Match Pictures | Matches: 1967 - 1968 | 1967-68 Pics

Intercontinental Club Cup Matches

• 1967 World Club Championships homepage

• 1st Leg
• 2nd Leg
• Playoff

Trivia

• Intercontinental Club Cup
• Ronnie Simpson knocked out cold by a missile from the opposition fans just before kick-off so Fallon replaced him.
• 2-2 aggregate score.
  
• There was no away goals rule in those days, else we'd have been crowned champions. So it all went to an unnecessary 3rd game.
  

Review

The journey to Buenos Aires lasted about 20 hours for the team who flew out on an Aerolineas Argentina's jet which had called specially at Prestwick airport to pick them up. A plane load of fans in a turbo-prop Britannia took 29 hours and they certainly lived up to the title of best fans in the world. At £200 a head they flew to South America via the Canary Islands, Sal in the Cape Verde Islands, Recife in Brazil and then into Buenos Aires- some 7000 miles in all.

Among the 106 fans on board the flight (which at the time was the longest ever flight to leave Glasgow) were 6 priests, a minister (Rev Robert Jack of the Church of Scotland), 2 doctors, and a recent pools winner. Apparently, the hotel they were booked into ended up being alleged to be a hotbed for prostitutes!

On match day the team were escorted to the stadium by armed police, even the fans had to travel in a police convoy. The Celtic fans clutching their £8 STAND tickets found that their seats had been taken by Argentinians. When they protested some of them were urinated on from the tier above.

Ronnie Simpson had been struck with a piece of metal so hard it had split his head open right along the top. This was before kick off!!!! John Fallon quickly stripped and took over as Celtic's keeper, what must have been going through his mind is anyone’s guess. He was a brave man and indeed that day did not let his side or anyone down. There is still belief that Simpson's injury was done by someone on the field and not from a fan off it.

Johnstone was brought down in the area and the ref had to award a penalty, which gemmell converted, however a perfectly good goal scored by Johnstone afterwards was disallowed. Racing scored a goal before and after half time, it was the greatest frame up of all time but was also a blessing. Had Celtic won there is no telling what would have happened, even after defeat in this game their dressing room got invaded by all kinds of people after rumour spread that they would not play a 3rd game. Argentinian and Uruguay fans (who had travelled to support Celtic) battled outside the stadium.

A police escort was necessary to take them back to the hotel where the great debate took place as to play the 3rd game in neutral Montevideo. Chairman Bob Kelly wanted to fly Straight home but Secretary Desmond White wanted to stay and play the 3rd game in case they were branded cowards, James Farrell who had just joined the board decided to stay as did Jock Stein.

Teams

Racing Club (Argentina) 2-1 Celtic (Scotland)
(aggregate 2-2)

Racing Club:
Agustín Mario Cejas -
Roberto Alfredro Perfumo, Nelson Pedro Chabay -
Oscar Raimundo Martín (c), Juan Carlos Rulli, Alfio Basile -
Norberto Santiago Raffo, João Cardoso, Juan Carlos Cárdenas,
Juan José Rodríguez, Humberto Dionisio Maschio.
Goals: Raffo 33', Juan Carlos Cárdenas 48'

Celtic:
Fallon* - Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeil, Clark, Johnstone,
Wallace, Charmers, O'Neil, Lennox.
(* = Simpson injured by a missle before kick-off)
Goals: / Gemmell 21' pen.

2nd. leg:Venue: Avellaneda. Field: Racing Club ("El Cilindro")
Referee Esteban Marinho (Uruguay)
Att : 100,000

Articles

• Match Report (see below)
  

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Match Report from The (London) Times 2nd November, 1967