Unforgettable Soccer. Luciano Wernicke

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       IN WOMEN’S CLOTHING

      Bolivian Club Deportivo Jorge Wilstermann fans were infuriated at Paraguayan club Olimpia’s 1-0 lead. The two teams were playing in a crowded Félix Capriles stadium in the city of Cochabamba that night, March 29, 1979, for the Copa Libertadores. Hugo Talavera’s goal at 15 minutes practically eliminated the “aviator” team, although only two matches had been disputed. At that time, only one team per zone advanced to the semifinals. In need of a draw and technically overcome by their rival, the Bolivians began to use force. The game became very violent, and soon the match resembled more a massive boxing melee than a soccer game.

      At eleven minutes into the second half, with the score still 0-1, the Bolivians became embroiled in a pitched battle that could only be contained with police force. When peace returned, Brazilian referee José Roberto Wright took the red card out of his pocket to expel a single Olimpia player, forward Enrique Atanasio Villalba, and four Wilstermann men: the defenders Carlos Arias, Miguel Bengolea, and Raúl Navarro and the attacker Juan Sánchez. According to the report, one of the expelled players from Wilstermann had launched “a flying kick, looking for the body of the rival.” The unequal justice rendered by Wright for an “everyone against everyone” fight angered the spectators even more, but the real disaster occurred a few minutes later when, favored by the numerical inferiority of their opponent, Evaristo Isasi scored Olimpia’s second goal.

      To avoid a blow out, the coach for the Bolivian team, Roberto Pavisic, ordered one of his men to “get injured,” leaving the team with only six players. Since there were no more substitutions for the decimated Wilstermann, Wright was forced to whistle the end of the match twenty minutes prior to time because the Bolivian club did not have a minimum of seven players required by regulation. The story, however, did not end there.

      Hundreds of disgruntled fans invaded the field and ran after the Olimpia players and, mainly, the referee, to gratify their need for revenge for what they considered a tremendous injustice. The police could do little to contain the anger of so many people. Several of Olimpia’s players received unmitigated punching and kicking. Assisted by a handful of policemen, the Paraguayans managed to escape the mob and lock themselves in their dressing room. Wright and his assistants, meanwhile, had to remain in their dressing room for several hours because the stadium had been surrounded by hundreds of outraged spectators. As revealed by Wilstermann midfielder Johnny Villarroel many years later during an interview, the only way Wright would leave the stadium was disguised as a woman. The Brazilian and his collaborators were taken to the city of Oruro more than 125 miles from Cochabamba, because they were told that a crowd of fans was waiting for the referee at the Cochabamba airport.

      Because of this incident, CONMEBOL suspended the Felix Capriles stadium for a long time and ejected the five players. Club Jorge Wilstermann played the two remaining games at home in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and La Paz. They lost them, too. Olimpia, meanwhile, went to the next round: they won the group, then the semifinal, and, in the final, lifted the Copa Libertadores after dethroning the Argentine champion, Boca Juniors. Wright, meanwhile, would experience another very dark night in this continental tournament two years later, but that story is still to come.