The “Brazil 2014” World Cup is in its second phase and by now it is clear that the main beneficiaries of the event are the economic groups linked to FIFA and the local economic and political elites. For the Brazilian people, the celebration of the World Cup in their country has meant forced evictions, militarization of neighborhoods and repression that has claimed the lives of dozens of people. For this reason, when soccer has been kidnapped by corporations and power, it is important to remember an act of dignity that featured the Peruvian soccer team in the 1936 Olympics.
The 1936 Olympic Games were held in Berlin (Germany) between August 1 and 16. The election of the seat had been made in 1931, two years before the arrival of the Nazis to power. Although there was at first an attempt to boycott the Games by several countries, they finally chose to participate. Only Spain, with the government of the Second Republic, boycotted the Games, in addition to organizing a parallel competition, the Barcelona Popular Olympiad , which had to be suspended due to the war. Almost 4,000 athletes from 49 countries in 19 sports disciplines and 129 specialties participated in the 1936 Games. For the German regime it was a way to show the magnificence of Nazism and to avoid giving a bad image to the world, anti-Semitic posters were removed from the streets.
The Olympic Games were not without controversy, but a fact that deserves to be highlighted is the soccer match between the Peruvian and Austrian national teams for the quarterfinals. The South American team had just beaten Finland 7-3, and now faced Adolf Hitler's home country at the Hertha Platz Stadium. . The match was held on August 8 and until the first 75 minutes of play the Austrians won 2-0. However, the Peruvian team reacted in the last 15 minutes and managed to tie the game with goals from Jorge Alcalde and Alejandro Villanueva . At that moment, a group of Peruvian fans left the stands and went down to the field to cheer on their team closely. During extra time the referee annulled three Peruvian goals, even so Peru prevailed 4-2 with two goals from striker “Lolo ” Fernández . This humiliation of the Austrian national team by the «Black Roller ” -as they called the Peruvian forward- couldn't afford it in a Games planned since the III Reich to show the superiority of the Aryan race. For this reason, the Germans presented a protest before the Court of Appeals alleging that the presence of the Peruvian fans on the field of play had intimidated the Austrian players, going so far as to say that one of them had drawn a pistol and had threatened them. It was also argued that the stadium did not meet the necessary measures to play a football match. The Court, made up exclusively of Europeans, called a meeting on August 10 at 10 am, but the Peruvian delegation did not arrive on time because it was delayed by a German parade in the streets. With the support of the Olympic Committee and FIFA, it was decided to suspend the match and order it to be played again behind closed doors.
Peru refused to repeat the match, considering it a robbery. In addition, it must be taken into account that playing behind closed doors could make it easier for a new fraud to be committed. The entire Peruvian Olympic delegation, made up of 59 athletes, supported the decision of the soccer team and withdrew from the Games on August 12. The Colombian delegation joined the protest in an act of Latin American solidarity and also withdrew. The delegations from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico expressed their solidarity with Peru, although without abandoning the competition. In Lima, the decision of the Court of Appeals was received as an insult and dozens of people mobilized in front of the German Consulate attacking it with stones. The arrival of the delegation at the Port of Callao was received by a crowd that cheered them as heroes. Thanks to these maneuvers, the Austrian team reached the final where it was defeated by the fascist Italy of Benito Mussolini, who had already won the World Cup in Italy in 1934 and would do so again in France in 1938.
The Peruvian soccer team had an act of dignity in the 1936 Olympics by refusing to be a participant in that fraud for having humiliated them on the field of play to the native country of dictator Adolf Hitler. Michael Dasso , a member of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, stated:
We have no faith in European sport. We've come here and found a handful of merchants.
Taking into account the powerful economic interests that we can observe in the last World Cups, it seems that his phrase remains fully valid.
Collaboration of the writer and historian Luciano Andrés Valencia .