The 1936 Olympic football tournament, won by Italy, has come to share an
affinity with the political backdrop against which it was being played. In
terms of the history of association football, however, the tournament
suffered as a reaction to the development of the FIFA World Cup.
The introduction of the first FIFA World Cup in 1930 led to a devaluation in the
strength of each subsequent Olympic football tournament. Competing nations
would from now on only be permitted to play their best players if those players
were amateur or where professional players were state-sponsored.
The reinstatement of Olympic football was ensured in 1936 because the German
organisers were confident that such a competition would be justified by the
income it would generate. The fear that any failure by the host side would
result in a loss of income had been a matter of contention despite the fact
that going into the competition Germany were one of the favourites. In the
event, the early failure of the national side did nothing to deter the
supporters, as the bronze and gold medal games were watched by a combined total
of 195,000 people. Background
The Italian side, victors in the 1934 FIFA World Cup and managed by Vittorio
Pozzo were favourites. Squads
Medalists Final tournament
The competition began in dramatic circumstances. The Italians, winners
against the Austrians at the 1934 World Cup now found the Olympic side, with ten
changes, a completely different proposition. The Azzurri included
players such as Alfredo Foni, Pietro Rava and Ugo Locatelli, who would all
play in their World Cup victory in Paris. That they eventually prevailed
was due to two incidents: the first when their bespectacled forward Frossi
scored, the second when Weingartner, the German referee, was literally restrained
from sending off Archille Piccini after fouling two Americans. Italian players
held both his arms and covered his mouth in protest. Piccini stayed on the park,
Italy won. This was something more than Sweden
managed in their tie with the Empire of Japan the next day in Berlin. Two-nil up
within 45 minutes, their demise was shockingly recorded by the legendary
Swedish commentator, Sven Jerring, calling “Japanese, Japanese, Japanese”
as they ran out as winners 3–2. It marked the first time an Asian side had
participated in either the World Cup or Olympic Games football competition and
the first time an Asian side emerged victorious. Their neighbours, China,
lost 0–2 to Great Britain on the next day. Otherwise there were thumping wins
for Peru and the hosts, 9–0 versus Luxembourg.
First round Quarter finals
Italy, now finding their feet against Japan, made no mistake in their tie,
winning as comprehensively as they had struggled against the Americans. Pozzo’s
decision to include Biagi bore instant fruit, Baigi scoring 4 goals.
The same day at the Poststadion, Berlin before a crowd that included Goebbels,
Göring, Hess and Hitler, Germany were knocked out 2–0 by Norway. Goebbels
wrote: 'The Führer is very excited, I can barely contain myself. A real bath
of nerves.' There was no real surprise to the result to those outside the
higher ranks of the Third Reich. Norway, went onto give Italy a tricky tie in the
first round of the 1938 FIFA World Cup. But Germany lost 2–0 and Hitler, who had
never seen a football match before, and had originally planned to watch the
rowing, left early in a huff. The following day at the Hertha Platz,
Austria played Peru in an astonishing game leading to a huge political row not
out of keeping with the times. See Peru v Austria.
The match was highly contested, and the game went into overtime when the
Peruvians tied the Austrians after being two goals behind. Peru scored 5 goals
during overtime, of which 3 were nullified by the referee, and won by the
final score of 4–2. The Austrians demanded a rematch on the grounds that
Peruvian fans had stormed the field, and because the field did not meet the
requirements for a football game. Austria further claimed that the
Peruvian players had manhandled the Austrian players and that spectators,
one holding a revolver, had "swarmed down on the field." Peru was notified of
this situation, and they attempted to go to the assigned meeting but were delayed
by a German parade. At the end, the Peruvian defense was never heard, and
the Olympic Committee and FIFA sided with the Austrians. The rematch was
scheduled to be taken under close grounds on August 10, and later
re-scheduled to be taken on August 11. As a sign of protest against these
actions, which the Peruvians deemed as insulting and discriminatory, the
complete Olympic delegations of Peru and Colombia left Germany. Argentina, Chile,
Uruguay, and Mexico expressed their solidarity with Peru. Michael Dasso, a
member of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, stated: "We've no faith in
European athletics. We have come here and found a bunch of merchants." The
game was awarded to Austria by default. In Peru, angry crowds protested against
the decisions of the Olympic Committee by tearing down an Olympic flag,
throwing stones at the German consulate, refusing to load German vessels in the
docks of Callao, and listening to inflammatory speeches which included
President Oscar Benavides Larrea's mention of "the crafty Berlin decision."
To this day, it is not known with certainty what exactly happened at
Germany, but it is popularly believed that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi
authorities might have had some involvement in this situation.
The last of the quarter-finals had all of the excitement but none of the
fall-out; Poland, assisted by their forward, Hubert Gad, played out a
nine-goal party to defeat the British side; at one time they were 5–1 to the
better. The Casual's Bernard Joy scored two as Britain fought back gamely but
they ran out of time. Prior to the Games Daniel Pettit received a letter from the
Football Association which dealt mostly with the uniform he would wear. As he
explained to the academic Rachel Cutler there was a handwritten PS that said:
'As there is a month to go before we leave for Berlin kindly take some
exercise.' The obedient Petit ran around his local park.
1 Due to a pitch invasion, the match was declared null and void, and ordered to
be replayed on August 10. Peru objected to the replay decision and withdrew from
the tournament. Semi finals
Bronze medal match The Final
Italy now overcame Austria in a match refereed by Dr Peco Bauwens; the
Austrians having defeated Poland to attend the final. Not that there was
much in it; Frossi again scoring for the Azzuri and getting the winner just as
extra-time got underway. Bracket
Goalscorers 7 goals
6 goals 5 goals
4 goals 3 goals
2 goals 1 goal
References External links
Olympic Football Tournament Berlin 1936, FIFA.com
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