On Tuesday, May 30, 1950, the Spanish team landed in Barajas after playing two friendlies in Mexico. It was a B version in which there were several players who would be World Cup winners a month later in Brazil, but in which the Athletic players were missing, who on the 28th won the Cup in Madrid 4-1 against Valladolid.
The newspapers reported in their chronicles the extraordinary reception that the Spanish team had on Aztec soil, certified with a reception after the second game in the Spanish Casino of Xochimilco.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The outcome of what happened was the definitive withdrawal of the two Spanish teams. (Real Club Spain and Asturias) of the Mexican League.
The first match was won by Spain 3-1 in the Insurgentes Olympic Stadium, in the Mexican capital. Days later, on May 28, the second was played. The atmosphere was tense. The rivalry between the Mexican teams and the two powerful clubs of Spanish descent was enormous.
Added to this hatred of the Gachupine teams in those games was the Spanish sentiment of the thousands of Spanish exiles welcomed by Mexico after the Civil War. The arrival of the team was welcomed with enthusiasm by the Spanish colony. They recognized idols such as Ramallets or César, while at the same time they took the opportunity to show their rejection of Franco’s government. The exiles devoted themselves to their players, but showed their rejection of the fascist government of Madrid.
Rosendo Hernández retires after a match for the Spanish team.
Goal interruptus
What was going to end with a historic political-sports decision started in the last minute of the second game. The canary Rosendo Hernandez He beat goalkeeper Córdova with a low shot. When the ball was inevitably on its way to the net, the referee’s three whistles sounded to end the game to the general astonishment. The referee, the international Carlos Estevaran off the field, leaving the two teams on the grass without knowing what to do. From the box, as representative of the Mexican Federation, the general José Manuel Núñez -hero of the Revolution, economic savior of Atlante in 1936 and more fond of weapons than of words- sent the Mexicans to the booth, leaving the Spanish players with their mouths open.
Casarín, during training.
On the way to the locker room, the Mexican players received a shower of pads from the sector where the Spanish fans were. One hit Horacio Casarin, the Mexican figure, who returned her to the stands with fury, multiplying the incident.
The tension was such that General Núñez prohibited all members of the Mexican team from attending the banquet at the headquarters of the Royal Spain, something that never appeared in the Spanish press.
End of Spain and Asturias
Alfonso de la Serna Gutiérrezthe unofficial representative of Spain in Mexico, since this country never recognized Franco’s government, informed Madrid of everything that happened. The pressure on the leaders of Real España and Asturias, teams founded one in 1910 and the other in 1914 and with strong ties to Spain before the Civil War, combined with the increasing rejection that these teams suffered on the fields. “They played against everything every week: against the rival, the referee and the fans,” he recalled. Pedro Bargay, son of one of the founders of Club España, in a report by Once TV México on the occasion of the 100 years of the founding of the club.
The suggestion of De la Serna to the historical hierarchy of the Spanish colony caused Spain to announce its abandonment of Mexican soccer on July 20. At the end of August, after a marathon assembly, Asturias announced it: “We withdrew because we have been harassed and bothered by an anti-Spanish campaign.”
There were 18 Lig titles left behindbetween the amateur and professional championships, the defense of their shirts by symbols of Mexican football such as Antonio Carbajal (played in five World Cups) or José Luis Lamadrid (first Mexican World Cup scorer in Europe, Switzerland 1954) but he was going to continue a profound social and sporting work that, in the case of Club Spain, It remains an example today throughout Mexico.