There is even a reference to football in the first modern Olympics of 1896, but this is not regarded as official.
In 1900 and 1904 there were odd matches played in the Olympics, but they were not not recognised by FIFA. In 1900 the World Exhibition in Paris attracted more spectators and in 1904 the venue of St Louis was not encouraging to the Europeans.
The London Olympic tournament of 1908 attracted razzamatazz, publicity and the Royal family. The football tournament was held in October, while most of the Olympic events were held in July. It was the first time football was included in the Olympics and the Great Britain squad was amateur (as the Olympics used to be!) however, interest in the "Olympic amateur game" waned as the Football season in Britain took off.
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 Holland in the Semi-final 4-0. Denmark beat France B 9-0 and then France A 17-1 in the semi-final (Sophus Neilsen scored 10 goals) (in the Danish team was the famous mathematician Harald Bohr, apparently keeping score). All a bit chaotic then.
GB beat Denmark 2-0 in front of 5,000 people at the White City on Saturday October 24th in fine weather and guess who reffed?? a man called Lewis (not Ray)! GBs team included Harold Hardman, a solicitor, once of Everton and then Man Utd, but actually an amateur, an international, who played for Northern Nomads, and later a chairman at Man Utd. Vivian Woodward of Spurs was in the team too and won 23 full England caps. He also sat on the Spurs directors board.
Classically amateur was the play offs for Bronze medals played by Holland and Sweden, with the latter standing in for France A who had to go home early.....'cos their dinner was ready!!!! The Mayor presented the medals and the English press wrote about Aston Villa and Newcastle Utd.
In contrast, the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, only had 11 entries and the Great Britain side deliberately missed a penalty in their semi-final, against Finland, 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 (below) only played three matches beating Hungary 7-0 (Harold Walden scored 6 goals), Finland 4-0 in the semi and then Denmark in the 4-2 win for gold. Then came war!
On September 1st 1920 at the Antwerp Olympics, in Belgium, 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, 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.
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