b illITING ASPECT Tell Spartak Ry J. P. W. MALLALIEU INE
years ago I saw Chelsea draw with Mdscow Dynamos at Stamford Bridge. There was some good.
lb Then for nine years, during which political relations between :le two countries grew worse, we saw no, more Russian footballers here until last Tuesday evening when Spartak came to Highbury to play Arsenal under floodlights. There was, of course, enormous interest, partly because, after the Hungarians. CI Iron Curtain sides are expected to play dazzling football. and partly because in the previous month Arsenal had taken thrashing in Moscow from the Dynamos who were said to .?,e inferior to Spartak. Nobody I know, except Charles puchan. gave Arsenal any chance even of drawing. The !Merest of the match lay solely in the anticipated skill of 4Partak. But despite the interest, there was none of the goodwill that had greeted Dynamos nine years previously. True, there were the two Welshmen in the Tube festooned taisl for a cup-tie in the red and white of Arsenal. ` You're in • wrong colours tonight, mate,' said a neighbour to them. et you know that Arsenal are playing in black and white ? ' ,.,we're not backing Arsenal,' said the pair in disgust, 'we're Itununists tonight, we are. We're backing Spartak.' But it transpired that Spartak had got their support only because it r?as alleged that Arsenal had refused to release three players ,.,r the Welsh team on the following day. I met no one else 7110 was not hoping against hope that Arsenal would somehow tve the Russkis a real hiding despite the horns and tails which, It was assumed, all Russians have grown since the war. As things turned out, this hope nearly materialised. Arsenal, L'IaYing much above their recent form, scored first through °eta with a really brilliant goal and, backed by such a roar as even Hampden never heard, all but scored twice more in first half. Once their centre-forward came clean through ,,ute defence but hooked his shot hopelessly wide. Next the 2Partak goalkeeper went the wrong way to another shot but somehow managed to change direction in mid-air and just Pot his hand to the ball; and though by half-time Spartak had ievelled the score, Arsenal had shown themselves the better °ant Their forwards were passing accurately, their defence Was tackling quickly and Barnes at full-back was playing with !Itch brilliance that even the two Welshmen in the Tube may lentnorarily have forgotten that, according to them, Barnes Tight to have been reserving himself for the Welsh match on To following day. In the second half Spartak scored the ciding goal when their passing momentarily bewildered the rsenal defence. But Arsenal were still at least their equals tILSkill and should have had a chance of equalising the score ‘17311811 a penalty kick. So far as the football in this match ent. I shall remember not the ordinary competence of Spartak out the wholly unexpected determination of Arsenal. But I shall remember other things still more. First there 7,.as the behaviour of the Spartak team. They came on to ir field looking, in red and white, like Arsenal except that :1,tlividually they were generally younger and slighter. They 170d shivering through the interminable handshakes and atitmlal anthems which are enough to take the edge off any athlete, and then they made a little gesture that was new to me. They formed themselves into a straight line facing the main stand and, together, they bowed. That done, they turned in single file and trotted to the terraces where they bowed again; and so on for each section of the crowd. One could not so the crowd; for the floodlights, concentrated on the pitch, left everything else in shadow. One just knew, from the rumbling that came out of the shadow, that something alive was there. The crowd was surprised by the Russians' first bow and made no comment; but after the second bow, each section of the crowd knew what to expect and began to cheer. One could hear the feelings of that shadowy monster beginning to change as each man turned to his neighbour and said, This is rather nice,' or 'Blimey,' or Well, I'll go to Buxton,' or whatever his expression of surprised pleasure might be. Throughout the game the Russian players continued to be rather nice, not only by playing cleanly—both teams did that throughout—but by little courtesies not often seen on an English football field. such as apologising after an unintentional foul or retrieving the ball from touch for an opponent. Since, on top of this, instead of proving to be the perfectionist machines we had expected, the Russians showed themselves to be as humanlY fallible as any Third Division players by putting the ball behind from corners and miskicking, the crowd took them to their hearts. If they made no great impression as footballers, they Made a delightful impression as men.
Unhappily my second memory of this occasion is less pleasant, and it arises from that penalty which Arsenal did not get. Milton was going through from the Arsenal wing and when he had a clear sight of goal he was tripped in the penalty area. There was no question that this was a foul or that it happened in the penalty area, but that does not automatically mean that the referee must give a penalty kick. He should only do that if he is satisfied that, but for the foul, a goal was likely to be scored. I would• have given a penalty at once, but the Russian referee who was on the spot and who, hitherto. had refereed admirably, gave an indirect free kick. Of course we were all furious and gave way to our feelings with a whistle so shrill that it was almost supersonic. That was all right. All crowds do that. It was all right, too, when Logie as captain protested to the referee—though Logic need not have kept his protest going for so long. But what was not all right and what left such an abidingly unpleasant memory occurred after the final whistle. When that blew it happened that Logie was standing beside the referee and the referee offered his hand. Instead of taking it, Logie, captain of England's most famous team, made a rude gesture and slouched off the field, leaving the referee to shrug his shoulders /and the very pleasant Russian team to come in on their own. • So this match provided two surprises. These are that. Incredibly, the Russians still have something to learn front English footballers about both skill and determination; and that some English footballers, 'equally incredibly, have now, In contrast to 1945. much to learn from the Russians about elementary sportsmanship.
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