Sport: Home-Team Victory

For some 54,000 sport-loving Frenchmen and 8,000 visiting German fans, World War II finally ended one afternoon last week on a playing field in Paris’ jammed Colombes Stadium. There two soccer teams representing the bitter enemies of three wars met in their first international match since 1937. But there were no incidents. Players of each team, carefully briefed on avoiding an untoward explosion, treated their opponents with elaborate politeness; nobody got hurt except a German center forward who fell down all by himself and banged his knee.

The crowd brought its own jumbled emotions. Many Frenchmen, spoiling for a victory on the field, winced at the sound of German cheers, mild though they were. One spectator, a concentration camp survivor, stood through the entire game, eying the visitors in silent hatred, a vengeful symbol in his old striped Buchenwald uniform. Another Frenchman, watching his jittery, overanxious team missing wild shots at the goal during the first half, wept uncontrollably.

On the field, meanwhile, when a player went down, a rival would usually rush to help him up. Then the two would warmly shake hands before re-entering the game. Even the British referee got in on the love feast. When he blew his whistle for a time out, players would scamper to him, rain compliments on him for his eminent fairness, surpassing judgment and keen eyesight.

Happily for the emotional pressure within the stadium, the French team was clearly superior; it bounced back from a 1-to-1 tie at halftime to win, 3-1. That night the well-behaved Germans, sober and polite, celebrated their defeat in Paris nightclubs. One German girl, now working in Paris, summed up the feelings of everyone : “I’m glad the French won. It’s better that way.”