the queen is dead Isabella II, at the age of 96, after having witnessed the most important episodes in recent history. And among them, a football fan and very Argentine. He has to do with the day the Argentine national team faced England in World Cup 1966, organized on the British island. A match that was a defeat for our team, but which remained in the memory due to the expulsion of Antonio Rattino.

The former Boca was the victim of a much-discussed arbitration, and had to leave the pitch due to a confusing situation. The rage was such that the Rat walked past a banner with the British flag and held it. And then, he remembers, he sat under the stage where the royal family was, on the carpet set up for the occasion, breaking every protocol.

The reference is inevitable whenever Argentina’s elimination from the 1966 World Cup in the quarter-finals against host England is mentioned. And at the same time it hides a myth. Elizabeth II was there.

The myth of the royal carpet

“After the expulsion, Antonio Rattín sat on the queen’s carpet, then wrung out the flag that was in the corner and when he came out they threw cans of beer at him.” More words, fewer words, it is written thousands of newspaper articlesin Spanish, English and several other languages. To verify it, just do a simple Google search: “Rattín carpet queen” or “Rattín carpet Queen”.

The World Cup in England was not broadcast live on television in the country. The images were only seen three days later. Argentines listened to the party’s actions on the radio and later reported through the media, Clarín, La Nación, Crónica and the magazines El Gráfico and Goles. What they told in their pages was almost a holy word. What was shown, shocking. However, in the references of the time, there are no allusions to the fact.

The most widespread images were those of the German referee Rudolf Kreitlein expelling Rattín, the riot, the discussions, the crushing of the British flag in a corner and the failed exchange of shirts between Oscar Mas and George Cohen, interrupted by the English coach Alf Ramsey. Of carpets, queens and beers, nothing.