“If a crocodile could talk it would sound like Gigi Peronace. He was an imposing figure, one to be wary of, yet he could charm a bracelet.”
The tournament’s rules were complex and erratic, with teams split into three groups: two Italian sides and two English sides forming each. Every club would face the two foreign outfits home and away and their points would go towards an overall mini-league, again split by country.
Once these groups were completed and two final tables were formed, one English side would take on one Italian side in the final, with the winner named champion.
To further complicate matters, points were awarded not only by result, but by goals scored, too. It meant, in theory, a team who finished their mini-league without a single win could top the group by scoring the most goals, should they be prolific enough.
Quaint idea maybe, but the reality was quite different. The first final – Swindon Town taking on Napoli – was abandoned after 79 minutes due to fan violence. Two pitch invasions and a barrage of missiles saw the referee call the contest up with the English side three goals to the good, and the trophy was awarded before the game could be concluded.
“Disgruntled fans, angered at the home side's failure to check brilliant Swindon, hurled a fusillade of rocks and bottles on the field, prompting the police to retaliate with teargas,” wrote one reporter “Groups of youngsters then started breaking up stones and wooden benches and hurling them over the wide moat and onto the pitch.”
The Swindon Advertiser even lauded Napoli’s ‘inability to match the craft and finishing of Swindon Town’. Some change of fortunes since.
When Crystal Palace took part in the second year, 1971, they joined the likes of Blackpool, West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City from England and Italy provided clubs such as Roma, Bologna and, of course, Inter Milan.