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Captain of Grande Torino, one of the most complete Italian footballers of all time, undisputed champion on the field and a good person outside or rather, as we will see, a great good boy. Valentino Mazzola It marked his time and his memory has come indelibly to this day, thanks to the tragedy that took him from life, along with almost all his companions, in the fog of Superga.
BIG KIDS – “I don’t mean much about sports, but they must have been good boys!” These are the words of an anonymous passer-by who pauses to reflect the day after the Superga tragedy, listening to the comments of the athletes. Words with which Vincenzo Baggioli opens the book Il Torino oltre la vita written a few months after the tragedy to commemorate this extraordinary team. Captain of those “good boys” from Grande Torino It is Valentino Mazzola, who was really one of the great champions that Italian football has had and also a good person, that hard childhood helped him to have clear goals for the rest of his life. The risk of falling into rhetoric is high in cases like these. The beginning and end of Mazzola’s life, however, lend themselves well to giving reason to the idea of that anonymous passerby.
whose words Baggioli has chosen to open his book. On closer inspection in Lisbon, Grande Torino had gone to play a charity match that Mazzola himself had endorsed. As well as When she was only ten years old, Mazzola had not hesitated to dive into the waters of the Adda to save Andrea Bonomi’s lifeThen destiny, who loves to chart unexpected paths to life, would also lead to limestone on soccer fields, wearing the colors of Milan and becoming a captain. The promise of being a “good boy” little Valentino does it to
Himself on an occasion that his second wife had recounted in a memory book dedicated to Mazzola released in 1950. Mazzola is still a child but he already has the “demon” of soccer inside, he always plays with him and once he does it with the “good” shoes that ruin them. The father goes crazy and punishes him by locking him in the room for a week. However, once the prison term ends, the father gives Valentino a pair of soccer shoes, at an exorbitant cost for the scarce family finances. In fact, the father had to wait a week to be able to withdraw his salary and, therefore, have the money to buy the shoes. That occasion serves Valentino Mazzola to understand the true value of money, a life lesson that you will never forget.
FROM ALFA ROMEO TO SCUDETTO – Stories from the book Cuore, which at that time was still an indifferent reading, almost obligatory on the path of growth. MazzolaLike almost all footballers of his generation, he was not born easily. Quite the contrary. He was born in January 1919 when the Great War ended a few months ago.Italy and Italy are struggling to start having to deal with misery, pain and political tensions. He was born in Cassano d’Adda into a modest family. who lives in a neighborhood of abandoned houses. You should soon start working to help make ends meet. he works as a child and then in a wool mill, until the moment when was hired as a mechanic at the Alfa Romeo factory. Mazzola, however, in Alfa Romeo is not limited to being a mechanic, but also plays on the company team. Alfa Romeo football team He was born in 1936 as a corporate Dopolavoro, then, with the promotion in Series C, he changed his name to the Alfa Romeo Soccer Group and a small stadium was built adjacent to the Portello factory. With Alfa Romeo in the second half of 1938 Valentino Mazzola begins what will be his only season in Serie C, Then he goes to military service in Venice and is hired there by the local company, marking the best pages in the history of the lagoons. As is known with the Venezia Mazzola shirt wins an Italian Cup and contributes to the best position in Serie A with 3rd place in 1942. At that point everyone wants it, the Torin appearsor that you take Mazzola and the “twin” Loik making them the pins of the team destined to remain forever in people’s hearts: 5 badges, 1 Italian cup and 1 top scorer title in 6 regular seasons, although interrupted by the madness of World War II.
FROM THE FIGURINE TO THE FAILED PASSAGE TO INTER – In the immediate post-war period, the debate on professionalism spread in Italian football. Right now, all players have a salary to play and many of them have additional income that comes from advertising. Mazzola himself is among these and it could not be otherwise, he is the strongest! In the summer of 1947, Mazzola, Parola, Coppi, Bartali and other famous Italian athletes signed a contract for Obenauch for Technicolor photographs that would have been distributed worldwide. Italian sport in those years was at the top, everyone was talking about it and a way had been found to make money. Money that is the basis of another story that sees Mazzola as the absolute protagonist. “Mazzola announces the
his transfer to Inter Milan “. Corriere dello Sport does not make a few turns of words in the morning edition of June 30, 1940. It could have been one of the most sensational transfers in the history of our football.Mazzola’s move to Inter at the peak of his career and popularity. Instead, as we know, nothing will happen. On Monday night, Valentino Mazzola had participated in a radio broadcast and, greeting and wishing for a good holiday, had fired the athletes in Milan. The Corriere dello Sport wanted to see us clearly and had deepened with the person who had confirmed everything, so much so that the newspaper had reported the verbatim words with which Mazzola declared that he wanted to go to Inter where ten million good reasons awaited him. . “.I have the firm intention of leaving Turin to move to Milan and precisely to the International.. The Nerazzurri club made me some excellent proposals and even authorized me to deal directly with Torino on my behalf about my eventual approval (…) “In fact, already in the July 1 edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport deflates the “case” by seriously questioning that the transfer could be concluded. The truth is that the friction between Mazzola and Turin in the summer of 1948 is very strong. and the player is on the transfer lists. Mazzola and Torino engage in a tough economic battle: the footballer wants more money to be able to play still in the grenade, President Ferruccio Novo does not want to know until Mazzola’s teammates will convince the president to adjust the captain’s salary. The teammates know how important Mazzola is and even together they will return to play what, unfortunately none of them can imagine, will be their last season.
(Alessandro Bassi is also on http://storiedifootballperduto.blogspot.it/)
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