The Battle of Santiago - 50 Years On

Next week sees the 50th anniversary of the infamous Battle of Santiago – a particularly violent game of football that took place during the group stages of the 1962 World Cup between Chile (the hosts) and Italy.  In his introduction to the match, David Coleman described it as “…the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football, possibly in the history of the game”.  This short piece of footage contains some of the “best bits” - callous, cynical and, at times, petulant acts of violence that make for uneasy viewing.

Of course there’s a bit of a story behind all that….

Two years before hosting the World Cup, Chile suffered an earthquake that killed 6000 people.  The President of the Chilean Football Federation is alleged to have said that Chile “…must have the World Cup because we have nothing”[1].  By contrast the Italians turned up in 1962 “…with ample supplies of pasta, oil, meat, wine, and mineral water brought with them”[2] and, to make matters worse, two Italian journalists wrote derisory articles about their host’s country (although some believe that their words were taken out of context by the local media and used to fan the flames of rivalry).  Simmering resentment between the two nations came to a head on the 2^nd of June when the teams met at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago - two Italian players were sent off and Chile won 2-0.  Chile went on to lose to eventual tournament winners Brazil (featuring the brilliant Garrincha) in the semis.

Interestingly, the referee of the Battle of Santiago was Englishman Ken Aston who went on to develop the yellow and red card system for footballing offences.

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[1] Passion of the People? Football in South America by Tony Mason (1995)

[2] The Times, 30^th May 1962.  Quoted in Football and European Identity: Historical Narratives Through the Press  by Liz Crolley and David Hand (2006)