Comments on: New book on WC1978 Argentina…

By: Felipe

Felipe — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:03:07 +0000

Jan, just informing (as I live in South America, I think I can bring more information): here, the Mad Mothers are more well-known as “Mothers from Plaza de Mayo”. That’s because the mothers of disappeared heaps usually grouped – some still group – at Plaza de Mayo (May Square), in Buenos Aires center.

BTW, the gossip about the possible bribery with Peruvian players before Argentina-Peru grow more and more as years pass. This year, as Argentina victory at WC completed its 30th birthday, there were a lot of TV reports. All of them are saying now “well, we’ll probably never know if it really happened, but it’s more and more possible”. Of course, as Leopoldo Luque said, Argentina had a good team and would probably have won Peru. But not by 6-0.

That WC Final was very violent, wasn’t it? Passarella elbowed Neeskens, and the latter lost two teeth…

By: Caleb

Caleb — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:42:30 +0000

@Jan – Ah I see, thanks for the explanation Jan. I knew about the corrupt government and the people just ‘disappearing’, but I never knew about the ‘Mad Mothers’ or whatever they were called.

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:50:51 +0000

No probs, Tiju. I’ll see what I can cook up.

@Caleb: I’m pretty sure I mistranslated the Mad Mothers thing. Here goes:

In Argentina, with the Videla people in power, heaps of opposing forces basically disappeared off the streets. They were taken at night or kidnapped from the streets (anyone but mainly intellectuals and journalists) and tortured in prisons and/or killed. There are lots of stories they’d be taken in a plane and thrown out at high altitude and all that.

The mums and wives of these disappeared (the Mothers of the Disappeared) would group together at some square and just walked silently with pics of their loved ones, being scrutinized by soldiers.

They called them the Mad Mothers or Crazy Mothers or something like that.

Sting composed a famous song (They dance alone) about them and U2 had “Mothers of the Disappeared” on the Joshua Tree album, I think.

Foreign camera teams in those days used to film them and their stories and they were the ones in 1978 who got the left Dutchies to pay attention and protest against, among other things, the WC1978. Wim Rijsbergen actually met them there when he was injured and couldn’t play. This new book is about that chapter in Argentinian history.

By: tiju

tiju — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:06:41 +0000

correction sorry

By: tiju

tiju — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:06:14 +0000

@jan soory for missing letters this keyboard is too funny.

By: tiju

tiju — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:04:42 +0000

out off topic
castelen is always injured this time heavily(re injury ofthe same knee)what a pitty dutch going to lose one more hugly talented palyer.
same can heppen with luirink.
guys tyndalli looks business ofcorse heshoul be calledup i think if he continues like now he will our RB for WC10
@jan plz write topic abt Gio vani vanbronkhost about Doe we need him in wc 10?
i am looking for some new diffenders with holding mids with schaars and da silva
if we are taking RVP,babel and hunter we dont need any other striker.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:33:14 +0000

@Jan – I’m having some trouble following this article.. did you take it from somewhere else? What are the Mad Mothers?