Crítica
- The Argentines Barely Draw!
- Once Again Mussolini Escapes Unhurt from a Criminal Attack!
- Some Members Led by Dr. Anchorena Provoke the Public
This edition of Crítica, dated 31 October 1926, ran three short reports, one from Chile, one from Italy and one from Buenos Aires. In an Agencia Austral cable from Santiago, the paper described the excitement around Argentina's match against Chile at Ñuñoa in the South American football championship and a crowd of seven to eight thousand; its headline complained that the Argentines had only barely drawn. A brief cable from Bologna said Mussolini had been shot at as he left a stadium after a speech and was unhurt. The local story described a riot at the Hipódromo Argentino in Palermo, where 500 people from the popular stands tried to pull down the iron fence that kept them out of the paddock and the members' stands. Its headline blamed members led by Dr. Anchorena for provoking the crowd.
Translation
The Argentines Barely Draw!
(Agencia Austral)
SANTIAGO DE CHILE, 31. — The match between the Argentines and the Chileans, played this afternoon at the Ñuñoa sports ground as part of the ninth South American football championship, had aroused extraordinary anticipation. Minutes before the game began, a crowd of seven to eight thousand people filled the stadium.
Once Again Mussolini Escapes Unhurt from a Criminal Attack!
BOLOGNA, 31. — As the Prime Minister of Italy, Mr. Benito Mussolini, was leaving a stadium where he had given an address, he was the target of a criminal attack, a shot being fired at him. The head of the Cabinet was unhurt.
Some Members Led by Dr. Anchorena Provoke the Public
During today's scandal at the Hipódromo Argentino, which we cover separately, a truly curious and extraordinary spectacle took place. With the aim of invading the paddock and reaching the members' stands and the stewards' stand, the public in the popular stands decided to tear down the fence that separates the stands. Five hundred people violently set about the task, and shortly afterwards the iron fence was shaking and "swaying." The…
Context
Where Argentina's title defence stood after the Chile draw
Chile hosted the 1926 championship as a single round-robin in which each team played every other once. Brazil withdrew before the start, which left five teams. Modern records count the tournament as the tenth edition, so the 'ninth' in Crítica's cable is one behind today's numbering. Argentina came to Santiago as defending champions, having won the 1925 edition, and at the halfway mark they led the table with four points. On 24 October, however, Uruguay beat them 2–0 and drew level on points. The 1–1 draw with Chile reported here came on 31 October, and the next day Uruguay won the title with a fourth win in four matches. Crítica's complaint that the Argentines had 'barely' drawn therefore came just as the defending champions were losing the title.
Why Crítica said 'once again' about Mussolini
The Bologna shooting was the latest in a run of attempts on Mussolini's life within a single year. The former Socialist deputy Tito Zaniboni was arrested on 4 November 1925 for attempting to assassinate him. On 7 April 1926 Violet Gibson fired a pistol at him, and the bullet grazed his nose. On 11 September 1926 the anarchist marble worker Gino Lucetti threw a bomb at his limousine at Porta Pia in Rome, injuring four other people. The cable printed here says only that a shot was fired as Mussolini left a stadium after a speech, and it names no assailant. Later accounts record that the shot was fired as he rode through Bologna in an open car, and that the crowd lynched a 15-year-old boy, Anteo Zamboni. The terrorism specialist J. Bowyer Bell judged the boy probably innocent and suggested the affair was either a put-up job or a plot among Fascists. The attempt led to laws that created Mussolini's secret police.
The Jockey Club, the Palermo racecourse and the members' stands
The Hipódromo Argentino at Palermo had been operating since May 1876. The Jockey Club was founded in the early 1880s; the club itself gives the date as 15 April 1882, with Carlos Pellegrini as its main promoter and first president. According to the club's own history, it was entrusted with running the Hipódromo Argentino by 1883, although another account dates the start of its management to 1884. The club's bylaws defined it both as a social centre and as an association for improving horse breeds. Its history places its founders among the men who made up the country's ruling class. That background explains the scene in the article. The iron fence separated the popular stands from the paddock and the members' stands. The 500 people who tried to pull it down were trying to break into the enclosures kept for members at a racecourse run by an elite social club.
Crítica, Natalio Botana and the exclamatory front page
Crítica was founded in 1913 by Natalio Botana, a Uruguayan journalist and entrepreneur, and Botana is regarded as a pioneer of sensationalist media in Argentina. This edition shows the style. Two of the three headlines are framed as exclamations, presenting a football draw as a disappointment and a foreign shooting as a sensational escape. The third names a prominent man, Dr. Anchorena, and blames the members he led for provoking the crowd at the racecourse. The football coverage had a personal connection as well. In 1926 Botana briefly served as president of the Argentine Football Association, in the same year his paper was reporting on the national team's campaign in Santiago.
Original
¡Los Argentinos Apenas Empatan!
SANTIAGO DE CHILE, 31. - Singular expectativa había despertado el match entre argentinos y chilenos, disputado esta tarde en el campo de deportes de Nuñoa, correspondiente al noveno campeonato sudamericano de football. Minutos antes de iniciarse el partido, un público de 7 a 8 mil personas ocupaba las instalaciones del estadio.
¡Otra Vez Mussolini Salió Ileso de un Atentado Criminal!
BOLONIA, 31. - En circunstancias en que el primer ministro de Italia, señor Benito Mussolini salía de dar una conferencia en un estadio, fué objeto de un atentado criminal, habiéndosele disparado un tiro. El jefe de Gabinete resultó ileso.
Algunos Socios Dirigidos por el Dr. Anchorena Provocan al Público
Durante el escandalo de hoy en el Hipódromo Argentino, del cual nos ocupamos aparte, se produjo un espectáculo verdaderamente curioso y extraordinario. Con el propósito de invadir el paddock y llegar a las tribunas de socios y el Comisariato, el público de las populares decidió echar abajo la verja que separa las tribunas. 500 personas iniciaron violentamente la tarea y poco después la verja de hierro se conmovía y " cimbraba. " La
Source: Source: Internet Archive / Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina