The Ned Wood Archive

Something That Every Football Fan Knows

The two things I knew about Chile were: that they played in red shirts and blue shorts and that Brazil won the World Cup there in 1962.  

The majestic Brazilians.  I first saw them during the 1970 World Cup when once more they beat England.  As a young twelve year old the impact of their art, their beauty, their superlative skill was forever imprinted on my mind.  Football the way it is supposed to be played, played beautifully by the masters.  And at least on this I am not alone.  Ask any football supporter and they’ll tell you.  When it comes to football, you can’t beat the Brazilians.

Brazil were World Champions in 1958 with Pele and Garrincha, Didi and Zagalo and were favourites to win again four years later.  Chile was a pretty badly off in 1962, but nevertheless managed to build a couple of grounds for the games in Santiago.  The National Stadium was one of them, a huge sweeping bowl with a running track round the outside and long gentle sides curving away toward the sky.

I love Football Grounds.  I collect them.  When I get the chance I’ll watch Forest if they’re playing somewhere I’ve never been before, like in the Cup or even a pre-season friendly.  When I’m abroad I’ll nose around the town to find the stadium, just to see how the other half lives.  For a long time we suffered in this country because our grounds were 50, 60, or 70 years old.  The stands were generally wooden boxes, old and square, with pillars between you and the action.  The ones you see abroad are new and round, great open saucers that put you further from the action.  More pleasing to look at, but not as close to the game,  And without the memories.  It’s the memories that mean the most.  When you walk to a ground for an away game through vaguely familiar scenery or turn up at the City Ground after the close season, a whole host of remembered games flood back.

England got to the quarter finals in 62.  That’s as far as we ever get.  We had Johnny Haynes, Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Greaves, and Bobby Moore.  Haynes was on his way out, and the other three just starting.  In the group matches we lost to Hungary and got slated by the press.  What else is new?  We beat Argentina and drew nil-nil with Bulgaria.  We played Brazil in the Quarter Finals.  Pele had done his thigh in one of the earlier games and didn’t play in the knockout rounds.  But that didn’t stop Brazil.  Garrincha pulled out all the stops, scoring twice, once with a header, once with a swerving shot.  He also set up the third after his free kick was only half saved.  After that Brazil murdered Chile 4-2 in the semi, but apparently the locals didn’t mind so much and partied on right through the third place play off which they won.  Garrincha scored a couple more in the Semi and then got himself sent off for retaliation.  They let him play in the final, though, against Czechoslovakia.  In the end he didn’t do much, but so what, the Brazilians had another maestro up their sleeves, Amarildo, who scored the first and set up the second as Brazil won 3-1.

Like I say, Chile was a pretty poor place in 1962.  At least most of the people there were poor.  Chile was owned partly by a small group of very rich landowners and partly by a small group of very large companies.  Most of these companies were partly owned by the US.  The ordinary Chilean had spotted this and throughout the sixties was becoming increasingly vociferous in championing his own rights.  At the time of the 62 World Cup, Chile was run by a guy called Alessandri who was also president of one of these large businesses.  He wasn’t doing too well though and in the two years after the World Cup, inflation hit almost 50%, with unemployment growing and foreign debts racking up.  

In the 1964 presidential elections there was a lot of talk about spreading out the cake a little more fairly.  It was Allende, supported by a Socialist-Communist alliance, versus Eduardo Frei, a Christian Democrat.  The right wingers were scared that a three way fight might let Allende in, so they backed Frei instead of putting up their own man.  Frei got in with about 56% of the vote.  But even he was talking about relieving the landowners and the conglomerates of a little of their excess wealth.  

This scared the US.  So did the fact that Allende’s share of the vote was increasing with each successive election.  They started to get more cosy with the armed forces, preparing them for both a coup and for subsequent government.  Not that the generals needed any encouragement.

