Sportal.it exclusive, Gigi Garanzini: "Heavy signals from Italian football"

In Via Confalonieri 3, in the Isola district, Milan’s first Sports Library named after Gianni Mura was opened. The inauguration was attended by numerous people, including prestigious names in sports journalism such as Gigi Garanzini. Sportal.it interviewed him exclusively at the event.

Do you miss the sports television of yesteryear? That way of making programs…
.
No, honestly I don’t miss it that much. I have always felt closer to print media. I also did television, of course, but it’s not something that particularly marked me. I didn’t have that attachment to the camera. I did, but I don’t have such a strong memory of it. I was more comfortable with the keyboard, with the typewriter, with the Olivetti.

How do you see Italian soccer right now?
.
One only has to look at it to see the state it is in. There is little to add. We are once again risking being left out of the World Cup and this is a heavy signal. You can sense a certain sadness, a loss of quality. I cannot fully explain why, I don’t have a precise answer, but it is clear that there has been a kind of general impoverishment.

What is happening?
.
Soccer today has lost something very important: humanity, contact with people. And instead you should start right from there. When you lose the connection with people, you also lose identity.

What would be needed then?
.
We need initiatives that bring soccer back to the people, making it a place to meet and grow again. It is also important to explain to young people that soccer is not just entertainment or money, but it is education, sacrifice, belonging. Without these values everything becomes more fragile.

Are you pessimistic about the future?
.
I have some fears, yes. It is not an easy time. But I believe that if you go back to work on real values, something can be rebuilt. You have to have the courage to do it. This library is worth so much, it’s a splendid project: I hope the very new generations will also take up reading with the same eagerness that drove us…