Spurs legend Ardiles airlifted to hospital in Falklands

Former player required 20 stitches to head injury after flipping car to avoid sheep

ossie-ardiles.jpg
(Image credit: 2013 Getty Images)

SPURS legend Ossie Ardiles has been airlifted to hospital in the Falkland Islands after a "serious" car crash that left him requiring more than 20 stitches in a head wound.

The footballer, who played for and managed Spurs and was part of Argentina's World Cup winning side of 1978, was in the Falklands with former club and international team mate Ricky Villa to make a documentary about the impact of the Falklands War on their playing careers.

Ardiles was at the wheel of a hire car when it left a gravel road and overturned on Monday night, it has been reported. There were seven people in the vehicle at the time of the crash.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Three members of the group remained in hospital overnight for observations and further treatments and the remaining four were released following treatment for minor injuries," a spokesman for the Falkland Islands Government told the Daily Mirror.

Argentine website Minutouno.com reports that Ardiles lost control of the vehicle when he was surprised by sheep crossing the road and swerved to avoid them.

The footballer's eldest son, Pablo, told the BBC that his father was "fine" although he had suffered a head injury. "He has 20 odd stitches in his head and my understanding is he has been hospitalised overnight," he said.

Another of Ardiles's sons, who is producing the documentary for ESPN, was also in the car, but he and Villa, famous for scoring one of the great FA Cup goals for Spurs against Manchester City in the 1981 FA Cup final replay, are said to have escaped serious injury.

Ardiles and Villa became cult figures at Spurs after joining the club in 1978, and Ardiles was immortalised by singers Chas 'n' Dave (below) before the 1981 Cup final. Ardiles left the club for a season in the wake of the Falklands War, and Villa was sold at the end of the 1983 season.

Ardiles returned to Spurs in 1983, and played for several other English clubs before embarking on a managerial career that included a year in charge of Tottenham.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us