Battle of Santiago (1962 FIFA World Cup)

The Battle of Santiago (Template:Langx, Template:Langx) was a football match during the 1962 FIFA World Cup, played between the hosts Chile and Italy on 2 June 1962 in Santiago.<ref name="guardian">Template:Cite news</ref> 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 was Ken Aston, who later went on to invent yellow and red cards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Background

In this Group B clash, already heightened tensions between the two football teams were exacerbated by the description of Santiago in crude terms by two Italian journalists, Template:Interlanguage link 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 as Mussolini 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."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Chilean newspapers fired back, describing Italians in general as fascists, mafiosos, oversexed, and, because some of Inter Milan's players had recently been involved in a doping scandal, drug addicts.<ref name="US Soccer Players">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> 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.<ref name="guardian"/>

Chile's organisation of and preparation for the tournament had been severely disrupted by the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in human history. Articles in the Italian papers La Nazione and Corriere 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 the Daily 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.'"<ref name="sbrntn180322th">Burnton, Simon. "World Cup stunning moments: The Battle of Santiago," The Guardian, Thursday 22 March 2018. Retrieved January 22, 2022.</ref>Template:Citation needed

Match

Summary

File:Batalla de Santiago 2.jpg

One of the countless disputes between the Italian footballers and the referee Aston

The first foul occurred within 35 seconds of kick-off.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Italy's Giorgio Ferrini was sent off in the eighth minute after a foul on Honorino Landa, but refused to leave the pitch and had to be dragged off by policemen.<ref>Azzurri Almanac: Battle Scars</ref> In the ensuing scramble, Chilean outside-left Leonel Sánchez broke Humberto Maschio's nose with a left hook punch, but English referee Ken Aston did not notice the foul as he was busy telling Ferrini to leave the field.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 38th minute of the first half, Sánchez slapped Italian right-back Mario 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.<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="US Soccer Players" /> The two teams engaged in scuffles and spitting, and police had to intervene three more times.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Chile won the match 2–0, with a headed goal from Jaime Ramírez and a low long-range shot from Jorge Toro, both in the last 16 minutes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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 the 1966 and 1970 championships.Template:Citation needed

In his work The 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 beat Uruguay 3–1 with both teams having a player sent off – Vladimir Popović and Ángel Rubén Cabrera – and Freddi wrote of their opening match against Switzerland: "Chile responded [to conceding an early goal] with some grim tackling, a feature of this World Cup. Aston booked Eschmann then Rojas but should have sent both off when they came to blows a few minutes later."Template:Citation needed

Aftermath

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 commentator David Coleman as "the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game."<ref name="sbrntn180322th"/><ref>Italy v Chile World Cup 1962 The Battle of Santiago – YouTube (via broodje80). Retrieved January 22, 2022.</ref>

Coleman also observed that it was the first meeting between the sides and "we hope it will be the last."<ref name="sbrntn180322th"/> However, the sides were drawn together at the 1966 World Cup and met at Sunderland's Roker Park ground with Italy winning 2–0. The rematch also featured unsportsmanlike play but to a lesser degree.<ref>Gillan, Tony. "When the World Cup came to Roker Park and it ended in disaster for Italy," Sunderland Echo, Sunday 11 July 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2022.</ref>Template:Citation needed

Details

1962 FIFA World Cup Group 2 1962 FIFA World Cup Group 2

See also

• Battle of Berne
• Battle of Bordeaux
• Battle of Nuremberg
• Football War
• Chile at the FIFA World Cup
• Italy at the FIFA World Cup

External links

• Video of the match in full length
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite web
• Template:Cite news