In today's present football climate a lot is made of one club players and the value of loyalty. A story I heard a few month ago though made me realise that the loyalty of a modern day muti-millionaire top flight player can sometimes easily pale in significance to a forgotten hero of the past. Allow me to elaborate.
Teodoro "Lolo" Fernandez was born in Hualcara in the province of Cañete, Peru on the 20th May 1913. He was the seventh of Dona Raymunda Meyzan and Don Tomas Fernandez Cisneros's eight children. He attended Esuela Fiscal Primary school where he learned to play football and was soon picked up by a local club called Huracán de Hualcará where he immediately stood out from the crowd.
At the age of 16 his parents sent him to Lima to continue his studies. His father thought he could have a better future in the capital, so he sent Lolo to live with his brother Arturo Fernandez who was the goalkeeper for the now defunct Ciclista Lima. When Arturo transferred to, what is in the present day, Peru’s premier team Universitario de Deportes, he brought Lolo along to play a bit of football in training and introduced him to the club’s President, Dr. Placido Galindo.
After the President had watched him play, he immediately took Lolo on and put him straight into the reserves as a striker. His wages were 120 soles a month (about 30 US dollars), which was just enough to pay for his studies and to live. In March 1930, he made his debut, coming on at half-time. Although he took a couple of games to adapt, by the end of 1930 he had scored a bucketload of goals and was hailed as a massive success.
On Nov. 29, 1931, he played his first game for the Universitario first team against Club Deportivo Magallanes from Chile. Lolo was the game's only scorer with a header to win the game, 1-0. That season he was the Peruvian Division's top scorer, but it wasn't enough to win the league and the team finished second. The following year, they were runners-up again and Lolo again was the top scorer.
The 1933-1934 season saw Lolo again lead the division in scoring, but this time his team was victorious in landing the Primera Division Peruana trophy for only the second time in its history.
As you can imagine, a player who was top scorer three seasons in a row soon started to attract the interest of other clubs and offers flooded in. Colo-Colo of Chile’s President Arturo Crenovic offered Lolo a blank check for his services and told him to choose a number. Lolo, however, let him know how he felt, explaining that he couldn’t play in any shirt except the cream coloured one of Universitario no matter how much money was offered.
In 1936 Lolo had already been playing for the national team for five years and was selected to represent Peru at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The Berlin Olympics will forever be remembered for Hitler’s desire to prove the superiority of the Aryan race and Jesse Owen’s domination of the competition, but there were plenty of other smaller controversies going on and Lolo was at the center of one of them.
In the first round, Peru faced-off with Finland. Peru won easily 7-2 and Lolo scored four goals. Next up, was Hitler’s homeland team Austria. Peru trailed 2-0 at half, but managed to pull two back before the 90 minutes were up and took the game into extra time. At this point, things got a little crazy. Peru managed to score two more goals in the last three minutes of extra time with Lolo scoring a minute before the end of time.
- B/R Ticket Guide
The following is an excerpt from Time magazine explaining the events that followed:
In Lima President Oscar Benavides of Peru last week addressed an angry crowd. He said : "I have just received cables from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Mexico solidifying the Peruvian attitude against this crafty Berlin decision." The crowd, which had already torn down an Olympic flag, surged on to listen to more speeches in the Plaza San Martin. Later it proceeded to the German Consulate to throw stones at the windows until police arrived in trucks. At Callao, Lima's seaport, workmen on the docks refused to load two German vessels.
The "crafty Berlin decision" concerned a soccer game. Last fortnight Peru's Olympic team won a hard match against Austria, 4 goals to 2. After the game, Austria protested that Peruvian players had manhandled them and that spectators, one brandishing a revolver, had swarmed down onto the field. FIFA ordered the game replayed behind closed doors, so Peru's whole Olympic team of 50 promptly withdrew from the Games in protest; the game was awarded to Austria by default. Micheal Dasso of the Peruvian Olympic Committee Said: "We've no faith in European athletics. We have come here and found a bunch of merchants."
Although this excerpt doesn’t state it .It was Hitler who put pressure on the International Olympic Committee to have the match replayed. As Germany had already been knocked out of the competition, perhaps he saw Austria as his last chance to restore a bit of pride.
Lolo left the competition undefeated with the highest ratio of goals per game, but without a medal to show for it. He had though played a small part in World History.
Lolo returned to Peru and continued playing for his beloved Universitario. He was top scorer in the 1937-38 season and won the league for a second time in the 1938-39 campaign.
Then came his greatest hour.
In the summer of 1939 Lolo joined his teammates from the Peruvian national team for the Campeonato Sudamericano de Selecciones which was the fore-runner to the modern day Copa America. That year’s competition was held in Peru and although Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Colombia withdrew from the competition Paraguay, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay were in attendance.
Uruguay was arguably the best team in the world at the time. Uruguay had won gold in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics and won the first World Cup in 1930, but had not participated in international events since then due to arguments with European nations over where competitions should be played.
In the first game, Peru beat Ecuador, 5-2, and Lolo notched a hat-trick. They then beat Chile, 3-1, as Lolo scored two goals. Next they dispatched Paraguay with an easy 3-0 win and Lolo scored another two.
The last game was the biggest challenge. Uruguay was a great team in 1939, but with a bit of hard work and the home crowd helping, Peru managed to beat them, 2-1. Although, Lolo didn’t score in this game he contributed greatly and Peru became the new champions of South America for the first of only two times in their history. Lolo was also the competition’s top scorer with seven goals.
