Blood in the Water match

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 match took place on 6 December 1956 against the background of the 1956 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.^[1]

Tensions were at an all time high between the competing teams, as the Soviet military had, just weeks before, violently shut down the Hungarian Revolution. Most of the Revolutionaries consisted of civilians, a majority factory workers and students, who constructed Molotov cocktails against the enormous military power that was the USSR.

Throughout the match, players would use any form of violence they could manage whenever the players of opposing teams came in contact.  Zador’s injury took place in the closing minutes of the match. Chaos ensued with the crowd booing the Russians. Ultimately Hungary won with a score of 4–0.