Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

As authoritarian regimes seize power in Europe and the Americas, and rumors of war crisscross the globe, a soccer tournament kicks off to determine the champion of the most popular sport the world has ever known. The scene sounds familiar, even current, but it actually took place eighty years ago, on the eve of World War Two. The idealists who founded the World Cup saw sports as a peaceful alternative to international conflict. The third iteration of the tournament, held in France in the summer of 1938, tested that pacific ideal as never before. The Austrian national team, famous for its elegant style, were eliminated before a ball could even be kicked, thanks to German troops who crossed the border to execute the Anschluss in March 1938. Defending champions Italy came to play, though. Under their war-obsessed manager Vittorio Pozzo, they exploited the latent militaristic tendencies of team sport to the full, wearing the black uniform of Italian fascism in their quarterfinal against France. In this paper, I examine how the beautiful game became swept up in the impending cataclysm of total war. Though the war would end, the issues that dogged the 1938 World Cup did not go away. Violence, ethnic tension, racism, political protest, commercialization of patriotism – these all remain hallmarks of the international sporting spectacular. In more ways than one, the 1938 World Cup marked the beginning of the modern era of international sports.