On this day (19 May) in 1937 Manchester City became the first English team to play at the Berlin Olympic Stadium. This was a highly political match but it doesn’t get mentioned as often as it should but I’ve talked about it frequently over the decades. The match saw League Champions Manchester City become the first English side to play in the Berlin Olympic stadium when they faced a German national 11 – club v country!
The German national side beat “England’s greatest players” 3-2 in a propaganda led game. According to the English players there that day, tHe Blues had a morale victory when they refused to perform the Nazi salute. You can read more on this game below.
I am not going to pretend that English football teams making tours of Continental countries do not have a very pleasant time, but at the same time these tours are not picnics. You are there to play serious football, and you have to go about it in the ordinary businesslike way.” Sam Barkas, City Captain, 27th May 1937
As Sam Barkas hinted, sometimes end of season football tours are not the fun experience a lot of fans think. Sometimes the tour takes on a whole different meaning. This is certainly true for the May 1937 tour to Germany.
The Blues, as Champions of England, were invited to play a series of high profile matches across Germany and its neighbouring States. Although this was a major honour for City it has to be stressed that the whole concept of the tour, as far as Germany’s Nazi rulers were concerned, was to promote Germany’s sporting prowess against the best England could offer.
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