By Duncan Shaw, DPA
Madrid : Athletic Bilbao have always been a different kind of football club, a rare example of a club faithful to its traditions, prepared to swim against the tide in defence of these traditions.
Whilst practically all clubs in Spain and Europe have packed their squads with foreigners in the past 20 years, Bilbao continue to reject signing foreign players (though not coaches).
Indeed, Bilbao has maintained its policy of only taking players from the Basque region, and only one candidate in Thursday's presidential elections has dared to suggest modifying this policy.
In addition, Bilbao is just about the only club in Europe to refuse to carry shirt publicity, a policy no candidate has dared to question.
Whereas most Spanish clubs have become limited companies, Bilbao – the same as Barcelona and Real Madrid – have resisted this trend and continue to be a genuine sporting club, with paying members and regular elections.
Bilbao are also different for another reason: For having such a strong feminine presence throughout the club, a rare exception in a country where football continues to be, in general, a male preserve.
More than a third of the club's 27,000 adult members are women.
Bilbao were the pioneers in women's football in Spain in the 1980s, and their female team has been national champion for the past three years.
In November Bilbao became only the second football club in Spain to have a female president, Ana Urkijo, after the resignation of Fernando Lamikiz.
The first female president was Maria Teresa Rivero at Rayo Vallecano in 1998, but she – unlike Urkijo – was pushed into the job by her husband Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos, who owned Rayo but couldn't be president due to legal problems.
Urkijo did a fairly good job as "presidenta", sacking coach Felix Sarriurgarte in December – with the team third from bottom – and replacing him with Mane, who skilfully avoided relegation.
Opinion polls suggest that Urkijo would win Thursday's elections if she were candidate, but she prefers to step back and just remain in control of the club's successful female team.
Urkijo's example in the presidency has encouraged no less than five more women to stand as candidates, either at the "top of the ticket" for the presidency, or as running mates of male candidates.
None of these female candidates is favourite to win the presidency, but one of them could well end up as vice-president.
Monica Durango, one of the female vice-presidential candidates, told local paper El Correo Vasco Monday that "it is good to have five women standing in the elections … this shows that our club is really representative of the whole community."
Four of the five female candidates would like the next coach to be Jupp Heynckes, who did so well at Bilbao three years ago.
All of them want to continue with the Basque-only policy and all of them are opposed to shirt publicity.
In addition, they are all in favour of the club building a new stadium outside the city, and, reluctantly, knocking down the historic old Estadio San Mames.
"It will be unpleasant to have to leave San Mames," Oraa told El Correo Vasco Monday, "but the old stadium has become too small for the club."
Partly, she might have added, because of so many women wanting to cheer on the team.