Pizzul reveals the discord at slow motion which gave rise to a profound relationship and the tears for the fans who died at Heysel: “I couldn’t help them, Bruno”
UDINE. With painful close cadence we find ourselves crying friends and great sportsmen whose death, however advanced their age may be, leaves us dismayed and as if offended by feeling deprived of their presence. Now the time has come for Giampiero Boniperti, an extraordinary figure of player and manager, a true Juventus icon. But rather than listing the many gems that illustrate his palmares, it is perhaps worth remembering and celebrating the man by emphasizing the strong personality and the almost mystical way in which he has always felt linked to his great mother.
An infinity of anecdotes have flourished about him, from the very beginning, with behaviors that brought him to the attention of the Agnelli. Juve, after having bought him very young, soon made him enter the first team, but considered him too young to receive the game prizes in cash and so decided to reward him by giving him a cow from the presidential estates. Soon, however, the responsible factor complained to the Agnelli because that blond boy with rebellious curls always chose a pregnant cow, killing two birds with one stone. Accompanied by similar fame, Boniperti proved to be astute and far-sighted as a footballer and above all as a manager.
Personally I had the pleasure and privilege of coming into contact with him often, always appreciating his acumen and a high sense of professionalism. Among his infinite famous phrases, what can be considered the mantra: “Winning is not important, it is the only thing that matters”, understood by non-Juventus players in a way that is not always crystal clear, but of indisputable effectiveness. With a delicate appearance, gentle in his manner, he immediately caught the nickname of Marisa from Benito Lorenzi, with the inevitable implications of the case, but in the long run he also became a friend of the famous “Poison” who often came to visit in Milan, to have lunch in the restaurant of the Lorenzi’s father-in-law, sometimes even in my presence.
But I had a particular contact with Boniperti on the occasion of my comment on the slow motion of the Domenica Sportiva. In a Cesena-Juventus, the referee decreed a penalty kick in favor of Juve for a contrast between Cera and Bettega. I, with the help of the usual Vitaletti, showed the images and just said – as we always did – what the referee had decided. But driving the DS was the great Paolo Frajese, my classmate at Rai, who insistently wanted me to express my opinion. In the end I gave up and said that in my opinion it was not rigor. Open up heaven! A phone call immediately arrived in Corso Sempione in which Juve communicated that, for six months, no Juventus player would participate in the Domenica Sportiva. A little disheartened, I went home, but late in the night I received a call from Boniperti who told me that he was not angry with me, that the penalty was not there, but that Juve could not allow that spread the idea that the referees favored it.
In the last years of Rai, every week I had a broadcast lasting one hour late at night in a two-way conversation with Boniperti connected from Turin. There I strengthened my friendship with the president, of whom I have another memory that does not leave me. In the tragic night of Heysel I met Giampiero after the end of that terrible match. He hugged me and told me through tears that he had found himself among the dying people and that he had received so many voices calling for the presence of a priest for a last farewell. In a final sob: “I couldn’t help them, Bruno.” What a man! Goodbye great.