Lolo’s club form continued to go from strength to strength in the following years. In his first game back after recovering from extensive cartilage problems on Dec. 24, 1944, he took to the field against Argentinean Giants Racing Club (another team he had refused to sign for) and scored a hat trick to the amazement of anyone aware of his injury.
He again won the league in 1941, 1945, 1946 and 1949, taking his league winning haul to six and was top scorer in 1932, 1933, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1942, 1945. His career scoring ratio was an unbelievable 0.97 goals per game, so it’s little wonder clubs had such determination to sign him. He was an almost guaranteed match winner.
Lolo played his last game for Universitario on the Aug. 20, 1953 at the age of 40 in the Lima derby, a game known in Peru as the Superclasico Peruana. In true Lolo style he scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win to the rapturous applause of the fans who had been watching him play for 23 years.
At the end of the game he took off his famous no. 9 shirt and gave it to the player who would replace him on the team Manuel Arce. Never has a player had so much to live up to.
Lolo’s story is not widely known outside Peru. In fact it’s nearly impossible to find anything about him on the internet written in English, but what he doesn’t get in recognition around the world is more than made up for in the hero-worship he gets in Peru. His refusal to transfer to clubs like Atletico Banfield and Racing Club in Argentina, as well as others in Ecuador and Chile puts the loyalty of one club players of the modern game into perspective.
Lolo never played at the highest club level and he was never rich, but the loyalty he showed to the fans and the cream shirt of Universitario has never been forgotten. He has become a symbol of the club.
Until they recently built a new stadium, Universitario played in the Estadio Teodoro Lolo Fernandez built as a tribute to him. Outside their new stadium is a statue of him you can see below. Murals of his face are painted on walls in Lima and banners bearing his name are still waved by the fans in the stadium. He is a club legend of the highest caliber.
On Sept. 17 ,1996, Lolo died in the Clinica maison de Sante at the age of 83. He was buried in the Cementerio Parque del Recuerdo in the Lima district of Lurin. All of Peru mourned but no-one more so than the supporters of Universitario where he will never be forgotten.
comments (29) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
Great article Anthony. I hadnt heard of it before. POTD for me.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the pick Thomas.
about 1 month ago
Nice read Anthony! I heard about Lolo's legacy but didnt knew his whole story! Thanks for putting up this article! Definitely POTD for me!
from about 1 month ago
Cheers for the pick Dev. I'm suprised you'd heard of him. An old man I met at a wedding who had been a referee in Peru for 25 years only told me about him a few months ago. Glad you enjoyed it.
about 1 month ago
Cheers for the pick Dev. I'm suprised you'd heard of him. An old man I met at a wedding who had been a referee in Peru for 25 years only told me about him a few months ago. Glad you enjoyed it.
about 1 month ago
Very nice Anthony, POTD and 5* from me. It's always good to read stories like this one.
from about 1 month ago
Cheers Guido. Much appreciated.
about 1 month ago
cool story Anthony, interesting and readable.
from about 1 month ago
Cheers Illya.
about 1 month ago
Great story Anthony, never heard of this guy before POTD from me :-)
from about 1 month ago
Thanks a lot for the pick Maire!
about 1 month ago
great article anthony. yet another legend from the past that otherwise i wouldn't of heard about.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks a lot Yoosof glad you enjoyed it!
about 1 month ago
Great story Anthony, a wonderful tribute to Lolo. I'd never heard about him before, but it's a wonderful story. Pick of the Day for me too!
from about 1 month ago
Thanks a lot Alex cheers for the pick and the add.
about 1 month ago
Great Article mate, always great to read a good story
from about 1 month ago
Cheers Benjamin.
about 1 month ago
Nice read really interesting stuff.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks Ricky glad you enjoyed it.
about 1 month ago
Hey Anthony.
Fascinating article again about a little known subject.
I love your writing, which is always articulate, but in this case I don't think you set the premise of the article early enough. It took me till nearly the middle to the end of the article to get your 'point', which I understand is a recap of the player, but I just felt that it needed to be clarified earlier to keep me gripped. I felt the urge to skip paragraphs and skim read to try and get your full point. I did go back to read it fully after my initial skim, but I can imagine that a lot of people wouldn't.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way. My intention is only to provide helpful critiques and criticisms.
Still a fan, and looking forward to your future articles. Keep it up.
from about 1 month ago
I take your point Steven. I edited out a paragraph at the last minute that explained how I came to hear him. Its probably explained the point a bit earlier but I felt it was a bit self indulgent harping on about my social life. Could have put something else in there in hindsight. Cheers for the comment Steven.
about 1 month ago
Great article! Never knew about the guy, but I'm going to see if my grandma from Austria remembers this incident.
from about 1 month ago
Might I add that the aforementioned grandma was not a fan of her country's leadership at the time!
from about 1 month ago
I'm glad you enjoyed it Bryan and I'm glad to hear you Grandmother wasn't a nazi!
about 1 month ago
Great stuff Anthony.. never heard of this player - worth a read.
from about 1 month ago
Cheers Shyam.
about 1 month ago
Wow... I love stuff like this... hadn't even heard of the fellow.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the comment Ismail.
about 1 month ago
Shame on me that I haven't heard of him before too. Thanks for the great contribution Anthony, good work.
write a new comment