What happened to the Real Madrid team during the Spanish civil war!
When the Spanish civil war (1936–1939) broke it affected Real Madrid like every other club that existed during that time. Before the civil war started Real Madrid was already considered as one of the giants in Spain, they had 2 league titles and 6 Copa Del Rey under their belt. And just a month before the civil war started Real Madrid faced Barcelona in the final of Copa Presidente a Republica also known as King’s cup which we know as Copa del Rey now.
On June 21, 1936, Madrid FC and Barcelona faced each other for the first time in a final at Mestalla, the home ground of Valencia. This match was special for one more reason, Real Madrid goalkeeper and a La Liga legend Zamora announced that he will hang his boot after the match. In that match, Real Madrid fielded their best possible eleven available: Zamora, Ciriaco, Quincoces, P. Regueiro, Bonet, Sauto, Eugenio, L. Regueiro, Sanudo, Lecure and Emilin. Real Madrid scored twice within the first twenty minutes and Barcelona scored one in the 25 minutes but had no luck in the second half. Real Madrid won their 7th Copa del Rey trophy by defeating Barcelona 2–1 and after the match, Real Madrid players carried around 35 years old goalkeeper Zamora and waved him goodbye.
On July 17th, the civil war broke out in Spain and lasted for 3 long years and affected all sports especially football which was already immensely popular in Spain at that time. In this article, I will look into what happened to that Real Madrid team during the civil war.
ZAMORA
Recently retired Zamora stayed in Madrid for his holiday, when the war started he was captured and imprisoned during the siege of the Cuartel De la Montana. He was captured because he worked for a local catholic newspaper as a journalist. He asked for refuge along with his family but he was sent to Modelo prison. In the prison, there was a guard who recognized him and started taking good care of him. At one point Zamora was facing sure death as they were taking him on a bus to throw him in front of the rifle but the soldier recognized him among inmates and came to rescue him, told others that he was his friend and he hasn’t done anything wrong. Later on, with the help of that soldier, he managed to escape from prison and managed to seek refuge in the Argentine embassy along with his family. Later on, in 1937 he managed to escape from Madrid and headed towards France. A rumor circulated that time that Zamora has died as no one knew his whereabouts. Ultimately, the Franco government discovered him in Nice and they got angrier when they got to know that he played friendly matches with Nice jersey. In 1938 when the war was coming to an end he came back to Spain and took part in a friendly match between Sociedad and nationalist camp.
SAUTO
Jose Ramon Sauto is the first-ever Mexican player to play for Madrid. He was known as an undisciplined player who didn’t really like to train. Besides football, he used to work in the military as well in Cuartel del la Montana. One day his barrack was attacked and seized, fortunately for him, he wasn’t there. Later on, he was found by the army as he was wandering in Madrid and sent to a secret police committee but fortunately for him after a hours few hours they let him loose. He took the refugee in the Mexican embassy and was sent to France along with 400 others. But he came back to Spain in Pamplona controlled by the nationalist army and started working for them as a motorcycle messenger. He delivered news from the hierarchy to the front line. He had a good relationship with Don Santiago Bernabeu and later on, he came back to play for Real Madrid on the condition that he will not train. He retired from Madrid in 1943 and was seen off with a tribute match against Sevilla.
THE BASQUE TRIO
Two brothers Pedro and Luis Regueiro came from Real Union to Real Madrid in successive years 1931 and 1932, and there was another player name Emilin who came in 1933 from Arenas De Getxo. All three of them were from the Basque region and was a regular player in Madrid and Spanish national team. As they come from the Basque region all three of them supported republicans. Even though they didn’t participate in the war directly but they played charity matches to collect funds for Basque fighters. Later on, they were part of a team that toured the whole of Europe and the Soviet Union. As the news broke that Bilbao has fallen they couldn’t come back to Spain and continued their tour. After touring Denmark, Poland, and France in December 1937 they arrived in Mexico. After playing more than 15 matches in Mexico they traveled to Cuba, and finally, in 1938 they ended up in Argentina. Then FIFA forced them to stop all their matches. The team return to Mexico and convinced the Mexican football federation to allow them to compete in one of the official leagues, ultimately they become the league champion in 1938–39. The team was dissolved that year, while some of them return to Spain, Regueiro brothers stayed in Mexico, as for Emilin he went to Argentina to play for San Lorenzo and later on moved to Mexico, lived there rest of his life. None of them ever played for Madrid again.
JACINTO QUINCOCES
Jacinto Quincoces was one of the most promising Real Madrid players. Quincoces along with Zamora and Ciriaco believed to be made the best defensive line in Europe. In 1934 Italy football world cup experts touted him as the best defender in the world. When conflicts started he moved to his native Barakaldo. In 1940 he came back to Real Madrid to play for another two years but he wasn’t the same player as he was before.
THE FOREIGENIERS
As soon as the conflict started most of the foreign players left Madrid for their home country. Three Hungarians Alberty, Bizassy, and Kellemen returned to Hungary, Giudiecilli returned to Brazil. The Mexican native Antonio Lopez Herranz returned to Mexico and played for Club America during the civil war and later played for Real Madrid when the conflict ended.
The Spanish civil war ended on April 1st, 1939 but things weren’t looking good for Real Madrid as only 4 players from 1935–36 squad returned to Real Madrid. Most of them were bench players as many of the starters retired or played elsewhere. Real Madrid stadium was severely damaged and took six months to rebuild.
