Reclaiming the Sacred Game

What will the kids be doing this summer? Will they head to the seaside to build sandcastles on the Adriatic coast, or seek the cool of the mountains in Abruzzo and Trentino to see the animals in the woods? Will they stay at home doing their holiday homework? But one thing’s for sure: they certainly won’t be playing football.

Not like previous generations did – those of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

We used to dream in the village squares, with a scuffed football and the grannies telling us off, using T-shirts on the ground as goalposts, with ‘flying goalkeepers’ and ‘whoever does this wins!’.

We were dreaming, yes, not actually playing. We thought we were Tardelli or Totò Schillaci, Zoff and Walter Zenga – the great champions in the blue jersey who took the national team to compete at the very highest level.

The pride of wearing those colours and hearing the national anthem on the television, cheering and crying over a penalty, feeling like friends even amongst strangers.

Those summers are gone; those under 20 don’t even remember them and have no idea what those emotions are like – emotions that unite not only football fans but an entire country, whether in front of the radio or the television.

As we go to press with this issue, not only have we reluctantly watched yet another FIFA World Cup without Italy, but we are also witnessing the disgraceful ‘spectacle’ staged by the leadership of the Italian Football Federation, which, caught between politics and public sentiment, is wavering and resigning itself to the situation. And it is making US resign ourselves to it.

A football movement that needs to be overhauled from the ground up, because simply changing the manager isn’t enough – assuming we can even find someone willing to take on the burden; the successes of tennis and volleyball show us that we need to nurture and build on young talent, rooting out fiefdoms and careerists.

But it takes courage: the very same courage shown by some young lads who, come what may, will still manage to dream this summer whilst kicking a ball about.

As we go to press, the FIGC has appointed Claudio Ranieri as Technical Director and Roberto Mancini as Head Coach