1978
A01=Rhys Richards
Ally MacLeod|Clive Thomas
Amnesty international
Argentina
Author_Rhys Richards
Buenos Aires
Category=SFBC
COBA
Cold War
Cordoba
Dictatorship
Dirty War
Disappeared
El Monumental
Emilio Massera
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_sports-fitness
ESMA
Football
General
Guerilla
Handball
Holland
Iran
Isabel Peron
Jorge Videla
Juan Peron
Junta
Las Madres De Plaza Mayor
Mario Kempes
Mendoza
Military
Montoneros
National Reorganisation Process
Netherlands
Osvaldo Ardiles
Peru
Plaza Mayor
Rio Del Plata
Rosario
Scotland
sport
Sportwashing
World Cup
Product details
- ISBN 9781836802457
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 02 Mar 2026
- Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Blood on the Crossbar: The Dictatorship's World Cup is the story of the most controversial football World Cup of all time. When Argentina both hosted and won the World Cup in 1978, just two years after the coup d'etat that ousted Isabel Perón, it was against the backdrop of a brutal military dictatorship in the country. Under the leadership of General Jorge Videla, up to 30,000 citizens, categorised as subversives, 'disappeared'. Dogged by allegations of bribery, coercion and an historic failed drugs test, this is the story of Argentina's maiden World Cup triumph and the controversy that simmered behind it. This isn't exclusively a tale of footballers and generals, and the risks they took to succeed. It's a story of the people: Argentinean exiles, Parisian students, brave journalists, the marching mothers of Plaza de Mayo and their missing children - and Dutch stand-up comedians who led international boycotts from thousands of miles away.
Rhys Richards is a writer and English teacher from Pen y Graig in the Rhondda Valleys. He has been published in The Guardian and has written for These Football Times, The Football Pink and The Football History Boys, primarily focussing on football's role in Latin American history.
