In 1900 and 1904 there were odd matches at the Olympics, but they were not recognised by FIFA. There is even a reference to football in the first modern Olympics of 1896, but this is not regarded at all, as official.
In the London Olympic tournament of 1908, Great Britain was part of a competition 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, and probably needed to keep count!). All a bit chaotic then.
In the 1908 final, GB beat Denmark 2-0 in front of 2,000 people at the White City and guess who reffed?? a man called Lewis! (not Ray).
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. There was no Olympic tournament in 1916!
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 SO violent in their play, that Spain finished the game with 8 players and Sweden with 7, due to 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, a bit embarrassing for our chaps. 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!! Apparently.
The final (the third one held) with 35,000 in the crowd (some said it was more like 50,000) saw Belgium, the tournament's hosting team, play Czecholslovakia at the Olympish Stadion in Antwerp, Belgium, on 2 September 1920. The match is infamous for being abandoned in the 39th minute when Czechoslovakia walked off to protest over the officiating. Their left-back, Karel Steiner, was sent off by English referee 65 year old, John Lewis (below) for assaulting Belgian striker Robery Coopee. Belgium was declared Olympic champions, and Czechoslovakia were ejected from the competition.
"The Czechoslovakia side was so disgusted with the refereeing of the Englishman, that the players walked off the pitch after 40 minutes, when one of their players was “ejected” from the match."
Lewis was known to have a problem keeping up with play and the Czechs, complaining about the "man in the middle" forfeited their chance of winning a medal.
This was the first major international match to be abandoned. There was also a complaint about the attitude of Belgian (home team) soldiers in the crowd, whom the Czechs claimed had been intimidating, apparently affecting the way the Czechs played!
As a result of this disruption, the Czechs were disqualified, the French had gone home, so there was a consolation match between Spain and the Netherlands, the tie played for second place. Spain took their place and won silver.
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