Successiveorwas recently in Argentina and this recalled a memory (and I’m certain Im not making this up) that,following the death of Argentinian president Juan Peron during the 1974 World Cup, referees were instructed to pause matches in order to observe a minute’s silence, and ” writes Mitchell Sandler. “Which begs a few questions - Why not observe the silence before the kick-off? Why observe the silence in the first set? Has any other high profile match ever been interrupted for non-footballing reasons?”The 1974 tournament is memorable for so many reasons – the birth of the Cruyff turn,Haiti taking the lead against Italy in the group stages, Mwepu Ilunga, or the classic final (that was delayed by a lack of corner flags) – but one of the most bizarre sights ever seen at a World Cup did indeed occur in the aftermath of Juan Perón’s death: a minute’s silence was observed during the middle of not just one match,but four of them.
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Source: theguardian.com