Football Stories
It is not the first time that a crisis impacts the world of sports.
In a matter of just a few days, not just national football, but also international football has been fully paralysed due to the coronavirus. While this situation is undeniably exceptional and many countries are experiencing lockdown it is not the first time that a crisis impacts the world of sports to this extent. This time it is the Smallpox outbreak in Yugoslavia.
In this post:
COVER Image
Smallpox epidemic [photographic documentation].
Last Major smallpox outbreak in Europe
The 1972 Yugoslavia smallpox outbreak was the last major outbreak of smallpox in Europe. Although the population of Yugoslavia had been regularly vaccinated for 50 years, and with the last case being reported in 1930, it caused an initial slow reaction by doctors, who did not promptly recognize the disease. A strong reaction from the government was needed to contain the outbreak. The authorities first put an enforced quarantine in place and then undertook revaccination of the population, which resulted in the vaccination of nearly 2 million people. This meant that during most of the smallpox outbreak, almost all public events were cancelled. As a result, the domestic football league was cancelled from March 26 to April 16.
No football for a whole month?
The measures included cordon sanitaries of villages and neighbourhoods, roadblocks, the prohibition of public meetings, closure of borders and prohibition of all non-essential travel. Hotels were requisitioned for quarantines in which 10,000 people who may have been in contact with the virus were held under guard by the army. The continuation of the domestic football matches with crowds is unthinkable in such a situation. Certainly, because the Yugoslav football league was the most popular sport league in the country. With average attendances usually crossing the 10,000 mark it was difficult to see how football could proceed during the outbreak. Thus, on March 26 the competition was cancelled. No games were played for two weeks. The original plan was to start the football league up again after those two weeks but the authorities decided to postpone it with one additional week, from April 9 to April 16.
The match everyone will remember
That’s when Partizan Belgrade and Vojvodina decided to play a friendly match on April 9, in order to maintain their form and fitness. They played the match in JNA stadium with no spectators, but the match was televised on national television, resulting in a spooky atmosphere. But that was not the only famous match of that year. Because 1972 also was the year of the 50th rendition of the famous eternal derby between fierce city rivals Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade. Played on May 7th in front of 45,000 spectators, just one month after the epidemic. That makes the remembering of the Partizan Vojvodina match all the more special. The match is remembered not because of football reasons, like with the derby, but because of the circumstances, it was played in.
SPECIAL Lockdown Football Stories

Football Lockdowns: Oil Crises 1956 and 1973
Dutch sport historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote of other times when Football was stopped, like it currently is. This time it’s oil shortages!

Football Lockdowns: Tilburg (NL) 1951
Dutch sport historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote a historical overview of other times when Football was stopped, like it currently is. Small story of a local epidemic.

Football Lockdowns: World War Two
Dutch sports historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote a historical overview of other times when Football was stopped like it currently is. The Second World War is our second short piece.

Football Lockdowns: The Spanish Flu of 1918
Dutch sports historian Jurryt van de Vooren wrote for us about other times when Football was stopped like it currently is. Spanish flu of 1918 is the first story.
LATEST POST You may also be interested in

Multiculturalism and representations of national identity
Teach students about questions of identity, citizenship and multiculturalism by looking at national football teams across Western Europe.

When football went viral
On this day in 2020, Atalanta Bergamo hosted Valencia in a final-16 Champions League match. It was a superspreading event of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Should we always blame someone when something goes wrong?
Help your students develop social and civic competences by using examples of events in football history.

A system of push and pull
Expand the knowledge of your students about migration and its push and pull factors through the example of football.

World War 1 in one life
A story of a professional footballer who died at the battle of the Somme in 1916.

Football as a portal to French colonial history
Learn about colonialism and migration by tracing the origins of French football players.