Club Libertad

Ipswich Town have completed the loan signing of Paraguayan Julio Enciso from @OfficialBHAFC. The exciting striker is only 21 and can hopefully make a difference in keeping us up this season. Certainly, the last South American we loaned from Brighton had an impact! Julio began his career at Club Libertad in the Paraguayan capital of Asunción. So, let's welcome Julio to the team and do his first club the honour, and #GetTheBadgeIn.

Let's start with the name. Libertad is Spanish for "freedom", and sure enough, the iconography in the badge does look vaguely American-freedom-ish. The sort of badge you'd expect to see at a "gas station" in Oklahoma while next door in the diner, white-bearded men in MAGA hats eat burgers from red plastic trays. That sort of thing.

But let's not do the badge or the name a disservice here, as there is a stonkingly good story behind its adoption.

You see, the football club was formed in 1905 – in the midst of a revolution...

For decades, Paraguay had been ruled by a group called the Colorado Party (and actually, they still are). They had been formed after Paraguay lost in a war against its regional rivals. In the 1876 Paraguayan War, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay ganged up and defeated Paraguay who were trying to fight their way to the coast and prevent Paraguay from being landlocked. Determined never to be weak again, the Colorado Party represented the conservative ruling elite of landowners, church leaders, and the military.

However, by 1904, the party was seen as largely corrupt and unable to run a modern economy, denying the freedom its businesses and professionals needed to be productive. The Liberal Party was formed, largely in exile in Buenos Aires, and campaigned for change.

In 1904, things came to a head. Young soldiers and students sailed a merchant ship packed with weapons from Argentina up the Paraguay River to the capital, defeating a government boat sent to intercept them along the way. Fighting broke out across the country, and eventually, the Liberal Party came to power.

That same year, a group of young men formed a sports team in the capital to focus on football and basketball. The president of the team was a man called Juan Manuel Sosa Escalada – who also happened to be the mayor of the capital. He initially served for the Colorado Party but switched to the Liberals.

Therefore, it was him who, given the coup that had just occurred, decided this new team should be called "Club Freedom", aka Club Libertad.

The team has competed in the top tiers of basketball and football in Paraguay more or less ever since. They've won the third-most football league titles in the country.

Their rivals are cross-city Club Olimpia. They are slightly older, being started in 1902 by a Dutch immigrant to Paraguay training as a PE teacher. Both teams play in black and white, so their derby games are called, funnily enough, the "black and white" derby.

So that's the heritage our new loanee brings with him. From a club steeped in revolution to another club currently undergoing one.

Viva la McKenna Revolution.

Welcome, Julio. Help us overthrow the Premier League establishment!