Let us play: Vatican footballers beat Italian MPs

30 September, 2008, 13:44

You’ve heard of the golden goal, and even the silver goal – but how about the holy goal? A football team of Catholic priests have won the first ever match against a team of Italian parliamentarians on Monday, Vatican radio proudly reports. The final score was 1-0.

The only goal was scored by priest Giuseppe Benedetti.

The game took place in Florence at Coverciano sports centre, also known as Casa Italia and often used by the Italian football squad for training.

The man in the middle for the match was Stefano Farina. He’s one of Italy’s top referees and is licensed by FIFA. In his 27-year career, Farina has refereed several high-profile matches in the Italian league and the UEFA Champions League, including the 2006 UEFA Super Cup.

The servants of God and the servants of the people showed what real Fair Play in football means is as the teams committed just nine fouls during the 90 minutes of the game.

It seems such games are to become a tradition, because the MPs said they are desperate for a rematch. Amen to that!