The Battle of Montevideo

1967 INTERCONTINENTAL WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP.​

Celtic FC v Racing Club​

In 1967 after Celtic became the first British club to ever win the European Cup, the chance to be proclaimed club, “Champions of the world” presented itself in the shape of the 1967 Intercontinental World Club Championship. A competition to be played over two legs between the Champions of Europe and the Champions of the South American, Copa Libertadores. ​

To win would be the pinnacle of achievement showing all that a team was the very best on the planet and had beaten all comers in order to earn the most prestigious of titles.

That season’s competition between Racing Club of Argentina and Celtic will never be known as the greatest game of football, nor indeed for being a display of attractive football. Instead it is known for the controversy and by many Celtic fans remembered as the Battle of the River Plate and later the Battle of Montevideo.

1st Leg
HAMPDEN PARK, GLASGOW
Celtic FC 1 Racing Club 0
Date: 18 October 1967 | Attendance: 90,000 | Referee: Juan Gardeazábal (SPAIN)
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CELTIC – Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeil, Clark, Johnstone, Lennox, Wallace, Auld, Hughes​

RACING – Cejas, Perfumo, Dias, Martin, Mori, Basile, Raffo, Rulli, Cardenas, Rodriguez, Maschio

The first leg was played at Hampden in front of 90,000 fans on a cold Autumn evening who quickly became aware of their opponents intended tactics. Racing Club’s players almost to a man from the kick off tripped, kicked and spat on the Celtic players – not at but on! It was so cynical and bad that when wee Jimmy Johnston returned to the dressing room at half time his hair was so matted with spit that he had to take a half time shower. The Argentinians didn’t care if a Celtic player had the ball when committing such acts. Openly spitting in players faces and elbowing when passing a player when certain the referee wasn’t looking was the norm.

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Celtic somehow throughout managed to keep cool heads. A second half corner in the 69th minute from John Hughes saw Billy McNeil rise high to bullet head home the goal which was to give the Bhoys a well deserved and hard fought lead to take over to Buenos Aires for the second leg. McNeil had received an elbow to the eye as he headed home that goal and sported a black eye for several days after.
An insight as to why Racing decided to adopt such brutal and callous tactics perhaps comes from a reserve match played a few days earlier. Racing officials said after watching the reserves that they were astonished how good, talented and skillful Celtic’s youngsters were. Maybe they knew then that the only way to win against the European Champions was not to play football.​

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J-QtPWmGNU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J-QtPWmGNU" [/ame]

2nd Leg​

AVELLANEDA FIELD: BUENOS AIRES​

Racing Club 2 Celtic FC 1
Date: 1 November 1967 | Attendance: 120,000 | Referee: E. Marinho (URUGUAY)​

Raffo(33) Cardenas(48) Gemmell(22 pen)

RACING – Cejas, Perfumo, Chabay, Martin, Rulli, Basile, Raffo, Cardoso, Cardenas, Rodriguez, Maschio
CELTIC – Fallon, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeil, Clark, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, O’Neil,​

The 2nd leg journey to Buenos Aires for Celtic’s players and directors lasted some 20 hours on a plane yet perhaps unsurprisingly some dedicated or should that be rich Prawn sandwich Celtic fans of the day paid £200 a head to fly out. They travelled some 7000 miles just to ensure the Bhoys would not be without any support. Among the106 fans from Scotland were two doctors, a football pools winner, six priests and a minister.​

On match day the Celtic team and officials were escorted to the stadium by armed police, and even the 100+ fans had to travel in a police convoy. The Celtic fans clutching their £8 stand tickets, (a small fortune) found that their seats had been taken by Argentineans. Their protests resulted in some of them being urinated on from the tier above.​

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To get some idea of the intimidating terrifying atmosphere in front of 120,000 fans, before kick off Celtic’s keeper Ronnie Simpson had been struck with a piece of metal so hard it split his head open. Ronnie clearly was in no state to play. John Fallon quickly stripped and took over. Some to this day however still maintain that Simpson’s injury came from someone on the pitch and not from a fan off it.​

Celtic went in front from a converted penalty by Tommy Gemmell in the 21st minute after Jinky had been cynically brought down. Johnstone was also to see a perfectly good goal chalked off shortly after. Racing continued with the tactics employed in the first leg and eventually scored goals in both halves to win the match through Raffo (33) and Cardenas (48). The cup was now tied at 2-2. In those days no extra time was played. Nor was the away goal rule in force as FIFA did not control this competition until the following year. If the rule change had been in place that year Celtic would be in the history books as being the World Club Champions of 1967.

Simpson hit with steel missile before KO.​

Celtic’s dressing room after the match was attacked by Racing fans after rumours spread that there would be no deciding play off. Outside the stadium severe rioting was also taking place between Argentine Racing fans and Uruguayan fans who had crossed the border in their thousands to support Celtic. There was no love lost between fans of these two countries. Armed Police eventually escorted Celtic back to their Hotel and talks began about holding a play off in neutral Montevideo, Uruguay.

