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Sailing through the Waves
The World Cup in 1930 was held in Uruguay. And to reach there, the European teams travelled together on a single ship. They travelled across the Atlantic and picked up the Brazilian players from Rio.
Players used to train on the top deck. Jules Rimet travelled on the ship with the World Cup in his suitcase.
All the associate teams were invited to play as it was the only tournament without the qualifying process, but most of the countries rejected the invitation because of the distance.
The notorious Argentines
Argentina were the bad boys in the World Cup as their matches had the most on-field violence. Police were called to control a violent scrap in their 6-1 win over Chile, but in the semifinal against the USA, it escalated.
A tackle left one USA player with a broken leg and it broke a mass brawl. An Argentine player uprooted 4 teeth of an American, while another ended up in hospital with an injured stomach.
Chloroform knocks manager out
In a match, the USA manager ran to the referee to confront him as a decision went against the USA. While he sprinted, he tripped and a chloroform bottle in his pocket got smashed. The manager was left unconscious by the fumes and had to be treated. The picture shows the manager being checked by the medical officials.
Fog on the way and riots
15000 Argentine supporters set off from their coast to watch the final but on the way their ship got lost due to heavy fog and they reached Montevideo a day after the final. Upon hearing that Argentina lost the final, they started riots in Uruguay.
Also, the balls back in those days used to be heavy and in that World Cup, Bolivian players played with berets.
A premature funeral
Romania player Alfred Feraru fell ill during the trip back home. He was taken to a hospital in Italy's Genoa when the boat stopped while the team left for the country. After the team's arrival in Romania, news erupted that Feraru had passed away. Even his mother was convinced and made funeral arrangements for her departed son. But Feraru came back in full health and his mother fainted on the spot.
