{"id":3973,"date":"2020-12-27T10:13:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-27T10:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=143817"},"modified":"2020-12-27T10:13:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-27T10:13:05","slug":"war-minus-the-shooting-when-soviet-soccer-took-on-the-brits-after-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/27\/war-minus-the-shooting-when-soviet-soccer-took-on-the-brits-after-world-war-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"‘War Minus The Shooting’: When Soviet Soccer Took On the Brits After World War II"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tens of millions of people were dead. Cities and towns lay in rubble months after the bloodiest conflict the world had ever known. With much of Europe still reeling from World War II, it hardly seemed the time for games.<\/p>\n
But in November 1945, clubs from Great Britain, the cradle of the modern game of soccer, would host matches involving an unusual foe: Dynamo Moscow, champions of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
Interest would be high as the Soviet Union still basked in the glow of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany and British fans were eager to get a peek of such an exotic opponent.<\/p>\n
However, Cold War tensions were already percolating when Dynamo Moscow arrived, as Josef Stalin’s communist regime was occupying most of Eastern Europe. The tour would come months ahead of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s famous Iron Curtain speech, condemning the Soviet Union’s expansionist policies in Europe. As such, the game would take on political overtones. It was, George Orwell later said, “war minus the shooting.”<\/p>\n
And so, while British fans were eager to watch the Soviet side, British authorities were much less eager to accommodate them.<\/p>\n
The Foreign Office said that “it would take much more than a football match to break down the real barriers which the Soviet government firmly believes in.” Pressed by the British Embassy in Moscow, London ultimately acquiesced, but said Dynamo Moscow was being hosted not by the government but the British Football Association (FA).<\/p>\n
The Soviet delegation had its own list of demands, including that a Soviet referee call one match — a game against Arsenal — and that all team meals take place at the Soviet Embassy, ostensibly because they feared the British might poison them. Moscow also insisted that revenue from the tour be split 50-50, a demand that was met.<\/p>\n
Four games were finally scheduled, against London clubs Arsenal and Chelsea, Welsh side Cardiff City, and the Scottish team Glasgow Rangers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n