Meanwhile el Presidente Mr Frei wasn’t having much fun with the economy. Prices were still rising, foreign debt was still rising, the GNP was still falling, the gap between rich and poor was growing. His trying to buy back some of the means of production from its owners didn’t do much except cheese everyone off, mainly because he paid too much for the precious little stuff he got from the American or Chilean companies.  Your average Jose was busy too, setting up farm workers’ unions, calling strikes in the cities, and generally giving the country a good shake from below.

So the 1970 election came along with Allende representing the left, Alessandri making a comeback for the right and a geezer called Tomic taking over from Frei as the candidate of the centre.  It was always going to be pretty close, but Allende’s opponents decided they could pull a constitutional trick if he won and get parliament which they still controlled to elect the runner up.  They persuaded the army to back them up, but on the night after Allende’s victory they got cold feet.  Allende had won just ahead of Alessandri.  What helped Allende was that after he’d won a lot of young Christian Democrats came out behind him, joining in the celebrations and stuff, mainly to get at what they called the imperialists – the land owners, the capitalists, the US.  Seeing this and thinking they might have to deal with the centrists too, Allende’s opponents decided not to throw him out just yet.

So the army decided to try and force a rematch.  The idea was to panic the country via the press with tales about Marxist dogma while their henchmen pulled a few terrorist stunts.  Frei, who at the time was still in charge of the country, Allende not yet having taken over as president, would call in the generals to save the day.  In order to get the centre and right in on the act, the army promised they would hold elections in say six months.  Anyway Frei got cold feet this time because he was worried about his reputation.  He didn’t want it to seem too obvious that he was letting in the army.  The US approach at this time was to see if their goons in Chile could sort things out between them.  Apparently Nixon and the CIA wanted Allende out but the Pentagon decided to hold back.

Bottom line was Allende moved into the presidential palace and started to clean up the country.  Of course he was hampered by the parliament where the Christian Democrat and Nationalist parties had a majority.  He was having to tread a tightrope between them and the Chilean people who were demanding more and more in terms of nationalisation.  And he was having to look over his shoulders all the time to make sure the army wasn’t going to do him in.

The army were content to wait while the owners had a shot at Allende.  The bosses’ plan was to make him too unpopular to stay in power.  They raised prices, caused shortages, tried to shut down factories and transport.  But the ordinary worker stayed with Allende, and even managed to keep some of the factories open by occupying them.  Actually the army didn’t want the owners back in.  They wanted to run the show so they could divvie up the goods themselves rather than have the rich call the shots.  Meanwhile they were able to denounce the right and creep up to Allende.  And Allende, the naive fool, bought it.

If you can believe it, this went on for three years, till, in September 73, the US told the generals to kick him out.  Which they did.  And they took the opportunity to kill, torture, and maim as many of their own people as they could.  The army didn’t want Allende around after the coup as a focal point for any people’s counter struggle, so they hatched a plan to knock him off and claim it was suicide.  As it happens he was shot in a gun battle as the army entered the presidential palace.  They still claimed it was suicide, but managed to contradict themselves every time they talked about it, so no-one with any sense believes them.

Anyway I don’t see that it matters either way whether he killed himself or not.  Is it not enough of a crime that the democratically elected president of a nation is deposed by force?  Is it not enough of a crime that thousands of union leaders, journalists, and politicians were rounded up during the coup and executed all according a preconceived plan?  Is it not enough that after the coup thousands more were picked up, carried away, tortured, and murdered? Is it not enough that this was all controlled and planned from Washington?

The tragedy of Chile is not just Allende’s.  The tragedy is that its millions of people were snatched from the gates of the promised land and dragged back to the dark ages.

The shame of Chile is not just the generals’ and the bosses’.  The shame is not just Nixon’s and the CIA’s.  The shame belongs to us all.  Those of us who stood by and let it happen.  Those of us who slept.  Those of us who turned away.  Those like me who didn’t even know what was going on.  Those like me who thought Chile was just where Brazil won the 62 World Cup.

I didn’t find out all this stuff until later.  I only thought about football and music back then.  But that evening in Mary’s room she sowed a seed that has slowly grown since.  

Which is why I will never forget Mary.