Why Did Soccer Go To War Essay

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We all know that people like sports, but did you know that one game of soccer started a whole war? This is what happened on June 15, 1969. Honduras and El Salvador had a conflict in the 1970 world cup qualifier when the fans of each team got in a big fight, and this caused both countries to be even more unhappy with each other and heighten the previous disagreement about land and caused the two countries to go to war. The war caused many deaths and led the two countries to sign a peace treaty that affected both of the countries as well as other countries when the disputed land was given to Honduras. The root cause of the conflict leads back to immigration between the two countries. Honduras is Five times as big as its neighboring country…show more content…
“In 1966, the large landowners in Honduras formed the National Federation of Farmers and Livestock-Farmers of Honduras with the goal of protecting their interests” (Hickman). The group later successfully launched a propaganda campaign supporting their cause. This campaign later had a large effect on the war Even while Immigration played a big part in the cause of the war, soccer also had a huge impact.While there was previous tensions between the two countries, Honduras and El Salvador's soccer teams were playing against each other in the world cup qualifier. The world cup qualifier was on June 8th, 1969. Honduras ended up beating El Salvador at home 1-0. A week after that, the Honduras soccer team traveled to El Salvador and lost 3-0. After losing the first game El Salvador was furious. And they set the hotel where the Honduras team was staying on fire. Both teams started calling each other things like nazi’s, thieves, sadists as well as other things. When they traveled to Honduras for the second match the fans of both teams were furious and a huge fight broke out. They were so riled up that the Salvadorian security had to hide the Honduras soccer team in a concealed location. By the end of the game, El Salvador won 3-0. When Honduras fans went home after losing the match, Salvadorians began to throw rocks at their
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