Son of a champion stonelifter and brother of a pelota player on feeling like a kid, his messy Spain exit and Europa League hopes
“I came out twisted,” Julen Lopetegui says. His father, José Antonio, was a harrijasotzailea, a champion Basque stonelifter who competed under the name Aguerre II, held the record for raising 22 100-kilo cylinders in a minute and rejected proposals from a promoter linked to Al Capone to become a heavyweight boxer. His uncle Luis, Aguerre I, had been a harrijasotzailea too, known throughout the land. And his brother Joxean was a professional pelotari. But then something went wrong.
Julen could play Basque pelota too, a basket for a hand, the ball travelling faster than any sport on earth. “I had a chance to be professional but my passion was football,” he says. “I’m the black sheep of the family, hooked on football from the start. My dad was well known in an era when stonelifting was big, a living. My brother was a pelotari at a high level. But when I did the typical psychoanalyses, the ‘what will you be?’ tests at school, the first answer to come out was footballer. The second – get this – was football journalist. If I didn’t play, at least I could see games for free.”
Continue reading…Son of a champion stonelifter and brother of a pelota player on feeling like a kid, his messy Spain exit and Europa League hopes“I came out twisted,” Julen Lopetegui says. His father, José Antonio, was a harrijasotzailea, a champion Basque stonelifter who competed under the name Aguerre II, held the record for raising 22 100-kilo cylinders in a minute and rejected proposals from a promoter linked to Al Capone to become a heavyweight boxer. His uncle Luis, Aguerre I, had been a harrijasotzailea too, known throughout the land. And his brother Joxean was a professional pelotari. But then something went wrong.Julen could play Basque pelota too, a basket for a hand, the ball travelling faster than any sport on earth. “I had a chance to be professional but my passion was football,” he says. “I’m the black sheep of the family, hooked on football from the start. My dad was well known in an era when stonelifting was big, a living. My brother was a pelotari at a high level. But when I did the typical psychoanalyses, the ‘what will you be?’ tests at school, the first answer to come out was footballer. The second – get this – was football journalist. If I didn’t play, at least I could see games for free.” Continue reading…