Blood in the Water match

Common card · No. 246377

The "Blood in the Water" match (Hungarian: melbourne-i vérfürdő lit. Blood bath of Melbourne; Russian: Кровь в бассейне, romanized: Krov' v basseyne, lit. 'Blood in the swimming pool') was a water polo match between Hungary and the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. The semi-final match took place on 6 December 1956 against the background of the recent Hungarian Revolution, and saw Hungary defeat the USSR 4–0. The name was coined after Hungarian player Ervin Zádor emerged during the last two minutes with blood pouring from above his eye after being punched by Soviet player Valentin Prokopov. Tensions were at an all-time high between the competing teams; the Soviet armed forces had violently suppressed the Hungarian Revolution just weeks before. Most of the Revolutionaries consisted of civilians, a majority factory workers and students, who constructed Molotov cocktails against the formal armed forces of the USSR. Throughout the match, players would use any form of violence they could...

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