1970 FIFA World Cup: La Guerra del Fútbol

“It is war – well, ok, it’s not a war, but it is the biggest sporting prize you can have. You have to be accomplished, like a platoon going out on a mission. We’ve got eleven, they’ve got eleven – and you’ve got to get out there and steal the goodies and get back before they know.”

Bobby Robson quoted in Davies, Pete: All Played Out, (Mandarin, 1991), p.89

Over the years comparisons of football to war have been used within the game for a wide range of reasons. In the above quote the then England manager, Bobby Robson, used war to justify his team selection in the build up to the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy where the traditional, battling characteristics of centre-half Terry Butcher were seen as preferable to the continental sweepers revolutionising the defences of the German, Dutch and Italian sides. War has also acted as a metaphor for particularly violent matches such as The Battle of Santiago between Chile and Italy in 1962 and, more recently, The Battle of Nuremberg between Portugal and the Netherlands in 2006.

However, during the qualification stages of the 1970 FIFA World Cup, an actual war broke out between the Central American nations of El Salvador and Honduras following the semi-final round of the CONCACAF (Confederation of North American and Caribbean Association Football) qualifying tournament. The two sides had been drawn together having finished top of their respective first round groups. Honduras had won the first game 1-0 at home and El Salvador won the return fixture 3-0. Despite El Salvador’s superior goal difference a third play-off match took place in Mexico, the host nation for the upcoming finals, on Thursday 26th June 1969 where the Salvadorans triumphed 3-2 after extra time and advanced to a final two-legged play-off against Haiti.

On the morning of the game in Mexico City the Salvadoran government suspended all diplomatic ties with their Honduran counterparts stating that over 11,000 Salvadorans had been forced to flee Honduras during the period following the second leg match in San Salvador. The Salvadoran government not only accused the Hondurans of rape, pillage and murder of their people but also of a lack of punishment for these crimes and a failure to guarantee reparations for the hardships they had endured. To say that these statements had fuelled tensions between the two nations ahead of the winner takes all qualifier would be a huge understatement.

Just over two weeks later, on Monday 14th July, the Salvadoran Air Force launched a military offensive against Honduras by bombing the Toncontin International Airport in order to delay a Honduran response. As the dust settled the Salvadoran army, which significantly outnumbered its Honduran enemies, invaded at three separate points along the border. They pushed the native forces back nearly five miles taking control of nine cities within twenty-four hours and established themselves within striking distance of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa. The Honduran counter-offensive, supported by neighbouring Nicaragua, began in earnest the next day and by the end of Wednesday 16th July many Salvadoran oil depots had been destroyed by the Honduran air force. A ceasefire was agreed on Friday 18th July although it would be early August before Salvadoran troops were withdrawn from Honduran territory.

Whilst the Honduran government agreed to protect the remaining Salvadoran people within its borders it refused to pay the reparations demanded by the politicians in San Salvador. Both sides suffered high casualties from what became known as La Guerra del Fútbol (The Football War) and the Salvadoran government struggled to cope financially with the subsequent influx of refugees. Trade between both nations was suspended causing the suspension of the Central American Common Market which had been established in response to the Communist revolution in Cuba in 1953. The Football War has also been cited as one of the long term causes of the devastating Salvadoran Civil War which lasted from 1979 to 1992 with the government became increasingly militaristic throughout the 1970s. An official peace treaty was signed in 1980 and new borders established, granting more land to El Salvador, in 1998.

The Football War suggests that these two Central American countries entered into this devastating conflict purely off the back of results in the World Cup qualification process but the causes, needless to say, were far more complicated. Honduran land reforms in the 1960s had seen several Salvadorans expelled from what they had regarded as their property (although in legal terms it was not) and migrant labourers, many of whom had settled and started families in Honduras, forcibly ejected from the country. The pressure on the Honduran government to enact these land reforms stemmed from the confederation of several of the country’s major landowners, including the United Fruit Company, into FENAGH (the National Federation of Farmers and Livestock-Farmers of Honduras) who pursued a militant anti-peasantry and anti-Salvadoran agenda. The timing of the World Cup qualifying matches between the two nations had simply intensified the ill-feeling between them and the Salvadoran victory in Mexico City undoubtedly worsened the situation for their remaining compatriots in Honduras.

Following the conflict El Salvador qualified for the 1970 FIFA World Cup finals after defeating Haiti across three games in September and October 1969: in the tournament they lost all three group games to Belgium, the USSR and hosts Mexico and failed to score a single goal. Their only other appearance at a World Cup finals tournament was in Spain in 1982, where they qualified alongside Honduras, but once again they exited at the group stage after losing all three games. At least on this occasion they managed to register a goal courtesy of Ramirez Zapata in a record 10-1 loss to Hungary. Honduras were also eliminated in the group stage of the 1982 tournament albeit with a considerably better record picking up draws against the hosts and eventual group winners Northern Ireland. Whilst relations between the two countries remain tense concerning territory in the Gulf of Fonseca a recent friendly between them, a 1-0 win for El Salvador in Texas, thankfully passed without incident.

Public History: This blog was initially started as part of my ongoing MA in Contemporary History and Politics as a proposal for a potential public history project (see below). Now we're into World Cups my Dad actually remembers he's been sharing his views on events. For example, the 1970 FIFA World Cup: "All I remember about the 1970 World Cup is Bobby Moore and the bracelet, Gordon Banks’ incredible save and Peter Bonetti. Opposition fans used to sing ‘Blue is the colour, football is the game, we lost the World Cup, Bonetti was to blame’ to Chelsea’s followers long after the event”. Which seems fair enough - he did play for Chelsea after all.

The Real Quiz: Well I was only four goals out in my prediction for the opening game of the Amnesty International Trophy. Besides Denis Cheryshev's excellent second goal I feel the highlight was another Russian's facial expressions throughout his country's resounding victory.

Make of that what you will.

Moving forward: If you're enjoying this blog (or just enduring it) and want to get involved please feel free. I'm more than happy to look into any suggestions you may have for topics or, better still, share your work if you fancy writing a post about a particular team, tournament or match with a political backdrop. Drop me a note below if you're keen or contact me on Twitter @mannyhawks.