Club Nacional de Football's 1927 tour of North America

Nacional on the 1927 North American tour, as covered by the US media.

The 1927 Club Nacional de Football tour through America was a major tour that covered the United States, Cuba and Mexico. After the successful 1925 tour on Europe, the Uruguayan team received offers from parties around the world and finally the club decided to make another journey to play a series of friendly matches. That second tour comprised twenty one matches, with fifteen wins, two draws and one defeat-three games were called off- seventy five goals for and twenty against.[1]

Development

The delegation, led by José María Delgado, Rodolfo Gorriti, Jose Richling, and the Uruguayan ambassador to the United States, departed from Montevideo in February. Emilio Servetti Mitre was the coach and Juan Kirschberg the physiotherapist. The players were Andrés Mazali, Fausto Batignani, Antonio Urdinarán, Emilio Recoba, Diego Fernández, Queirolo, José Leandro Andrade, Alfredo Zibechi, José Vanzzino, Lorenzo Fernández, Alfredo Ghierra, Santos Urdinarán, Héctor Scarone, Pedro Petrone, Ángel Romano, Héctor Castro, Zoilo Saldombide, Haeberli, José Pedro Cea and Finamore.

Games in the United States

The Nacional team's arrival generated a lot of enthusiasm since several of the players had become champions at the Summer Olympics held in Paris just three years before. Furthermore, the fact that one of the stars, José Leandro Andrade, was Afroamerican, made him to receive empathy from the audiences.[2][3] As the practice of association football was not very widespread, the opponents were built entirely of professionals representatives of European colonies who had taken part in tournaments in their respective countries. The players practised a pretty violent form of football, more like the american version of the sport. An American leader had announced at the beginning of the tour: "We are going to beat them at any price".[1]

The debut was a 6:1 victory against Indiana Flooring with an attendance of 20,000 spectators. Since the first game the press was already surprised by Nacional's play, particularly that of Hector Scarone and José Leandro Andrade.[4][5] The second match of the tour was against the Brooklyn Wanderers. It ended in a 2:2 draw with 15,000 spectators at the stadium. That draw was celebrated by the locals after the Nacional team's status as Olympic champions and prior display. When the match was 1:1 Uruguayan Fernández started bleeding from a blow between the eyes which caused a fight with Morris and Lyall that had to be stopped by the police. Finally, the referee sent Fernandez off, being replaced by José Andrade.[6]

The next game was against Newark Skeeters. The match was suspended after 20 minutes with the score 1:0 in favor of the home side because José Pedro Cea exchanged blows with local player Daley. The fight spread and close to 500 people invaded the pitch to take part in the riot. Finally, the police arrived to put the fight into an end. The referee was willing to continue playing but the match was definitely suspended in order to prevent another riot.[7][8][9][10]

The next game was against the American League, with Nacional being acclaimed by the spectators after a 4-2 victory. It was also remarked that the rough play was "absent".[11] The next game would be the second draw of the tour against Fall River Marksmen by 1:1 in front of 7,000 people.[12][13] Afterwards a rematch against the Brooklyn Wanderers was played. The game had created an unusual expectative because of the riot in the previous match.[14][15] Nacional won 2:0 and the game was held without a problem.[16]

The next game was against Boston in front of 7,000 spectators and had to be suspended when the match was 3:2 in favor of the home side because of disturbances on the pitch. After the referee awarded a penalty protested by the Nacional players, Boston's McArthur was hit which led to a brawl between all the players and provoked a pitch invasion of 2,000 people from the stands. This caused the police to have to intervene, leading the Uruguayan players to the locker room. The Uruguayan group had to have a police escort to leave the stadium. Two of the local team players and two women who had entered the pitch in the fight were slightly injured.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23] This was the third fight in seven games, prompting doubt that the tour would be continued.[24][25][26] Finally Joseph Richling, Consul General of Uruguay intervened on behalf of the Nacional's so that the tour could continue.[27]

Then they won by 2:1 to Detroit,[28] 3:0 to Cleveland,[29] 4:1 to St. Louis[30] and 1:0 to Chicago Sparta, flamboyant West champions.[31] After these four straight wins, Nacional sought permission from the United States Football Association to play against Hakoah of Austria, who were also touring North America. José María Delgado sent a letter to the Association Secretary but failed to get an available stadium to play the game.[32] On the following day, Nacional lost against Chicago by 3:2.[33] The last two matches played in the US were victories against Philadelphia by 4:1[34] and 2:1 against Broolyn Wanderers.[35]

