On 15 June, 1977, the Scottish national team did, as they stepped on to the grass of Chile’s National Stadium in Santiago. The fixture against Chile had the aim of acclimatising the team ahead of the following year’s World Cup in Argentina.
What is also indisputable is Chile’s national stadium had been used as a de facto concentration camp during the Pinochet coup a few years earlier. More than 40,000 untried Allende supporters, trade unionists and members of left-wing political parties were detained there, with women often raped, in the changing rooms. “Although not much time passed when we were there, I felt that I went in as a 16-year-old girl and came out as a 70-year-old woman,” survivor Lelia Pérez later recalled. “I think that all of the women who were taken into the side rooms there were subjected to sexual violence,” she added. Around 500 Chilean refugees made their way to Scotland during the dictatorship
Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/the-scotland-v-chile-friendly-labelled-the-match-of-shame-1-4655623
Some 30,000 signed a petition which was sent to the SFA and 29 different organisations expressed concern to the secretary of state for Scotland within five months of the fixture’s announcement. The Scottish Office appealed to the SFA to call it off. There were protests against the match outside Wembley when Scotland took on England. There was Scottish coverage of a press conference featuring the testimonies of some of the survivors of the camp. Three of them unsuccessfully sought a meeting at the SFA’s offices. The magazine Chile Fights dedicated its front page to the matter and depicted a Scottish player trying to tie the laces of his boots in a pool of blood, with the caption “Don’t play ball with fascists”. There were debates in the House of Commons.
There was even a song written about the situation. “On September the 11th of 1973 scores of people perished in a vile machine-gun spree and a Santiago stadium became a place to kill, but now a Scottish football team will grace it with their skill, and there’s blood upon the grass,” was the start of the powerful piece by Adam McNaughtan.
Those in charge of Scottish football ignored the anger and the protests and pressed ahead with the match. The SFA actually had the backing of most players too, as 70 per cent of those who participated in a poll organised by the Scottish Professional Footballers’ Association stated that they thought the fixture should take place. Only 10 per cent explicitly opposed it. Some players simply didn’t know enough about the Chilean political climate to comment, at least not until they arrived. As goalkeeper Alan Rough explained many years later: “You take it that the SFA, who are taking you there, know what’s happening.” Asked if the players had been consulted on the decision to play there, Rough’s answer was a simple one. “No.” He added: “When I went into that stadium, I remember going into the dressing room and I remember seeing the bullet holes on the wall where they had lined up people and killed them. I think if we had been given more information, that there were actually people still being killed and still being arrested on the street and being taken away and shot and that it was as bad as it was when we got there, most of the players wouldn’t have gone.”
Adapted from here
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/the-scotland-v-chile-friendly-labelled-the-match-of-shame-1-4655623
For further details see this blog
http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2007/05/blood-upon-grass.html
What is also indisputable is Chile’s national stadium had been used as a de facto concentration camp during the Pinochet coup a few years earlier. More than 40,000 untried Allende supporters, trade unionists and members of left-wing political parties were detained there, with women often raped, in the changing rooms. “Although not much time passed when we were there, I felt that I went in as a 16-year-old girl and came out as a 70-year-old woman,” survivor Lelia Pérez later recalled. “I think that all of the women who were taken into the side rooms there were subjected to sexual violence,” she added. Around 500 Chilean refugees made their way to Scotland during the dictatorship
Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/the-scotland-v-chile-friendly-labelled-the-match-of-shame-1-4655623
Some 30,000 signed a petition which was sent to the SFA and 29 different organisations expressed concern to the secretary of state for Scotland within five months of the fixture’s announcement. The Scottish Office appealed to the SFA to call it off. There were protests against the match outside Wembley when Scotland took on England. There was Scottish coverage of a press conference featuring the testimonies of some of the survivors of the camp. Three of them unsuccessfully sought a meeting at the SFA’s offices. The magazine Chile Fights dedicated its front page to the matter and depicted a Scottish player trying to tie the laces of his boots in a pool of blood, with the caption “Don’t play ball with fascists”. There were debates in the House of Commons.
There was even a song written about the situation. “On September the 11th of 1973 scores of people perished in a vile machine-gun spree and a Santiago stadium became a place to kill, but now a Scottish football team will grace it with their skill, and there’s blood upon the grass,” was the start of the powerful piece by Adam McNaughtan.
Those in charge of Scottish football ignored the anger and the protests and pressed ahead with the match. The SFA actually had the backing of most players too, as 70 per cent of those who participated in a poll organised by the Scottish Professional Footballers’ Association stated that they thought the fixture should take place. Only 10 per cent explicitly opposed it. Some players simply didn’t know enough about the Chilean political climate to comment, at least not until they arrived. As goalkeeper Alan Rough explained many years later: “You take it that the SFA, who are taking you there, know what’s happening.” Asked if the players had been consulted on the decision to play there, Rough’s answer was a simple one. “No.” He added: “When I went into that stadium, I remember going into the dressing room and I remember seeing the bullet holes on the wall where they had lined up people and killed them. I think if we had been given more information, that there were actually people still being killed and still being arrested on the street and being taken away and shot and that it was as bad as it was when we got there, most of the players wouldn’t have gone.”
Adapted from here
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/the-scotland-v-chile-friendly-labelled-the-match-of-shame-1-4655623
For further details see this blog
http://mailstrom.blogspot.com/2007/05/blood-upon-grass.html
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