Battiato and his passion for football, he played free in Riposto

One of Franco Battiato’s deepest passions, who died at the age of 76 in his home in Milo, was football. As a young man he played in some Sicilian minor teams. The great singer-songwriter has expressed himself a few times on football and on sport in general, in one of these in 1997 to the Gazzetta dello Sport he told his love for football. “I am an Interista? No. I sympathize with teams that play well: formations without champions, but that have a soul. As a boy I played in Riposto, an expression of a town between Catania and Taormina. We arrived in Promotion, but the club gave up for reasons Everybody was talking about the center forward of the Massiminiana of Catania. They said: “He will do great things.” His name was Pietro Anastasi. I was a midfielder and I found myself acting as a free. A new role, for the time. I think I was one of the first. free Sicilians. In a temporal sense, I mean “. The popular singer-songwriter also told some anecdotes. “In Acireale, the last match of the championship. We are the first in the standings, without the stain of a defeat. We nailed our opponents in their area, but there was no way to score: poles, crossbars, detours. I spent the time scratching my legs. Ankles on the midfield line. At the last minute Acireale’s right wing started on the counterattack and crossed for the left wing. I clumsily intercepted the pass and sent the ball to the crossroads. A wonderful own goal. And I remember a striker. from Taormina, a specialist in scoring goals from the corner flag. Impressive: he was successful once per game “. “I owe my pronounced nose to football – recalled Battiato -. I was 12 or 13 years old and one day, during a game, I hit a goal post. I was unconscious for a long time. When I came back to myself, my nose had risen. My brother suggested: “Go home and go to sleep without being seen.” The next morning my grandmother came to wake me up and at the sight of my face she started screaming. It was a distracted Sicily, tribal things were happening. My mother worried, but he waited a week before taking me to the doctor. The doctor ruled: ‘If I had seen him immediately, I would have reduced his fracture. Now I can’t do anything more’ “. On the differences between today’s football and the football of the past: “I follow international matches and Italy. It seems to me that football in the past can be defined as statuesque when compared to football today. I see incredible shots, played at very high speeds. The competition is marring the purity of the sport. Bad fouls, tensions. Once there was more kindness: c who committed an unfairness apologized immediately. The commercial aspect predominates. Everywhere, not just in football “.