An exclusive with Jonathan Wilson on all things Argentina, football, and how the beautiful game allowed them redemption post the Falklands War.
South Sandwich Islands may seem like the name of an imaginary island-and-sub themed amusement park in Hawaii bought out by Subway IP Inc., but while it is real, it is, to our disappointment, not a tourist destination with a complementary chicken tikka sub at the end of every ride. In fact, situated on the outer peripheries of Antarctica, it was one of the pawns of an improbable war that injured the membrane of an agitating nation and eventually stung the totalitarian military Junta coiling around it.
Unusual suspects: The Falklands – 400 miles to the west of Argentina is a small cluster of windswept, barren islands at the edge of the Antarctic, with a population of barely 3,000. Buffeted by South Atlantic winds, this unassuming patch of land is the scene of one of the most unusual and ambitious military undertaking the modern world has seen.
On April 2, 1982, General and President of Argentina, Leopoldo Galtieri, sanctioned 300 marines to seize control of Stanley, the capital of the British-occupied territory of the Falklands, and sacked governor, Rex Hunt. It was an undisguised attempt to establish the long-standing claim for sovereignty over the Islas Malvinas, and, of course, to boost TRPS and public opinion at a time when the police state was suffering from seething civil unrest and economic collapse.
Walk in the park: Argentinian troops at a souvenir shop at Stanley couldn’t wait to tell the folks back home how easy this entire thing was, and if they needed any groceries to be picked up on the way home. April 13, 1982. (Daniel Garcia/AFP/Getty Images)
“We heard tremendous bangs on the backdoor. There were shouts for us to come out and kneel over in the yard. There were Argentinians troops with sub-machine guns trained on us. Mum thought we were going to die.”
– Neil Hewitt, Falklands resident
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