Why Athletic’s players are known as the Lions | OneFootball

In Bilbao, children grow up wanting to be Lions, the players of Athletic, a nickname rooted in San Mamés.

As reported by as.com, the tale goes back to the third century in Türkiye and a Christian youth named Mamés persecuted by Romans. He spent three years in the mountains, befriended wild beasts and read them the life of Jesus.

Seized again, he was sent to the Coliseum. The lions bowed at his feet, so the governor of Caesarea of Cappadocia ordered him killed with a trident.

From this, Mamés became a saint revered worldwide, including in Bilbao. An asylum and hermitage near the ground bear his name, and both old and new stadiums on adjoining sites are San Mamés, widely called La Catedral.

Athletic are symbolised by a lion, and a stuffed example once stood in the old directors’ box before moving to the museum.

The exhibit was donated in 1984 by former Alavés president Juan Arregi to Athletic’s Pedro Aurtenetxe after a bet. Arregi led Alavés in three spells across 40 years, 1958-59, 1974-75 to 1975-76, and 1989/90 to 1997-98, and, a keen hunter, kept big-game trophies.

He had joked Athletic lacked a real lion. After the 1982-83 league win he wagered they would not claim another, promising one if they did. The next season Athletic won the League and Cup double, and Arregi kept his word.

Over more than 125 years, that grit has cemented the Lions tag, and the reserves are called los cachorros, the cubs.

Source: as.com