The Battle of Santiago

On 2 June 1962, during the FIFA World Cup, one of the most violent game in history took place between hosts Chile and Italy. In the match called the Battle of Santiago, police had to intervene several times in fights between Chilean and Italian players. The tension between the two teams started days ago. Two Italian journalists, Antonio Ghirelli and Corrado Pizzineli, described Santiago as “a backwater dump where the phones don’t work, taxis are as rare as faithful husbands, and a letter takes five days to turn up”, and wrote that the population was prone to “malnutrition, illiteracy, alcoholism and poverty”. Chilean newspapers fired back, describing Italians in general as fascists, mafiosos, and drug addicts, as some of Inter Milan’s players had recently been involved in a doping scandal. Things got bigger and bigger. The Italian journalists involved in the incident were forced to flee Chile. In fact, Chileans beat an Argentinian writer in a bar in Santiago, mistaken him for an Italian. They beat him so badly that he was hospitalized.

The match started with Ken Aston’s whistle, the first foul occurred within 35 seconds of kick-off. In the eighth minute, Italy’s Giorgio Ferrini was sent off after a foul on Honorino Landa, but he refused to leave the field and had to be dragged off by policemen. Then Chilean outside-left Leonel Sánchez broke Humberto Maschio’s nose with a left hook punch, but English referee Ken Aston didn’t notice the foul as he was busy telling Ferrini to leave field. In the 38th minute, Sánchez, who mixed football with martial arts, once again appeared on the scene. He 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. A few minutes later, David attempted to kick Sánchez in the head. This time, this flying kick did not escape Ken Anston’s attention and so David was sent off. The two teams engaged in scuffles and spitting, and police had to intervene three more times. Chile won the match 2–0, with a headed goal from Jaime Ramírez and a low long-range shot from Jorge Toro.