The Anglo-Italian Cup Years 1970-1973 - The Seasiders in Europe
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- A film created for the Blackpool FC Former Players Association legends evening on 10th February 2023 at the Armfield Club.
The Anglo-Italian Cup years 1970-73 covered the brief history of this tournament and Blackpool's involvement. The film contains enhanced HD highlights and also features previously unseen recorded footage of the 1972 Blackpool v Roma Final.
See Lee Charles video The 5th LEGENDS Night - the ANGLO-ITALIAN years | with BLACKPOOL PLAYERS & TOMMY HUTCHISON interview • The 5th LEGENDS Night ...
The 'Anglo-Italian Years' a
film researched, produced and edited by -
Peter Gillatt
My thanks to - AFC Finers for narration
Napoli v Swindon Town
- Archivo DiFilm - Buenos Aires - Argentina
Blackpool v Bologna - BBC
Blackpool v Roma - Lorenzo AS Roma Ultras
Bologna v Blackpool - Granada TV
Soundtrack - 'The Offer'
The Anglo-Italian Cup was created in 1970. In the early years, the competition began with three groups of four teams - two from each country - with each side playing home and away matches against the two other teams who weren’t from their nation.
Rather than a rankings table for each individual group, as would ordinarily be expected, clubs were again divided by their country of origin into two overall standings, with the two English sides with the most overall points going through to face the two highest-ranked Italian teams in the semi-finals.
Even more unusually, points weren’t awarded in the normal way: while it remained two for a win and one for a draw as was customary at the time, sides received an additional point for every goal they scored.
The inaugural final would be contested between Swindon and Napoli, a crowd of 55,000 turned up at the Stadio San Paolo on May 28th, 1970. Swindon were 3-0 up after 63 minutes, when violence started to break out on the terraces; the match had to be abandoned after 79 minutes, with Swindon being declared as the first winners of the tournament.
English success didn’t end there as Blackpool brought the trophy back to the Lancashire seaside the following year after a successful campaign that had seen them beat Bologna in the final. In his autobiography, former Blackpool goalkeeper John Burridge points out that, in its infancy, the tournament was regarded as something of a major honour; waxing lyrical about the competition, Budgie talks of his triumph with Blackpool as one of the greatest moments in his career.
Blackpool made the final again in 1972, losing the final to Roma but by 1973 interest had begun to wane. The one point per goal system had been scrapped and a general lack of appetite for more football, other than the usual league and cup offerings meant that attendances began to fall.
Despite being plagued at various times by violence, disinterest and frankly absurd organisation, it’s easy to see why such a wonderfully weird and whacky tournament is still looked backed on with fondness over 20 years after its abolition.
There was a real exoticism to the Anglo-Italian Cup; English sides had the chance to face glamorous opponents they’d probably never met before and haven’t met since, which must have been an extremely exciting prospect in the days in which it wasn’t possible to watch teams like Inter and Juventus on television every week. Blackpool fans who were present to see their side beat Bologna in Italy will never forget those memories.
It was bonkers and bizarre and it’s not hard to understand why it was ultimately cancelled in 1996, but its imperfections were a big part of what made the Anglo-Italian Cup so romantic.
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Great Story, THANKS!
I was at the Roma final against Roma on a chartered flight from B,pool airport thanks for the memories ……
Great music
Was at the Lanerossi game as an 8 year old.
Great childhood memories!
DIDNT REALISE SWINDON HAD DISCOVERED FIRE 💥🥵❤️🏆⚽🥅🏐👹♥️
What division were Blackpool in at this time?
When Blackpool were invited to participate in the 1971 competition they were in the ''old' first division but had been relegated before the final against Bologna. The following summer in 1972 they were still playing in the 'old' second division.