Games in Cuba and Mexico

The tour continued by Cuba and then to Mexico, with the Uruguayan team winning every game. As the Colo-Colo tour had been a huge economic success in Mexico, the Mexican executives invited Nacional to play several matches. On June 26, 1927, Nacional beat the Mexican National Team 3:1 and won the Copa General Serrano.[36] Afterwards, they won the Copa Colonia Francesa on June 29, 1927. The journey ended on July 10, 1927 after a victory over the Spanish team 8:1, before returning to Uruguay. The team then began preparation for the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, where Uruguay won a second consecutive Olympic gold medal.[1]

Results

Games in the United States of America

Games in Cuba

Games in Mexico


Statistics
G W D L GS GR
2115247522

References

  1. 1 2 3 Melos Prieto, Juan José (2012). El Padre de la Gloria. Uruguay: El País. p. 58-59. ISBN 978-9974-553-80-4.
  2. ↑ "Uruguayan Soccer Champs Due Here Soon". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 12 March 1927. p. 35. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "South American soccer team to play here". The New York Age. 12 March 1927.
  4. ↑ "Uruguay's soccer team beats Indiana". Decatur Evening Herald. 21 March 1927.
  5. ↑ "Uruguay soccer team makes impressive debut". The Scarnton Republican. 21 March 1927.
  6. ↑ "Wanderers tame fast Uruguayans in hectic battle". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 27 March 1927. p. 36. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Police a factor in third match of Uruguayans". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 28 March 1927. p. 24. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "Soccer team starts fight when losing". The Bismarck Tribune Man. 28 March 1927.
  9. ↑ "Free for all fight puts end to soccer game". Decatur Evening Herald. 28 March 1927.
  10. ↑ "Fist fight in a soccer game". The Sedalia Democrat. 28 March 1927.
  11. ↑ "Uruguay defeats American League at Polo Grounds". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 3 April 1927. p. 41. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  12. ↑ "Uruguay team ties". The Evening News. 11 April 1927.
  13. ↑ "Uruguayans in a tie". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 11 April 1927. p. 26. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "Uruguayan soccer team, Ebbets Field Saturday". The New York Age. 16 April 1927.
  15. ↑ "Uruguay soccer team to battle Brooklyn today". The Bridgeport Telegram. 16 April 1927.
  16. ↑ "Uruguay team's speed dazzles The Wanderers". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 17 April 1927. p. 34. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  17. ↑ "Soccer game ended in free-for-all". The Ottawa Journal. 20 April 1927.
  18. ↑ "Trouble pursues Uruguay soccer team in Boston". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 20 April 1927. p. 26. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "Uruguayan, Boston soccer teams stage rough house". The Indianapolis News. 20 April 1927.
  20. ↑ "Game ends in fight". The News. 20 April 1927.
  21. ↑ "Soccer battle ends in fight". The Scranton Republican. 20 April 1927.
  22. ↑ "Two players are hurt as soccer elevens battles". The Bridgeport Telegram. 20 April 1927.
  23. ↑ "Game ends in fight". The Bee. 20 April 1927.
  24. ↑ "Free-for-all fight ends game". Fitchburg Sentinel. 20 April 1927.
  25. ↑ "Four hurt in soccer play". The Springfield Leader. 20 April 1927.
  26. ↑ "Football game ends in fight". The Winnipeg Tribune. 20 April 1927.
  27. ↑ "Uruguay soccer team to continue despite battles". The Bridgeport Tribune. 21 April 1927.
  28. ↑ "Uruguay soccer eleven beats Detroit, 2 to 1". The Bridgeport Telegram. 25 April 1927.
  29. ↑ "Uruguayan eleven wins". The Evening Review. 2 May 1927.
  30. ↑ "St.Louis". Lincoln Evening Journal. 9 May 1927.
  31. ↑ "Uruguay soccer teams tops Sparta eleven". The Evening News. 16 May 1927.
  32. ↑ "Uruguayan soccer ask Hakoah game". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 22 May 1927. p. 40. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  33. ↑ "Beat the Olympic Champs". The Pantagraph. 23 May 1927.
  34. ↑ "Uruguayan eleven wins". The Winnipeg Tribune. 30 May 1927.
  35. ↑ "Wanderers bow a second time to Uruguay". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 31 May 1927. p. 25. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  36. ↑ Ortega Masot, Antonio M. "Cronología del fútbol mexicano" (PDF).
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