you might ask? Well the Basque outfit have their history deeply rooted in English football, with football introduced to Bilbao by British workers and Basque students returning from British schools in the late 19th century, with 2023 marking the 125th anniversary of this great club.

Despite the difference in league standings between Athletic and the Hamlet, the two clubs share some common morals, namely our social values and believing that football should be a game for everyone, as well as the beliefs of being an important part of the local community. Indeed, a word used in the Basque language and often by Athletic is auzolana, which means a neighbourhood working together for the common good.

Aside from the social ties, we have actually played against Athletic in the past on one of our legendary Easter tours. In the spring of 1921, a Hamlet side containing the likes of Edgar Kail and Bert Coleman travelled to Bilbao via Paris, and took on Athletic in their San Mamés Stadium.

The Hamlet, fresh from winning their first FA Amateur Cup the previous season, took on a side that had star player Rafael 'Pichichi' Moreno among its ranks, and emerged victorious in two games between the sides, winning 3-2 and 4-2. Pichichi has since been immortalised in the trophy handed to the top scorer at the end of each La Liga season.

Captaining the Hamlet on that tour was Dick Jonas, who was also no stranger to playing against Athletic. Almost eight years previously in August 1913, he was part of a Shepherd's Bush squad which sailed to Europe to help Athletic inaugurate their San Mamés Stadium, which they would play at for a century before a new ground of the same name was erected in 2013. Jonas and his side emerged victorious in the tournament after beating both Athletic Club and Real Racing Club de Irún during the three day event.

So with the historic link between the sides, we look forward to welcoming as many Athletic fans as possible to Champion Hill on Saturday, and we hope they enjoy their stay with us in SE22.

Make sure you get your tickets for the game nice and early too, with no Premier League or Championship action locally we expect it to be a full house - https://bit.ly/3J0axYQ