Circulates throughout the world Established 1903

International relations

The first World Cup was competed for in 1930 and although international football had been played for some years (the first international was between England and Scotland in 1872) and had featured in a couple of Olympics, it wasn’t until the first World Cup that the ‘international’ bandwagon really began rolling.

This idea of nations competing against each other goes back hundreds of years, although it’s always fascinated me for a number of reasons, not least how were things organised all that time ago? It must have seemed a terribly daunting journey going abroad, probably with little or no idea of what to expect, facing an immense voyage to get there and having no idea of what you were going to face on arrival.

What slightly brought all this to mind, was the experiences of Pietro Ghersi and the Moto Guzzi team at the 1926 TT. Interestingly, the Italian contingent was strong for 1926 (Garelli and Bianchi came too) but Guzzi was the only one to represent a real, genuine threat to the ‘homers’ as indicated in practice. As detailed elsewhere in this issue, he finished second but was disqualified from the results on a technicality. The achievement was extremely creditable anyway, travelling abroad and oh-so-nearly showing the locals the ‘way home.’ It seems some appreciated the effort too, witness the hissing and booing at the prize ceremony. Guzzi returned the next year, with Archangeli recording a second place in the Lightweight race, though it was then some years before another appearance – this time, in 1935, the Italian firm recorded a fantastic double victory, though it relied on a ‘home’ rider in Stanley Woods to record the Lightweight/Senior pair of wins.

It was the start of the TT becoming truly ‘international’ and while the World Cup has become more international, the TT has become less so recently, with fewer star riders from abroad and the ‘homers’ back in the ascendancy, none more so than Bingley lad Ian Hutchison who became the first ever rider to win five races in a week this year.

James Robinson
Editor