Celtic’s Chairman Bob Kelly wanted nothing to do with it and for Celtic to fly straight home. However fearful of being branded cowards, club Secretary Desmond White wanted to stay as did Director James Farell and manager Jock Stein. It was believed that White cared more about the financial rewards due to Celtic at the time and an amusing story on that being entirely possible later.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEEVruCVnjk"]Celtic v Racing - The Battle of Montivideo (pt 2) - YouTube[/ame]

Play-Off Leg​

CENTENARIO, MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY​

Racing Club 1 Celtic FC 0​

Date: 5 November 1967 | Attendance: 75,000 | Referee: R. P. Osorio (PARAGUAY)​

RACING- Cejas,Perfumo, Chabay, Martin, Rulli, Basile, Cardoso, Maschio, Cardenas, Rodriguez, Raffo
CELTIC – Fallon, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeil, Clark, Johnstone, Lennox, Wallace, Auld, Hughes


A few days later followed by their small band of faithful fans Celtic took the short flight across the River Plate to Montevideo for the neutral playoff winner takes all battle. With it being a holiday weekend in Buenos Aires very few transport links or services were available for the Argentines. Determined not to be denied thousands of Racing Club fans also made the short journey across the River Plate to Montevideo. Homemade rafts & rowing boats of every description somehow made the perilous journey across the river & over the border. Such a sight was reminiscent of the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.


This time the police adopted a no nonsense approach and the travelling Racing supporters would be vastly outnumbered by local Uruguayans who had adopted Celtic as their team. Argentina and Uruguay were historic enemies. An intense rivalry that could be likened to that of Celtic and Rangers but on an International level.


The Uruguayan team Penarol who had visited Celtic earlier in the season, even turned up at Celtic’s training session and passed on the tricks they used against Argentine sides and warned Celtic of what to expect.


The match started with so many brutal cynical fouls, many not even noticed by the referee that he spoke to both Captains and stated that the next foul committed by Racing would see Basile sent off, and the next foul by Celtic would see Lennox shown the red card. Within two minutes of that warning Basile was off and Racing were a man down.


Celtic were resolutely taking everything the Racing players were throwing at them and bizarrely it was the referee who was to lose all control and credibility. Following Johnstone being coldly and calculatingly chopped down in the center circle a melee started and John Clarke took revenge on one of the Racing players. Yet the referee kept to his word and sent off Bobby Lennox who had been a full 40 yards away from the incident.


Big Jock Stein was furious and told Lennox to stay on the park as he’d done nothing wrong. The ref, Osario then sent Lennox off several times and each time Stein sent Lennox back on. Eventually a policeman with his sword drawn entered the field of play and Lennox wisely decided he’d best quietly be escorted off the field of play.


This match no longer had any resemblance to a football match, nor was it a plain old fashioned battle- it was all out WAR!

Armed police try to restore order.​

Bertie Auld later recalled “At one stage I was jogging back towards goal after an attacking move when I got a vicious punch on the back of the head. I turned round and one of their players was just 2 feet away from me grinning in my face, no-one had seen it as the ball was at the other end of the field he was hoping I would hit him back and get caught by the ref. That is what we were up against.”


Rulli of Racing was sent off for an elbow to the face by Celtic’s John Hughes. Johnstone was also to see red 4 minutes before half time after having his shirt almost pulled from his back and using his elbows to try and break free. It was now 9 versus 9. Yet that wasn’t to be the end of this Battle of Montevideo.


John Hughes received his red for not once punching the keeper, Cejas but also deliberately kicking him. Hughes told Stein when asked why he did it, “So much was going on I thought if I hit this guy nobody will see me.”


The referee’s match report also stated that he’d sent off Bertie Auld. Auld though refused to leave the pitch and the ref simply allowed him to play on and he stayed on for the full 90 minutes.


The most publicised incident caught on camera though involved Tommy Gemmell who in 2005 said, “You don’t mind someone kicking you but for someone to spit in your face that’s not allowed. I said I’m going to have you. So I hit him with one almighty kick in the goolies. What a scream he let out.” The officials never saw the incident and Gemmell went unpunished.

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Racing player lying down (far right) after Gemmel's kick in the goolies.​

Racing’s Cardenas did manage in the second half to beat John Fallon with a 30 yard strike which was to prove to be the winner. By which time though nobody from Celtic really cared about the result. In the end 6 players had been sent off in this brutal match and the police had to intervene twice to restore some sort of order. Racing Club had achieved what they set out to do and robbed Celtic of something which no other club in their history had managed to do - their self-respect.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jKohSPSDo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95jKohSPSDo[/ame]


In the face of such provocation it is hard to condone the Celtic players for their actions. Indeed Celtic received a great deal of sympathy from the football magazine,’Miroir du Football’ who proclaimed, “Racing of BuenosAires, Champions of the world of violence, treachery and theatricals’ they reported ‘the Johnstone sending off was disgraceful and that he was the victim of the man who was supposed to protect footballers from butchers and actors.’


