The Colombian central judge kicked him out of ‘El Campín’ but his absence on the pitch did not last long.
International News.
One of the most remembered anecdotes by soccer fans in Colombia about the great Edson Arantes Do Nascimento “Pelé” who left this world this Thursday, December 29 at the age of 82, is the expulsion he received at the ‘El Campín’ Stadium. ‘ from the hands of a Colombian referee.
The unusual event occurred on July 17, 1968 in a friendly match between the Colombian National Team (Olympic) and Santos from Brazil, a team that at the time used to play exhibition matches in Latin America, the United States and Europe. The reason: all the clubs in the world and even national teams wanted to face Pelé and this was taken advantage of by the directives of the fish to generate revenue for the club.
See: “Pelé won three World Cups, that’s why he is the best in history”: soccer fans after his death
Well, Pelé and his band made up of Gylmar, Toninho, Rildo and Zito and other great Brazilian stars, jumped onto the Nemesio Camacho lawn to dispute the match led by central judge Guillermo ‘El Chato’ Velásquez.
At that time, the referee from Pereira was one of the most famous in Colombia and was chosen to deliver justice in this match that had a full house in the stands: Everyone wanted to see ‘O Rei’.
Velásquez whistled the start of the match and the ball began to roll between that Colombia that was preparing for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico and the Santos team.
Despite being a friendly game from the first minutes, tempers flared after Alfredo Arango scored the first goal for Colombia and the linesman pointed out “out of place”. Velásquez disavowed his assistant and indicated the center of the field.
Immediately, Lima, a defender who was Pelé’s brother-in-law, approached the central judge and kicked him. The referee reacted by expelling the Santos footballer.
Before leaving the playing field, the Brazilian defender returned with the intention of attacking ‘Chato’ again but some players stopped him.
A few minutes passed with the advantage for ‘La Tricolor’ and before the end of the first half, “Pelé” demanded a hold inside the area, however, the referee did not copy the ‘Best player of the world’ and said: play, play!
At the referee’s instructions, Pelé reacted in his Portuguese language with profanity. Coincidentally ‘Chato’ Velásquez understood them all since he had whistled a match between Colombia and Brazil in Leticia, Amazonas, very close to Brazilian territory.
‘Chato’ Velásquez narrated that immediately after the red card was issued to Pelé, the members of Santos, with the exception of Edson Arantes Do Nascimento himself, the team doctor and a journalist from Folha Do Sao Paulo, all attacked him. So much so that he had to leave the field and one of the linesmen whistled in his place.
“It led to rudeness for me. And in this I say that life has a number of coincidences, for better or for worse. About 15 or 20 days ago I had arrived from an amateur tournament in Leticia, on the border with Brazil, with teams from that country, from Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. There I went to a place to see dancing and the first thing one learns from another language is profanity. Pelé told me all of them and I understood them! So I told him in Brazilian: “You are wrong about me”, I pointed to the exit and he ran off the field », he said in an interview with Time.
Despite the expulsion, the Brazilian star was reinstated in the game, apparently by order of the managers who noticed that the public was clamoring for the star to be brought back onto the pitch.
«Some irresponsible people said that I had authorized the entry of the ‘Negro’ after his expulsion. How infamous, that’s a lie! Here they kicked out the judge and an expelled player came back in, “he told the aforementioned medium.
Colombia won 2-1 but after the reinstatement of Pelé, the Brazilian team ended up winning 4-2. The then two-time world champion scored one of the goals in that match.
Some time later, Pelé met ‘Chato’ Velásquez again in a hotel and this was the meeting told by one of his protagonists:
«In the 1970 Copa Libertadores I was designated for a semifinal match between Universidad de Chile and Nacional de Montevideo, on a neutral court, in Porto Alegre (Brazil). I stayed at the Hotel Plaza de Copacabana and when I arrived, I found Pelé standing at the reception. I went to greet him and he told me: “Oh, Velásquez bandit”, and he hugged me. Later, as I was designated for the World Cup in Mexico-70, I went to see the game between Brazil and England, in Monterrey; there we met again. Then, when he played in the United States, at the New York Cosmos, he invited my family and me (…) They invited me to his farewell game, but I couldn’t go, the only thing I keep from that is the ticket, ” recalled the Colombian referee.
Here are pictures from that match:
Today, December 29, the life of the considered ‘Best Soccer Player of All Time’a true athlete and a great human being on and off the courts.
Goodbye, to O Rei Pelé!
Cover photo: @pele
It may interest you:
Farewell to the ‘King of Soccer’, Pelé died at the age of 82
