Italy’s Alfredo Foni clears the ball with an overhead kick in the 1938 final vs Hungary

Launched a year after the Wall Street crash in 1929, World Cup football was not all about glamour and skills in the 30s. The three championships held between 1930 and 1938 were widely dominated by naked show of political power, blatant nepotism and highly partisan supervision. There were more absentees than participants and people were yet to accept the World Cup as a replacement for Olympic football.

Political overtones overshadowed the game during this period with the clouds of a long-drawn war hanging over the world. Italy, arguably Europe’s greatest footballing nation, won the World Cup twice in 1934 and 1938.

Sadly, the achievements were seen more as a triumph of fascism since the then Italian dictator Benito Mussolini took personal interest in the national team. So much so that he encouraged his federation to grant citizenship to a few talented Argentine players. Fearing further poaching, Argentina deliberately sent a weakened side to the 1934 World Cup in Italy.

Questionable refereeing was a regular feature in each edition of the World Cup those days. In 1930, Argentina suffered some heartbreaking decisions against hosts Uruguay in the final. Four years later in Rome, Spain found half their side reeling in pain midway through the match against Italy. The only person who failed to notice the brutal fouls was the Swiss referee. Accused of having met Mussolini before the match, the ref was later suspended by his country’s football association but the “job” was done by that time

POPULARITY

Yet, despite all the drawbacks, from the spectators’ point of view, the game hit the jackpot. Ninety thousand people watched the first-ever final between Uruguay and Argentina and 55,000 highly aggressive spectators thronged the ground when Italy triumphed for the first time. In the end, football was the clear winner.

GREAT PLAYER

There were also some wonderful players who could be counted among the all-time greats. None more celebrated perhaps than Giuseppe Meazza, the superb inside striker from Inter Milan who stood tall among his teammates notorious for committing horrible fouls. Meazza was a part of two successful World Cup squads in 1934 and 1938. He won 53 caps for Italy scoring a total of 33 goals; totals that would have been far bigger had not injury blighted his career in 1938 after the World Cup.

MEMORABLE MATCH

While many European nations, especially the four in the British Isles, ignored repeated calls by Fifa to play the World Cup, the rest of the world was slowly waking up to the skills of the Latin Americans. Although Uruguay won back-to-back Olympic titles in 1924 and 1928 and made it a hattrick of sorts by winning the World Cup in 1930, Brazil were widely accepted as being the best team from the continent.

The clash between debutants Poland and Brazil in the 1938 World Cup was an epic affair. At the breather, the score was a predictable 3-1 to Brazil with Leonidas, the Brazilian “Black Diamond” with a Greek name, having scored all his team’s three goals.

In the second half, Poland managed a comeback with Ernst Willimowski scoring a hattrick. At 4-4, the match went into extra time. With the Brazilians displaying dazzling skills, Romeo’s final strike carved a 6-5 win for the Latin Americans. Pity Brazil got complacent against Italy in the next mach and paid dearly for it.

TRIVIA

There were many bizarre incidents but nothing to beat the one in which Belgian referee Jean Langenus agreed to officiate in the 1930 final only on condition that a boat be kept ready at the harbour within an hour of the final whistle, in case he needed to make a quick escape. The organisers accepted his demand!