4045 Battle Of Santiago!!!

Get a load of this!!! They actually showed clips if the match on the BBC last night!!!

Battle of Santiago

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the real-life battle fought between the US and Spain in Cuba, see Battle of Santiago de Cuba .

The Battle of Santiago is the name given to a particularly unsavoury and infamous football match during the 1962 World Cup Finals . It was a game played between hosts Chile and Italy on June 2 ,1962 in Santiago [1] . The referee was Ken Aston .

In this Group 2 clash, already heightened tensions between the two football teams were exacerbated by the description of Santiago in an entirely derogatory fashion by two Italian journalists [1] . The journalists, Antonio Ghiredelli and Corrado Pizzinelli, who had left the country before the World Cup had spent the previous weeks describing the city as a "poverty-stricken dump full of loose women" [1] .

The first foul occurred within 12 seconds of the kick-off [1] . Italy's Giorgio Ferrini was sent off in the twelfth minute after a cynical foul but refused to leave the pitch and had to be dragged off by policemen.

In the violence that continued, Chilean Leonel Sánchez then broke Italian captain Humberto Maschio 's nose with a left hook. However, English referee Ken Aston overlooked this, and sent off Italian Mario David instead, for retaliating and kicking Sánchez in the side of the head. The two teams engaged in scuffles and spitting, and police had to intervene three more times.

Chile won the match 2-0.