Blood in the Water match

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Ervin Zador after the match.

The "Blood In The Water" match (in Hungarian Melbourne-i vérfürdő, "Blood Bath" of Melbourne) was a water polo match between Hungary and the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and is arguably the most famous match in water polo history. The match, which happened on December 6, 1956, was played out against the background of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and saw Hungary defeat the USSR 4–0. The name was coined by the media after Hungarian player Ervin Zádor emerged from the pool during the last two minutes in the game with blood pouring from under his eye after being punched by a Soviet player.

1 Background
2 The Match
3 In film
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Background

Main article: Hungarian Revolution of 1956

On October 23, 1956, a small demonstration of students had escalated into a full blown uprising against the Soviet puppet government in Budapest. For a few days it appeared that Hungary might be able to free itself from domination by the USSR. On November 1, however, Soviet tanks began rolling into Hungary and from November 4 to November 10 forces began suppressing the uprising with a combined arms strategy of air strikes, artillery bombardments, and coordinated tank-infantry actions.

At the time of the uprising, the Hungarian water polo team was in a mountain training camp above Budapest. They were able to hear the gunfire and see smoke rising. The team was the defending Olympic champions; with the Summer Olympics in Melbourne less than two months away, they were quickly moved over the border into Czechoslovakia to avoid them being caught up in the revolution^[1]. The players only learned of the true extent of the uprising after arriving in Australia and they were all anxious for news of friends and family.

By the start of the Olympics, the uprising had been brutally dealt with, and many of the players saw the Olympics as a way to salvage some pride for their country. "We felt we were playing not just for ourselves but for our whole country" said Zádor after the match. By this time, the international community had become aware of the full brutality of the Soviet response to the Hungarian uprising and the Hungarian Olympic team was cheered wherever it competed. The "Blood In The Water" match was played out in front of a partisan crowd bolstered with expatriate Hungarians, many of whom had been in the boxing arena a few days before to see Laszlo Papp win his third gold medal.

[edit] The Match

See also: Water polo at the 1956 Summer Olympics

In the morning before the start, the Hungarians had evolved a strategy to taunt the Russians, whose language they had been forced to study in school. In the words of Zádor: "We had decided to try and make the Russians angry to distract them"^[2].

From the beginning, the match was very physical with kicks and punches being exchanged. At one point the Hungarian captain, Dezső Gyarmati, caught a Russian opponent with a sucker punch that was caught on film^[2]. Meanwhile, the young Hungarian player Zádor scored two goals to the 'Hajrá Magyarok!' (Go Hungarians!) cheers of the crowd.

Going into the final minutes of the game, when Hungary was leading 4–0, Zádor was marking Valentin Prokopov, with whom he had several verbal exchanges, abusing his family, etc. At one point when Zádor looked away, Prokopov hit him with a powerful fist, causing a deep bleeding gash above the right eye. Zádor was forced to leave the pool, and his bleeding face was the final straw for a crowd which was already in a frenzy. Many angry spectators jumped on to the concourse beside the water, shook their fists, shouted abuse and spat at the Russians^[3]. To avoid a riot breaking out, police entered the arena with one minute to go and shepherded the crowd away.

Pictures of Zádor's injuries were published in the press around the world, leading to the "Blood in the Water" name, although reports that the water did actually turn red were probably an exaggeration. When asked later, Zádor said that at that moment, his only thought was whether he would be able to play the next match.

Hungary was declared winner since they had been leading at the time, and they went on to beat Yugoslavia 2–1 in the final and win their fourth Olympic gold medal. Following the Olympics, half of the 100-member Hungarian Olympic delegation defected.

[edit] In film

In 2006, for the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, a documentary film Freedom's Fury was released telling the story of the match. The film was produced by Lucy Liu and Quentin Tarantino, who described it as "the best untold story ever". The documentary was narrated by Mark Spitz, who had been coached by Ervin Zador as a teenager.

A feature movie has also been made about these events, under the title Children of glory (Szabadság, szerelem in Hungarian, which means Freedom, love, after the famous lines of Sándor Petőfi, the martyred poet of the 1848-49 revolution). The movie shows the events of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution through the eyes of a player on the water polo team and a girl who is one of the student leaders. It was directed by Krisztina Goda, and produced by Andrew G. Vajna. The movie appeared in Hungarian cinemas on 23 October 2006, the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the revolution. On 29 October 2006, it was shown with great success at the White House for President George W. Bush and his guests (including leading Hungarian figures such as George Pataki, Governor of New York and György Oláh, Nobel Prize winner).