*Museum Gem* Official & Stunning Programme for the football match between Argentina and England played at the River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires on May 17th 1953.

*Provenance: Collection of Argentina Player Ernesto Grillo*

This was a combined programme, also covering the Argentinian F.A. XI v The Football Association XI 14th May. The England game was suspended after 23 minutes and then abandoned due to heavy rain waterlogging the pitch. Very good copy of an extremely rare football programme.

Historical value:

You can call it an England B team, or an F.A. eleven, or anything you like, but when eighteen players travel 8,000 miles and eleven of them go out in white shirts to play an Argentine team—any Argentine team—and lose three goals to one, it is a defeat for England in the eyes of the world and nothing less.


That's what happened at the vast River Plate Stadium here yesterday. England were made to look like a bunch of punch-drunk oxen against these little brown men from the pampas who played like mountain lions from the Andes—smooth, rhythmic, fluent, a machine-like team which made space and moved the ball magnificently.
  For those of us who had travelled all this distance with high hopes of initial success—the newspapermen, the officials and the odd players, all of whom suffered more than anyone on the field—it was a galling moment when, a few minutes from the end, we got the Old South American farewell.
It was a mass waving of white handkerchiefs by more than 90,000 people—just as they do at Wembley, but this time for a rather different reason. This was their way of saying adios to the vanquished.
  For the English it was nothing more than a miserable match. For fifteen minutes our boys didn't know what it was all about.


The backward centre-forward, Lacasia, put his right wing through beautifully and Barlow had to clear off the line. Lacasia terrified Ditchburn by hitting a burning ball from thirty yards which scraped past a post. Then Eckersley had to zip across goal, to stop one from outside left Cruz. England were under desperate pressure and had an incredible escape when inside left Grillo stormed through and put behind off the bar, with Ditchburn quite helpless, from about ten yards. England were struggling as if with one of the local 5lb. beefsteaks, and it took us 24 minutes to deliver our first shot, and that from Barlow. Yet, after half an hour, we looked to be improving, winning some tackles, growing more accurate in midfield, and breaking through to goal.
    Tommy Taylor, our only forward, got the first goal. Eckersley inspired it by going up to force a corner on the left, right on the line. Jack Froggatt swung the ball in, and there was young Taylor heading a simple but superb goal.
With the suddenness of a local bomb going off, the entire stadium was stunned. A few desultory handclaps were raised.


Yet within one minute the stadium was vibrating with Latin passion and fury as the Buenos Aires side equalised. Grillo, the inside left wonder man, a combination of Carter, Mannion, Billy Walker and all the great ones, made an incredible forty-yard run before beating Ditchburn from an astonishing angle on the by-line. All this in the forty-first minutes and two minutes from half-time. Then the "Paisanos" pulled the oldest trick in the book. Cecconato, inside right, took a dive and on came substitute Mendez, who played at Wembley in 1951.
    Mendez is known locally as the second-half kid. He has not played first half for his club and wins games in the second.
Michelli, outside right, scored after fifty-seven minutes with a suspicion of offside. The England players checked their stride, expecting the whistle, when he cut through the middle to take the Mendez pass. Taylor was twice bundled by sandwiched tackles when on the point of shooting. Penalties would have been given at home.
But the extra goal by Grillo was no more than the locals deserved.


On the substitution of Mendez, Walter Winterbottom, England team manager, said: "It is allowed under international law and there is nothing you can do about it." He added: "Our players just didn't start to play. They were a poor side on the day. The opposition are first-class players."
The English tactics of shoulder charges and hard tackling and bustling the goalkeeper brought storms of boos but no incidents.
Hundreds of armed and sabred police were on duty. President Peron saw the match screened by a bodyguard. He left the stadium jubilant and was given a stupendous ovation from the crowd. The English colony here are absolutely downcast. England played without such international stars as Finney, Lofthouse, Ramsey, and there will be five or six changes for the full international match against Argentina on Sunday. Count only Dickinson, Eckersley, Wright and Taylor as without blame and be sure that such as Finney, Broadis, Ramsey, Dickinson will be in the team for Sunday.

Programme details: It has all pages, not written, and very nice condition!