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So what really happened on that hot August day, and why? And why has the game become etched in the memory of so many people? A European writer Tony Taylor combined his passion for soccer with his skills as an historian to bring us some answers. It’s a dramatic and spell-binding story.
“That mid-afternoon of Sunday, 9 August 1942 was hot in Kiev. Thousands of soccer fans, some in shabby civilian clothes but many of them in German military uniform, headed for the Zenit Stadium. The kick-off was 5 pm, a delayed start because of the summer heat. Soon, the temperature began to fall, and, in the packed stadium, an eager crowd waited for the two teams to appear.
“The Ukrainian home side ran out in their dark red shirts and white shorts, the team colours of Russia’s national soccer team. The visitors appeared in white shirts and black shorts, the strip of the German national side.
“The whistle blew. The game was under way and the match was fiercely contested. The home team won convincingly. The Ukrainian supporters went wild. The Germans glowered. The celebrations were brief. Over the next few weeks, most of the home players were arrested and taken to Gestapo headquarters in the city centre. There they were interrogated and tortured before being taken to a concentration camp on the outskirts of the city. Three were eventually shot dead. Within a matter of months, four of the victorious Ukrainian players had died at the hands of the Nazis. By the war’s end in 1945, there were few known survivors of what became known as the Game of Death.
“But the story of the Game of Death did not start on that fateful day in August. The origin of the game between the players who represented Nazism and the players who stood for Ukrainian Communism goes right back to the 1930s and the reign of terror that the people of the Soviet Union suffered under Joseph Stalin.”
The writer goes on to say football had become very popular in Russia in the 1930s. For many Soviet citizens, it was a relief to be able to go to a football match and temporarily lose themselves in the game, getting away from the fear of arrest and deportation.
In the capital Moscow, he adds that a massive new soccer stadium was built in the Luzhniki district. The best-known Russian teams were Moscow Spartak and Moscow Dynamo. But even in football it was impossible to escape the politics, he argues.
Spartak was named after German Communist revolutionaries. Dynamo was funded by the trade unions, the secret police and the Red Army. In Soviet Russia, soccer was a state-sponsored activity.
Ukraine too had its own crack side, Dynamo Kiev. The rivalry between teams in the two cities of Moscow and Kiev was intense, mainly because of the ethnic differences between Russians and Ukrainians. And some of the teams are still active today.
The kind of passion that the people had for the beautiful game was somewhat unbelievable because the game meant a lot to them. It was a source of entertainment, a source of pride, a source of identity, a source of nation building and a way of showing their superiority over other people.
That kind of passion for the game spread throughout the world and was passed from generation to generation and today some people actually die for the game and some can kill for the game. It still remains only a game, only a sport, but it has a serious bearing on most people’s livelihoods.
Closer to home, in 2000, the Ivory Coast’s national team was detained by the military authorities in an army camp following their elimination from the African Cup of Nations, which was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria.
A spokesman for the government said the players were held for their own protection, to guard against possible reprisals by angry fans. The Ivory Coast team, known by its nickname, the Elephants, had been eliminated from the tournament after three matches.
They beat Ghana with a respectable 2-0 score line, but only managed a draw against Togo and were then thrashed 3-0 by Cameroon.
Ivorian fans said the team seemed to fall apart during the match with Cameroon and they said they were angry because each of the mostly foreign-based players was reported to have received huge amounts of money to play for the national team.
The incident showed once again that soccer is not only a sport, but a religion to some. Coming back home, it is evident from the kind of sentiments from the public and Zifa that everyone is angry with the failure by the national team to qualify for the 2013 Afcon tournament to be held in South Africa.
I believe if some people had the powers, on landing at the Harare International Airport on Monday, the players and the whole delegation, which included myself, that travelled to Angola for the return leg of the final qualifier, where the Warriors squandered a 3-1 lead from the first leg to lose 2-0, and eventually bow out of the race 4-3 on aggregate, would have been detained at some unpleasant place.
When we left early on Saturday morning, we were all in high spirits and looked forward to coming back to a heroes’ welcome.
But that was not the case as the Warriors succumbed to a fired up Angola in just six minutes, to sink the hearts of millions of Zimbabweans.
You would have thought some players had taken sleeping pills with their dozy performance, and you feel sorry for all the companies and individuals, led by Mbada Diamonds, who poured money into Mzansi90 which was mobilising resources for the national team as a whooping $524 000 was raised to cater for the chartered flight and player remuneration, and camping needs.
The match against Angola was their own version of Game of Death, and the Warriors should have treated it as such. Of course, times have changed and we will never witness what happened when the Ukrainians and the Germans clashed, as it was somewhat barbaric, but the conviction never to accept a loss should have there. And that is the conviction that should be drummed up into the youngsters who will represent our beloved Zimbabwe in future. In sport, you can lose, it is possible every time a team enters the field to contest, but there are some instances where losing is not an option, just like in Luanda, and the boys should have known better.
You get a feeling that Zifa had done its part in terms of preparing for the crunch tie by coming up with a committee that ran round the clock to mobilise such funds within 14 days. Winning bonuses of $10 000 were there for the taking, in addition to residential stands at an up market suburb in Harare. Zimbabweans had come together and rallied behind the team and what was left was for the boys to return the favour on the field of play.
That is why Zifa president Cuthbert Dube is spitting venom, saying the performance of the boys in Luanda was treasonous.
“We need to reflect on the continued existence of our current national team. Right now I have a decision, but I am not a dictator. The board will decide. We have the Under-23, Under-20 and Under-17. That’s our team for the future. Whatever will happen…but what they have done is treasonous. Yes, in other countries it is treasonous. But the board will decide,” he was quoted as saying by a daily paper yesterday.
The football boss hinted on an overhaul of the national team set up, and also made sensational claims that the Angola match could have been fixed.
“The Angola match was fixed. We are getting reports. But other information is still coming through. There were some funny faces in Angola. Some photos were taken and we have taken stock.”
Whatever happens from now on, the game in Angola will be remembered for years to come, albeit for the wrong reasons.
But do we need to throw away the baby with the water? Food for thought.
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Online Reporter