for players, officials and fans a must, Real Sociedad played its final match at the stadium on 22 June 1993. The stadium lingered on for a few more years, before being finally demolished in 1999. The site is now occupied by housing and the fruit market is where the new Palacio de Justicia stands. For some strange reason, the municipality have kept the truly awful office block. Atotxa was also the scene of one of the most symbolic actions in Spanish football history. On 5 December 1976, Sociedad's Inaxio Kortabarria and Athletic's Jose Angel Iribar walked onto the pitch carrying the Ikurria , the flag of the Basque nation. It was almost exactly a year after General Franco's funeral and the years of oppression by his Nationalist regime were still a fresh and open wound. The flag was still outlawed at the time, but this was a sign of unity and defiance on behalf of the Basque nation. When Real Sociedad moved to Anoeta in 1993 the change in culture must have been immense. It was not just a mile or so to the south of this beautiful coastal city, but a world away from the intense and claustrophobic surroundings of Atotxa. The Penas and Ultras that were used to standing less than five feet away from the goal-mouth action were now up to 50 metres away. Work had started on the construction of Anoeta in late 1990, on the site of the city's old municipal athletics stadium, which had