@WC1930blogger Lorenzo Jalabert D'Amado is an academic in Latin American Studies from the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris. This is a Spanish language interview, titled 'Como se organizó el mundial de 1930? Fútbol y Política', he did with Uruguayan Radio station Del Sol on its program 'No Toquen nada' about the relationship between football and politics in regard to the organization of the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930. Lorenzo Jalabert D'Amado has also written an academic study discussing the Uruguayan Communist Party's resistance towards the hosting of the first World Cup, titled'La Lutte des classes face à l'internationalismesportif.
Not all Uruguayans were enthusiastic about their country staging the first World Cup, in fact the Partido Comunista de Uruguaya (PCU) actively campaigned against it. They even organized conferences titled, “¡ Contra el campeonato mundial ¡ Contra la reacción¡'', and took aim at the ''fascists'' governments that were sending them their sporting ambassadors. They were especially critical of the ''representatives of Yugoslavia''. The country was living under the dictatorship imposed by King Alexander I on 6th January 1929, denounced by the PCU ''where reigns a bloody terror against the workers.'' The PCU, founded in 1921, had been critical of Uruguay's two Olympic victories. It believed that the bourgeoise had used the ''patriotic poison'' to further their interests, and now they were denouncing the Organizing Committee, which was being financed by the state, for spending thousands of pesos to entertain the foreign sport delegations on their arrival. Despite being opposed to the World Cup, it still published the results in its paper, Justicia, albeit in its owns inimitable style. Below are a few examples (I wont bother with a translation because its pretty self explanatory). “Imperalistas yanquis 3, imperialistas belgas 0” “Imperialistas franceses 4, fascistas mejicanos 1” “Representantes del gobierno reaccionario de Irigoyen (Argentina) 3, representantes del sargento Ibáñez (Chile) 1” “Representantes de la burguesía uruguaya vendida al imperialismo 6, fascistas yugoslavos 1”. References Luis Prats, Goles y Votos (2013)
