 Italy'sGiorgio Ferrini being removed from the pitch byCarabineros de Chile policemen | |||||||
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| Date | 2 June 1962 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Estadio Nacional,Santiago de Chile | ||||||
| Referee | Ken Aston (England) | ||||||
| Attendance | 66,057 | ||||||
TheBattle of Santiago (Italian:Battaglia di Santiago,Spanish:Batalla de Santiago) was afootball match during the1962 FIFA World Cup, played between the hostsChile andItaly on 2 June 1962 inSantiago.[1] It gained its nickname from the level of violence seen in the game, in which two players were sent off, numerous punches were thrown and police intervention was required four times. The referee wasKen Aston, who later went on to inventyellow and red cards.[2]
In this Group B clash, already heightened tensions between the two football teams were exacerbated by the description ofSantiago in crude terms by two Italian journalists,Antonio Ghirelli [it] and Corrado Pizzinelli; they had written that Santiago was a backwater dump where "the phones don't work, taxis are as rare as faithful husbands, a cable to Europe costs an arm and a leg and a letter takes five days to turn up", and its population as prone to "malnutrition, illiteracy, alcoholism and poverty. Chile is a small, proud and poor country: it has agreed to organise this World Cup in the same way asMussolini agreed to send our air force to bomb London (they didn't arrive). The capital city has 700 hotel beds. Entire neighbourhoods are given over to open prostitution. This country and its people are proudly miserable and backwards."[3] Chilean newspapers fired back, describing Italians in general as fascists, mafiosos, oversexed, and, because some ofInter Milan's players had recently been involved in a doping scandal, drug addicts.[4] The Italian journalists involved were forced to flee Chile, while an Argentinian scribe mistaken for an Italian in a Santiago bar was beaten up and hospitalised.[1]
Chile's organisation of and preparation for the tournament had been severely disrupted by the1960 Valdivia earthquake, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in human history. Articles in the Italian papersLa Nazione andCorriere della Sera were saying that allowing Chile to host the World Cup was "pure madness"; this was used and magnified by local newspapers to inflame the Chilean population. The British newspaper theDaily Express wrote "The tournament shows every sign of developing into a violent bloodbath. Reports read like battlefront despatches. Italy vs Germany was described as 'wrestling and warfare.'"[5][citation needed]
The first foul occurred within 35 seconds of kick-off.[6] Italy'sGiorgio Ferrini was sent off in the eighth minute after a foul onHonorino Landa, but refused to leave the pitch and had to be dragged off by policemen.[7] In the ensuing scramble, Chilean outside-leftLeonel Sánchez brokeHumberto Maschio's nose with a left hook punch, but English refereeKen Aston did not notice the foul as he was busy telling Ferrini to leave the field.[8] In the 38th minute of the first half, Sánchez slapped Italian right-backMario David in the face, in retaliation for being fouled seconds earlier. Although the linesman was only a few metres away, Sánchez escaped punishment again. When David attempted to kick Sánchez in the head a few minutes later, he was sent off.[1][4] The two teams engaged in scuffles and spitting, and police had to intervene three more times.[9]
Chile won the match 2–0, with a headed goal fromJaime Ramírez and a low long-range shot fromJorge Toro, both in the last 16 minutes.[10]
Aston, who had now refereed both of Chile's matches, never oversaw a World Cup match again, becoming a senior member of the refereeing committees of the1966 and1970 championships.[citation needed]
In his workThe Complete Book of the World Cup (Harper Sport), Cris Freddi described the match as "…a horror show, the last of the three great World Cup slugfests." On the same day,Yugoslavia beatUruguay 3–1 with both teams having a player sent off –Vladimir Popović andÁngel Rubén Cabrera – and Freddi wrote of their opening match againstSwitzerland: "Chile responded [to conceding an early goal] with some grim tackling, a feature of this World Cup. Aston bookedEschmann thenRojas but should have sent both off when they came to blows a few minutes later."[citation needed]
When highlights from the match were shown on British television a couple of days later (not the same night, because film of matches had to be flown back to the UK), the match was introduced by BBC sports commentatorDavid Coleman as "the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game."[5][11]
Coleman also observed that it was the first meeting between the sides and "we hope it will be the last."[5] However, the sides were drawn together at the1966 World Cup and met atSunderland'sRoker Park ground with Italy winning 2–0. The rematch also featured unsportsmanlike play but to a lesser degree.[12][citation needed]
      Chile |   Italy
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Linesmen:
Leo Goldstein (Israel)
Fernando Buergo Elcuaz (Mexico)
1962 FIFA World Cup finalists | |
|---|---|
| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Quarter-finals | |
| Group stage | |
