“The game of football is a “system of signs”; that is, it is a language, even if it is non-verbal. The syntax is expressed in the “game”, which is a real dramatic discourse. There can be a football as a fundamentally prosaic language and a football as a fundamentally poetic language… Riva plays a football in poetry.”
Pierpaolo Pasolini
In 1970, when Cagliari became champion of Italy, I was 8 years old.
I don’t remember much about the ‘scudetto’, but I remember what the city was like, how we dressed, how we hung on the trams to avoid paying, the Panini album and the ‘sticker’ games on the steps of the elementary school. I remember the medal collection, with the profiles of the Cagliari players on fake, fake gold coins to collect.
And I vaguely remember a shy boy, sometimes smiling, who always looked the other way when they interviewed him. A boy who would put his fists on the ground and run all over the field every time he scored a goal…
Alessandro Lay
