On September 1st 1920 at the
Antwerp Olympics, Spain met Sweden and both teams were just two wins
away from a medal.
Spain were 0-1 down when they fought
back to win 2-1 and Sweden missed a penalty late in the game. Both
teams were violent in their play and Spain finished the game with 8
players and Sweden with 7 because of the number of injuries
sustained-note, not sendings off.
There were no subs in those days.
One Spanish newspaper describe the
match as “the most barbaric and brutal...”
Spain went on to defeat Holland in the
second place final, claiming the silver medal. Belgium won gold and
the Netherlands bronze, with 14 teams starting.
Norway, a truly amateur side, beat
Great Britain in the first round 3-1. There were concerns shown
during this tournament of blatant professionalism with “expenses”
being paid out in large anounts to various players. This flew in the
face of Olympian spirits.
In the final, the Czechoslovakia side
were so disgusted with the refereeing of an Englishman, 65 year old
John Lewis, that they walked off the pitch after 40 minutes, when one
of their players was “ejected” from the match and therefore,
forfeited their chance of winning a medal. The Czechs also objected
to an English linesman and to the inclusion of Belgian (home team)
soldiers in the crowd, whom they claimed became intimidating and
affected the way the Czechs played!
As a result of this disruption, the
Spain-Netherlands match became the tie for second place.
In contrast, in the 1912 Olympics, the
Great Britain side deliberately missed a penalty in their semi-final,
that they thought had been unfairly awarded. Vivian Woodward, as
captain, showed typical Corinthian Spirit as his team eventually won
the gold medal, retaining their title from 1908.
The team only played three matches
beating Hungary 7-0 (Harold Walden scored 6 goals), Finland in the
semi and then Denmark in the 4-2 win for gold.
In the London Olympic tournament of
1908, Great Britain joined with 7 other teams including France A and
France B. Hungary eventually withdrew due to the Bosnian Crisis,
Bohemia lost their FIFA status and had to resign, GB beat Sweden 12-1
in the quarter-final and Denmark beat France A 17-1 in the semi-final
(Sophus Neilsen scored 10 goals) (in the Danish team was the famous
mathematician Harald Bohr, apparently). All a bit chaotic then.
GB beat Denmark 2-0 in front of 2,000
people at the White City and guess who reffed?? a man called Lewis!
In 1900 and 1904 there were odd matches
but not recognised by FIFA. There is even a reference to football in the first modern Olympics of 1896, but this is not regarded as official.
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