In the words of former BBC commentator David Coleman the clash between Chile and Italy at the 1962 World Cup was; “the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football possibly in the history of the game.” It’s also still one of the most talked about due to the chaotic and at times comical scenes which took place on the field that day.
The Group Stage encounter, the first ever between the two countries in the nation’s capital on June 2, 1962, was anything but the beautiful game as old scores were settled and brawls broke out across the field in a match which all these years on is still one of the nastiest in the history of international football.
The fact that this global festival of football even took place in Chile at all is astonishing as just two years before the World Cup a catastrophic earthquake led to an estimated 6000 people losing their lives, but as way of recompense the South American nation was awarded the duty of hosting the 1962 tournament.
To fan the flames further two Italian journalists, Antonio Ghirelli and Corrado Pizzinelli, had been asked to leave the country after writing a number of disparaging articles about the people of Santiago and Chile’s ability to host the cup which were subsequently re-printed to the nation.
“Santiago is 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," Ghirelli claimed in La Nazione newspaper.
If that wasn’t enough, a number of players of South American origin, who had decided to pledge their allegiance to Italy due to family ties, lined up for the Azzurri that day, providing something of a derby atmosphere including Argentina’s Omar Sívori and Humberto Maschio along with Brazil’s José Altafini.
In an effort to play down the tension Italy’s players were instructed to throw bouquets of flowers into the capacity crowd that day, only for them to be tossed back in their direction – the apology had not been accepted.
And it wasn’t long before existing grudges spilled-over onto the pitch with the first foul of the game coming after just 12 seconds and following a couple of early Italian chances the opening flashpoint of the game arrived just five minutes later, resulting in Chilean pair Sánchez and Eladio Rojas being pushed and kicked to the floor.
Giorgio Ferrini lashed out at Rojas again before long, this time in the form of a vicious kick which left English referee Ken Aston little choice but to send the Italian off as all hell broke out around him with players from both sides pushing and shoving each other.
Italian captain Bruno Mora tried to calm his players but by now the game was completely out of hand with Ferrini refusing to leave the field and having to be escorted away by armed police in one of the most infamous scenes ever witnessed in a World Cup match.
Then came probably the most violent incident of the game when Chilean winger Sánchez slipped as he was trying to evade the attention of Italy’s Mario David on the wing and after falling to the floor the Italian hacked away at him in an effort to win the ball which had become trapped underneath his legs.
In one movement Sanchez, whose father was a former boxer, sprung to his feet and delivered a knockout punch, leaving David flat-out and momentarily unconscious on the deck. “That’s one of the neatest left hooks I’ve ever seen,” claimed commentator Coleman; yet incredibly the Chilean stayed on the pitch.
But it wasn’t long before David exacted revenge when after a clearance came his way he saw the opportunity to lunge at Sanchez with a flying boot at head height which David Coleman described as, “one of the most cold blooded and lethal tackles I’ve ever seen,” unsurprisingly this attack would result in Italy’s second sending off.
Maybe the lack of yellow and red cards at the time only increased the confusion with David somehow managing to sneak back onto the field, only to be noticed by the officials and ordered off once again while the mayhem continued on the touchline.
So eventful was the first-half that it had taken almost 60 minutes to complete and when the second-period eventually got underway it was just as unpleasant as the first with scuffles and brawls breaking out either side of Chile’s two goals, which were scored by Ramirez and Toro; with referee Aston on several occasions having to physically keep players apart.
Not surprisingly the game ended on a sour note as Savatore all but assaulted José Altafini as he ran through on goal and after seeing more than enough for one day Aston blew his whistle to bring the proceedings to an end before the players inevitably squared up to each other once more.
The defeat would ensure qualification for Chile, who would go on to come third in that year’s World Cup and their best ever finish, while Italy went home in disgrace having failed to progress from the group.
As for the man who had been in the middle of one of the most bruising and contentious encounters in world football, Ken Aston, he went on to invent a system of yellow and red cards which were later introduced in the hope that they would make the job of refereeing a little easier in years to come.
