In the summer of 1980, I. Dumitru, the famous international, one of the greatest Romanian footballers of the 70s, had come to Poli from Steaua. (This transfer, just after the Romanian Cup final that year, gave rise to much speculation about the final). He would be selected for the last time in a Romanian jersey while he was “white-violet”, in the first ever victory against England (2-1 in 1980).

15 October 1980, a beautiful autumn. Romania – England in the World Cup preliminaries. Full stands on “23 August” in the capital. “Fight, fight, RSR!” chanted by 80,000 people. Compact bands of soldiers in the stands. “Now or never”, the famous banner displayed in the second stand, above the players’ entrance to the dressing rooms. Romania, the tricolour indeed: yellow jerseys, blue shorts, navy blue leggings. Adidas brand! One of the first matches in Adidas, after decades with “no name” equipment. Exceptional TV broadcast, far above the poor quality of the recordings from the second half of the ninth decade. Colour transmission, even though back then, in the already distant 80s, few people in the country had colour TVs.

V. Iordache – Negrilă, Sameș, Ștefănescu, Munteanu II – Țicleanu (I. Dumitru), Beldeanu, A. Iordănescu – Crișan, Cămătaru, M. Răducanu. A team in which the leader of Craiova University, Balaci, had no place (Dobrin was already preparing his retirement). A team formed almost exclusively on the skeleton of Craiova (six players) and Stele (four players). Coach, Valentin Stănescu. Technical director, Ștefan Kovacs IV (originally from Timisoara). Over there, the Islanders played, among others, Neal, Thompson, Sansom, Bryan Robson, Woodcock. Coach, Ron Greenwood.

Răducanu, who will be staying in West Germany in about eight months, opened the scoring. It was a nice break. 1-0 for Romania and many were already dreaming of Spain in the final tournament. Woodcock will equalise. The match was heading for a draw. A new Romanian-English draw, after those of 1968 and 1969.

Dumitru comes on in the 71st minute. And with a quarter of an hour left, Iordanescu converts a penalty. Romania – England 2-1, the first “tricolor” victory against the national team of the inventors of football.

It will be no less than 11 years before the next Poles player pulls on the national shirt…

Excerpt from the book “Politehnica Timișoara – Football and Handball”, by Octavian Stăncioiu and Viorel Jurcuț, published by Politehnica Publishing House, on December 4, 2021, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Politehnica Timișoara Sports Society.

Photo: I. Dumitru, first from the right, below, after the elimination of Celtic, in 1980