REAL’S PANDEMIC ORIGINS
The Madrid behemoths were renamed after Spanish flu swept the world
Had it not been for a pandemic, Real Madrid may still be known as Madrid Football Club.
That was the club’s name when they were formed in 1902 – and indeed, they went on to win the Copa del Rey five times as Madrid FC. Then the world was hit by a deadly strain of influenza in 1918, just as the First World War drew to a close.
In two years, 500 million people were infected – around 27 per cent of the global population. Reports estimated the death toll at anywhere between 17 and 100 million. Unlike most flu strains, young adults were the age group most affected.
The most high- profile case was King Alfonso XIII, in his early- 30s. Spain were not involved in the war so the media reported freely, while press in the UK, United States and Germany played the crisis down to maintain morale. As a result, the virus became known as ‘ Spanish flu’.
Despite being gravely ill, King Alfonso recovered and set about a public health drive, encouraging his people to exercise more. Priority was placed upon sport; to promote football, he bestowed the royal tag on Madrid FC – renamed Real Madrid in 1920 – as he had previously done with Real Club Deportivo de La Coruna, Real Sociedad and Real Betis.
Spanish flu had consequences in British football, too: Hibernian manager Dan Mcmichael died of the virus in February 1919. The Irishman had guided
Hibs to Scottish league and cup glory during his first spell, but they didn’t win the latter again for another 114 years after their victory over Celtic in 1902.
He was 15 years into his second spell as boss when struck down midway through the 1918- 19 season. Hibs were rock bottom of the league, and Mcmichael had resisted calls for the Edinburgh club to be booted out for being too uncompetitive. Scottish football had continued throughout the war, but several key Hibs players were called up to fight.
Mcmichael became ill as he took Hibs to a game at Falkirk, before collapsing on his way home and dying later that week. With football viewed as important to public morale following the war, fixtures carried on regardless – Hibs played, and won, just two days after his death. Like many of the victims, Mcmichael was buried in an unmarked grave; in 2013, Hibs fans tracked down his resting place and raised funds for a gravestone to mark the spot.
Others to die of Spanish flu included 29- year- old Angus Douglas, a Scotland international who had played for Chelsea and Newcastle before war halted football in England in 1915; Jack Allan, 32, once of Newcastle, West Brom and Nottingham Forest; and Bill Williamson, who had represented Leicester and Stoke prior to fighting at Ypres. The pandemic ended in December 1920.