Picture the FIFA World Cup 1978; its THIRD day, the 3rd of June and a referee. Brazil, the holders, were playing Sweden, the hosts, in the final minutes of the opening game of the World Cup at the Estadio Mar Del Plata, in front of 38,000. Welshman, Clive Thomas was the referee. (see below)After a few minutes in injury time, there was a corner for Brazil which Zico headed in from the right. As the ball was kicked from the corner segment, Thomas blew his whistle to end the match. The ball was in the air and time had elapsed, the injury time had been 8 seconds, apparently. Scandolous or what??
The day before, Brazil played Sweden, Argentina, freed for a while from the despotic military junta, seemingly, had benefited from some other dubious "friendly decisions" during the tournament. The day before the Brazil-Sweden match, Argentina spent 90 minutes kicking the Hungarians off the pitch. It was however the Hungarians who had two players sent off, once they had decided to retaliate. Against France, Argentina, benefited from a ludicrous handball decision that resulted in a penalty kick.
In Argentina's third match against Italy, the Israeli referee, Avraham Klein, was having "none of it"! Argentina lost 0-1. Klein had been pencilled in to referee the World Cup Final but the "Junta" put enough pressure on FIFA to have him erased from the Final "programme". Argentina, by the way, had got to the final thanks to some suspect goals in a 6-0 victory over Peru. So the new referee ignored the home team's tactic of being late for the walk out onto the stadium at the beginning of the final match. Their opponents, the Dutch were kept waiting for then minutes in the tunnel and then they complained about a bandage worn by Dutchman, Rene van de Kerkhof 's protective arm bandage...the gamemanship along with the partisan atmosphere in the El Monumental did the Dutch no favours (well you would gather that, wouldn't you?) So the Argies won 3-1 and never had a World Cup Final been viewed with so much suspicion. AND SO....Thomas' "misdemeanor" was suddenly seen in the pathetically petty light it deserved.
The 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina was highly controversial due to the country's military dictatorship, the "Dirty War," and allegations of match-fixing, particularly during the Argentina vs. Peru match. The tournament was used as propaganda by the military junta to legitimize itself on the world stage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfiRCsYEF0o
No comments:
Post a Comment