Blood in the water – Revolution and Melbourne ‘56

Jacob Corne

Sport and politics - a compelling relationship.

Qatar most recently grasped the opportunity to accentuate this belief. Football’s illustrious finale, only months ago, was masked by the thousands of migrant workers who watched from six feet under. Judiciously viewed, one of the game’s greatest showdowns was unfortunately played on a grave of dreams.

However, it is the Olympics that is not only the cynosure of worldwide attention, but simultaneously a perfect example of the intertwining relationship between sport and politics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), for instance, brought refuge to a country battling oppressive rule. South Africa’s exclusion from the 1970 Olympic movement, amalgamated with further boycotts of the nationally beloved cricket and rugby, was conducive to ceasing Apartheid.

But the height of political infusion in sport perhaps occurred during the Melbourne Olympics of 1956. Hungary and the Soviet Union clashed in the pool to create the most infamous game of water polo ever witnessed. Representing the hatred between the two countries, the battle was eternally inscribed into history as the ‘Blood in the Water’ match.

At first glance, it would appear that Hungary and water polo are asynchronous; after all, Hungary is a landlocked country. But Budapest’s excellent aquatic facilities led to the nation quickly becoming a breeding ground for polo superstars, because ‘there was nothing else to do,’ claimed Ervin Zádor, a member of the ‘56 Olympic team. ‘There was economically nothing available’. But how did the country find itself in this financially sombre state?

An axis power during WWII, Hungary suffered the consequences of falling to Soviet ascendancy. It was the Percentages Agreement of 1944, coined by Winston Churchill as ‘the naughty agreement,’ which aimed to decide Hungary’s fate. Presenting an agreeable façade, Joseph Stalin warmly indicated that Churchill should keep the sheet of paper on which partial British control of Hungary had been compromised. The following day, any promises were ruthlessly terminated. Red Army soldiers flooded in and gained control of Hungary. For the subsequent forty-five years, Soviet influence would be inescapable. In the shorter term, it was the following twelve years that really caused Hungary’s economic decline. Whilst the Marshall Plan came as a ‘lifeline to sinking men’ (as described by British foreign secretary Ernst Bevin) to nations liberated by the West, Communist occupation was significantly more piecemeal. Improvements were infrequent, and industrial output was predominantly returned to the USSR, depleting the wealth of satellite states.

Under Stalin, Mátyás Rákosi, a stern Communist politician, assumed leadership of Hungary in 1947. Strictly compliant with the despot’s ways, he embedded a lack of freedom for the Hungarian people. In fact, the years 1947 to 1953 were devastated by political turmoil. Therefore, upon the death of Joseph Stalin on the 5th of March 1953, deprived nations began to dream.

Khrushchev’s championing of the power struggle saw the appointment of the more moderate Imre Nagy as leader of Hungary, who swiftly achieved hero status from a country craving reform. Although diplomatic pressure was relieved, the sporting rivalry exacerbated. Humiliated by their inferiority, the Soviet Union ordered its polo team down to Budapest. The minutiae were meticulously followed. Each training drill replicated. The capital’s once immaculate pools now corrupted with Russian blood.

The summer of ‘56 furthered tensions. In a pre-Olympic tournament in Moscow, Hungary lost to the Soviet Union. Describing the match, Zádor alleged bitterly ‘I played 101 international games with them (Hungary). We lost 1. And that was downright cheating in Moscow.’

Hungary soon found itself at the centre of the Cold War, a period of severe diplomatic hostility between 1947 and 1991. Khrushchev’s de-Stalinisation programme, combined with his relative leniency regarding the June 1956 Polish uprising, had instilled confidence in a large proportion of the population. On the 23rd of October 1956, the Hungarian people made their first move.

‘We’re asking all Russian troops to leave Hungary,’ explained Peter Korponay over the phone to his wife Irene. ‘We’ve reached the point when we dare to say that publicly’. The day before, university students had arrived in Budapest, adamant that they would push through comprehensive demands, such as a democratic voting system and the eradication of Russian forces in Hungary. But on the 23rd, it was seemingly a whole nation that gathered, creating streets brimming with protesters. ‘It was a miracle. You know, there [had been] no such thing as a demonstration behind the Iron Curtain ever’, remarked a tearful Béla Lipták, who was one of the university students marching .

Instantaneously, however, the peaceful protest metamorphosed into a gory scrummage for liberation. Secret police stationed outside the radio centre opened fire the second protestors tried to infiltrate the building . Infuriated Hungarian troops in the gathering returned the favour. Immediately after, Soviet sympathisers pleaded for Russian intervention, and the tanks rolled in.

The next morning saw Budapest ‘in the throes of a full-scale battle’ ; anyone and everyone was welcomed in combatting the Soviet oppressors. Displaying their detestation, workers tore down a huge statue of Stalin after another protest.

Riots continued on the 25th, with Budapest quickly becoming a microcosm of worldwide fragility. Despite Nagy’s claim of an end to combat, tanks decided to fire on innocent Hungarian citizens outside the parliament building. By now, the battle had expanded beyond the horizons of the capital, and skirmish’s spread throughout the state, with hundreds of casualties on both sides.

October 28th was the day Hungary won … temporarily. Imre Nagy insisted that, in order to preserve Communism, the Soviets must leave. Astonishingly, Khrushchev complied, and for a short period, Hungary was free - a remarkable achievement.

