Читать книгу Unforgettable Soccer - Luciano Wernicke - Страница 29

On November 8, 1972, for the sixth round of the Argentine National Tournament, CA Huracán beat CA Estudiantes of La Plata 2-0 at their home stadium of Parque de los Patricios. The visitors struggled to get one back and, shortly before the end of the first half, they managed to get referee Washington Mateo to call a penalty kick for them as a result of a clear infringement. However, at the request of one of the assistant referees, who had seen that the foul had been several feet back, Mateo changed the shot from the 12 yards to a free kick outside the Huracán’s penalty box. The transcendental decision irritated the red-and-white players, who disapproved of the exchange with energetic gestures and vulgar terms aimed at the man in black.

In the middle of the chaos, the referee took out his red card and showed it to the central midfielder Carlos Alberto De Marta, who he thought had hurled at him a clear and rude insult. The match continued and Huracán, with the numerical difference in their favor, stretched their advantage to a 5-1 final. Mateo raised his report, and a week later De Marta was summoned to testify by the Disciplinary Court of the Argentine Football Association. The player went to AFA’s home at Viamonte street 1366, appeared before the ruling body, and, a day later, what could have been a harsh punishment only became a fine for one match for “protest of ruling on the field,” according to file 6506 filed in the offical records. Why did they apply such a light punishment? The court considered that the midfielder had hardly been able to articulate an insult clearly audible to Mateo, and not only because of the pandemonium that reigned at that moment: De Marta was deaf and unable to speak from birth!