Paul Rouse

The accounts that have been handed down are partial.

They are fragmentary and they're utterly unconvincing in their claims of chicanery that are involved in it.

Did they do everything they could to try and win?

Yes.

Is it more than that?

The evidence just simply doesn't stack up.

I think there's two essential points that you made there that I agree with.

First of all, the sources of these stories that are repeated time and again.

I'm a big believer in oral history, but I like a bit more than one single source.

And it's not just that.

The idea of there being conspiracies is something that's part of the human condition.

It's much easier to imagine that your team has lost because of a conspiracy against it as against the fact that they're simply not good enough.

Gazzetta della Sport goes, Italy is at the heart of the sports world.

So this is evidence of the greatness of the Italian male when it comes to the world stage.

And you also have Il Bargello coming out and saying that victory was the affirmation of an entire people, an indication of its virile and moral strength.

So this is a projection which goes way beyond just a sporting success into the success of a nation.

So how do they... It's not clear either that the game sold out.

Oh my gosh.

Which is really interesting because although Mussolini...

presented himself as queuing for a ticket before one of the games.