Elsewhere, France, Britain, and Israel launched a shock attack on the Egyptian held Suez Canal on October 29th 1956, but this was hugely disadvantageous for Hungary. Since the USSR saw the attempted invasion as unjust and unlawful, they reasoned it as acceptable to take back control of Hungary. Exacerbating this sentiment was Nagy’s declaration on November 1st of Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, a treaty that established a mutual defence organisation to counter that of NATO’s.

On the 4th of November, the liberation of Hungary became ever more precarious. Soviet tanks re-entered Budapest, and penetrated any remaining Hungarian resistance in ‘Operation Whirlwind’. Fearing for their lives, 200,000 Hungarians fled the country. They were the lucky ones; 2,500 insurgents were killed, and 20,000 were wounded. The catastrophic bloodshed ended on the 11th of November, when János Kádár, a supposed ally of Imre Nagy who had conspired with the Soviets, was installed as leader of Hungary. Revolution had been crushed.

Bystanders during the fighting, the water polo team’s emotions, just like those of the Hungarian people, were anything but equanimous. They found themselves entrapped in a training camp above Budapest. For them, news about the battle came through conversation, and the team soon found out that because of the serious nature of the fighting between the 23rd and 25th, their chances of travelling to the Olympics had been hindered.

A few days later, on October 30th, it was relief that pervaded the Hungarian camp. Given the Olympic go-ahead by Imre Nagy, they anticipated the opportunity to represent a free Hungary. In early November, the team bus left Hungary, crossing the border to Czechoslovakia, and after a two-week detainment, the Hungarian water polo team landed in Melbourne on November 20th 1956. There, the squad learnt that they were no longer representing a liberated Hungary, and elation turned to exasperation. The revolution cast a shadow over the games, and many countries decided to boycott. In protest, the polo team removed the Communist section of the Hungarian flag – they didn’t want to play for such despicable motives.

Overcome by repugnance, the team had a multitude of problems at the beginning of the Olympics. As well as the question of whether members would return to Hungary after the games, the players hadn’t trained together in over a month. Nevertheless, they annihilated the USA, Germany, and Italy in the round-robin formatted group stage, and progressed to the semi-finals.

Their opponents? The Soviet Union

As soon as it had been confirmed, the fixture gathered global attention. It was much more than a simple 7 versus 7 showdown. It was a metaphor for oppression versus liberation. For hard-line Communism versus freedom of expression. For war versus peace.

Hungarian expatriates dominated a 5,500 crowd that packed out a rowdy natatorium on December 6th 1956. After insurmountable build-up, the match commenced.

Early on, two Hungarian penalties were enough to heighten the tension. The Soviet polo player Yuri Shlyapin claimed that ‘referees have biases and I consider that he (the referee) did a lot to make sure that the Hungarian team won’. Increasing the exacerbation was an incident between the two captains late on in the second quarter, when Hungarian Dezső Gyarmati blatantly hit the Russian Pyotr Mshvenieradze. Witnessed by everyone else in the pool, the squabble was seen by both teams, and a huge tussle began.

Within the second half, Hungary stretched their lead to 4-0, at which point the outcome was irreversible. But it was with two minutes left on the clock when the game imploded, immortalizing it into history. ‘And I come back and I saw him (Valentin Prokopov, one of the Russian players). And I saw that arm coming in my face and I heard a crack and I saw 48 stars. Man oh man I was like a stuffed pig,’ remembered Zádor.

‘He looked like he just stepped out of a slaughterhouse,’ claimed Gyarmati. Prokopov’s punch had infuriated the already tetchy crowd, and, in the heat of the moment, many leaped over the barriers to attack the Russian players. Fortunately, the police were able to prevent a mass brawl, but patriotic Hungarian chants were thunderous and unrelenting. Unable to be continued, the Hungarians left the match to rapturous cheering. The Soviets left escorted by police. Dodging projectiles, they had to avoid the swarming of angry spectators onto the concourse.

With by its convulsing plot, the story of the ‘Blood in the Water’ match of 1956 encapsulates mountains of political tension. Its riveting conclusion saw the Hungarian water polo team of 1956 go on to win the gold medal, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 in the final, and satiating the hopes of a nation. ‘The Russians invaded Hungary. They beat the revolution down. But the Hungarian water polo team could not be beaten,’ declared Nick Martin.

Reality struck the next day, however. Exhibiting the distressing divide across the world at the time, the Hungarian team disbanded. Some went back home to be with their families, whereas others decided not to return for a while, hoping to avoid oppression.

Tragically, János Kádár, the recently inducted Hungarian leader, employed totalitarianism in the most harrowing of ways. He ordered the arrest of over 100,000, and the killing of 350 , many of whom were freedom fighters under the age of 30. Moreover, the clandestine burial of the victims made the loss even more miserable for families whose loved ones simply disappeared. To add to the despondency, Imre Nagy, once a hero in the revolution, was, under the instruction of Kádár, hanged on June 16th 1958.

From the wealth of polo memories created, it is the ‘Blood in the Water’ match of Melbourne 1956 that really stands out. But it wasn’t only the water polo team who showed unwavering fortitude. No matter how hard the Soviet’s tried, and no matter how excruciating the torment was, the Hungarian people never gave in, joining the polo team as victors. The spirit of freedom was tireless, and no one would let the USSR destroy it. Maybe Russia had one more country back under the helm, but the emotional victory was decidedly won. And it was won by Hungary.

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