The road to Montevideo II
Romanian Sport Stories takes us back in time to Romania's participation in the first edition of the World Cup
Florin Orban, 02.04.2026, 13:45
Nearly 90 years ago, on June 19th 1930, Romania’s football side went to Genoa in Italy to board ocean liner Conte Verde bound for Montevideo. The Romanian delegation had traveled from Bucharest by train and we referred to their journey in the first part of this mini-series. So, our footballers now set out to South America on board of a very luxurious liner, which Romanian forward Rudi Wetzer described in his diary as a ‘Palace on Water’.
Conte Verde was the biggest liner of that time and the trip was something new for most of the Romanian athletes, who were impressed by this luxurious vessel. The exquisite travel conditions didn’t make up for our athletes’ sea sickness though, but they shortly managed to find an antidote to it, the food served on that liner. ‘We are being offered some fabulous dishes here and there is a lot of food available. We have 10, 20, 30 courses to choose from. Fruits, oranges, lemons and grapefruits, a billion vitamins’, wrote Wetzer in his diary.
Footballers from France and Belgium had also boarded the ship and athletes were training on an almost daily basis, in the gym, the swimming pool, even playing ball on the bridge. After these intense training sessions, things got more relaxed. On June 25th, after the ship had passed the Equator, a party was organised on board.
Quoting again from Rudi Wetzer’s diary: ‘Our boys aren’t bad dancers at all, although we are nearing the continent of rumba and tango. At the Equator Ball, Cupid made some victims among the members of our team. I believe we are in for another training session down there in the hold.’
The first day of July came with bad weather and rain. It was like November weather and the Romanians learnt the hard way that in the southern hemisphere seasons are opposite. But that didn’t diminish their enthusiasm though.
On July 2nd, the ship moored in Montevideo, where the teams were given a warm welcome by thousands of people and gun salutes. Copa del Mundo, which was dominating the city, commenced on July 13th and Romania played their first game the next day. Stay tuned for more on this fabulous story in our next edition of our mini-series ‘Romanian Sport Stories’.
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