The Racing players wanted to do a lap of honour around the stadium, but Uruguayan (Celtic) supporters pelted them with everything they could throw at them. The Racing players had to wait in the center of the field, until the police had cleared the way to their dressing room.

The Consequences​

There’s no doubt as a result of this ill-fated competition Jock Stein was removed from the New Year Honours list. Stein had been expected to receive an honour for leading Celtic to a famous European Cup win in Lisbon over Internazionale in May 1967. But a letter sent by the Scottish Office to Prime Minister Harold Wilson in 1970 revealed how Stein's name was removed from the list. This only became known in 2007 under the freedom of information act.

It read, 'When Glasgow Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup in 1967, we failed to recognise this with an honour for Stein to whom, as manager, a great deal of the credit was due. His name was I understand removed from the New Year's Honours list because of the unfortunate events in South America. The next year when Manchester United won the European Cup an immediate knighthood went to Matt Busby in the birthday list. Had we been able to move as quickly the previous year, Stein would have had his honour before the troubles in Argentina.'

On their return to Glasgow Celtic’s board desperately wanted to try and restore the club’s prestige and strangely announced to the press that every player including John Fallon was to be fined £250, approximately two months wages. The fines were to be deducted from that season’s bonus money and the players only learnt about the unprecedented fine from reading the story in the press. Auld and Hughes were in addition fined by the SFA £50 each for their part in the Battle of Montevideo.

An interesting quote exists from one of the Celtic Director’s at the time when speaking about the fines imposed, “We sympathise with them but they had let the club down and let themselves down. We have to constantly remind our players about discipline because a Celtic player going for justice usually faces a different set of rules than others. It is a point that has been proved over and over through the years. Celtic players can never afford to relax their discipline.”

Few people realise thatJimmy Johnstone had created a little bit of history by having his Scottish FA suspension lifted allowing him to play in South America. The procedure at that time was that suspension in domestic competition also ruled a player out of European and International matches Taking the stance that it was a world championship the SFA allowed him to travel and play with their blessing. He must have been the first player ever to be sent off while under suspension! The lifted suspension though was a heavily guarded secret for many years. Bobby Lennox whose case was of mistaken identity was exonerated.

The suitcase full of money​

An amusing story goes that Celtic Treasurer Desmond White was seen carrying a huge old battered suitcase through customs at Prestwick airport on the return home. Only the directors knew it contained some 12 million Uruguayan Pesos in cash.- Celtics share of the 3rd games gate money.
Due to inflation the Uruguayan FA could not give Celtic a cheque so instead the UFA Treasurer asked Desmond to meet him at a bank in town later and to bring a large suitcase. When he reached the bank it was out of hours but had opened especially. To White’s horror the bank staff then began loading money into the case. Both he and the UFA’S treasurer had to sit on the case to get it shut. He was then advised to get a taxi which he hastily agreed fearing for his life back to the hotel. Mr White then sneaked into the hotel and headed straight to the room containing the clubs kit hamper. Quickly removing strips and training gear then put the suitcase in before covering it again, locked the hamper and the outside door and went off for a well earned meal.



During dinner he and his fellow directors discussed ways to get the money into Scotland, purchasing precious stones was one wild suggestion. Mr White decided to take the bold gamble and just go for it, clutching the case, he approached customs and firmly said he had nothing to declare, before boarding the plane and making the 7,000 mile journey back home.

The relief he must have felt to get home quickly transpired into trouble. He took the battered case to the bank in Glasgow, who did not want to know about Uruguayan pesos, the money still in its battered suitcase was shipped to London where the answer was the same. It had to be sent to New York and by the time Celtic had received their cheque it had cost them the equivalent of £3,000 in inflation.
One can’t help but imagine this tale is the origin of the famous biscuit tin from which the regime at Celtic Football Club during this time ran its financial affairs.

 

Great read

 

Thanks for this, great read

During that era Argentinian and Uruguayan teams made a habit of using dirty tactics. There are pictures of AC Milan players covered in blood after virtual beatings and Brazilian clubs pulled out of International competitions all together partly because of it.

 

good read that

 

Never knew the story about the money in the suitcase. :smiley-laughing002:

Racing Club are next to Rapid Vienna on my list of teams that can get *.

 

There was a few argentinians that kicked the * out of us in 74. Ayala think the * name was was the worst.

 

thanks lion !! great post .

 

was there dirty filthy bastarts !!

 

Was there too mate. You could kick a team of the park then, they done that to us the *. They didn't win it tho thank *.

 

Great read

I remember reading Auld's reply when asked how hard he hit the player in Montevideo:

"I'm fae Glasgow, son. How hard dae ye think I hit him..." :icon_mrgreen:

 

That's what we were talking about.

 

that and the rapid vienna night still * rage when i renember them

 

fascinating tie in our history, shame we couldn't add the Intercontinental Cup to our trophy haul.

Hope one day we play Racing Club again the *

 

ah, the good old days were men were men and fitba' was a contact sport.

 

:smiley-laughing002: Nor me!

Great article

 

great read

 

So the board were * back then too lol



ps. This is probably why we've never signed an Argentine before

 

Great read .