On A Day Like Today: Cirilo Amorós orders Valencia CF off the pitch at Chamartín

Seventy years ago, on May 11th, 1930, Valencia CF captain Cirilo Amorós ordered his team off the pitch in protest at the refereeing of Fausto Martín in a Copa game against Real Madrid.

Having lost 2-5 in the first leg of the quarter finals -again with controversial decisions made by the official, Valencia CF quickly made it 0-2 at Chamartín. However, two disallowed goals for Picolín Reig and Jesús Navarro were inexplicably ruled out, resulting in Amorós leading his team back to the dressing room.

The players had already had reason to feel indignant during the first leg. The May 4th meeting with Los Blancos at home was affected by poor refereeing by Inchausti, who gave two goals that should not have counted due to fouls in the build-up. On the first occasion, he gave a free kick and then reversed his decision. On the second, a clear offside was not penalised. The referee decided, to a chorus of boos, to conclude the game several minutes before time.

The rematch in Madrid, one week later, required Valencia CF to come back from behind. Molina and Torredeflot put the team in a strong position with two goals, meaning only one more was needed to level the tie. Picolín did just that, but his strike was not given. Fausto Martín again scrubbed a goal for VCF, 20 minutes later, after Jesús Navarro had beaten goalkeeper Vidal.

Cirilo Amorós had seen enough. He gathered his teammates together, and they agreed to vacate the field of play in protest. Thus, the team of Enrique Cano, Juan Melenchón, Luís Pasarín, Enrique Salvador, Enrique Molina, Cirilo Amorós, Domingo Torredeflot, Picolín Reig, Jesús Navarro, José Vilanova and Rino Costa bowed out of the cup making their feelings known about a great injustice.