“It’s 4 minutes past 6pm on May 14, 2000, Lazio are Italian champions.” A refrain that entered the hearts of the Biancocelesti fans, a phrase uttered a few moments after the final whistle of Hill which, in the marshland of Perugia, sanctioned the second white and blue tricolor. Magical moments, consigned to the archives of Lazio history, which saw protagonists, among others, a true Lazio man like Riccardo Cucchi, famous (now former) radio commentator of All Football Minute by Minute, the historic Rai program. It was he himself, on that famous Sunday twenty-four years ago, from the stands of the Umbrian stadium, who announced the second scudetto in the history of Lazio who, a few minutes earlier at the Olimpico, had beaten Reggina with a clear 3-0 in a final heart-pounding championship game. Cucchi said goodbye to his loyal listeners on 12 February 2017, commenting on an Inter – Empoli match at San Siro. But his inactivity has not taken away the luster and brilliance of the Roman reporter, who lends himself to our brief interview exhibiting his usual elegant speech, the same one he showed off on Sunday afternoons in front of the microphone, his inseparable traveling companion for many years.
How was Cucchi the radio commentator born?
I started way back in 1979, I won a competition in Rai, which was very strict and selective at the time, and after various training courses I had the enormous privilege of making my first moves as a reporter alongside sacred monsters such as the various Ciotti, Ameri, Provenzali and Bortoluzzi, unattainable masters who have represented the models from which I have always been inspired in my long career. It was a wonderful school and, thanks to their precious teachings, I managed to fulfill my dream, that of talking about football on the radio, which has always been my great love.
And the passion for Lazio?
I was six years old and my father from Turin, and a great Granata fan, took me to the tobacconist to play the Totocalcio ticket, a ritual that was carried out every Saturday afternoon. At a certain point my gaze lingered on a series of miniature shields hanging on one of the walls of that business. What kidnapped me, because of that fascinating eagle, was the one from Lazio with whom, shortly thereafter, I would fall in love. I was a very pugnacious fan who followed Lazio even when away. What the late Felice Pulici claimed is exactly true: it is Lazio that chooses you and not the other way around…
Today he is a season ticket holder in the distinct South.
Yes, I left the press gallery to enjoy the show together with the Curva fans, it was a return to my origins. Football, after all, remains one of the greatest popular passions and experiencing it among people is beautiful.
You mentioned two great radio performers, Ciotti and Ameri: who was the best?
Enrico and Sandro, so different and complementary, were two undisputed aces. Ameri managed to give the radio commentary a frenetic pace, he was an extraordinary leader with that sweet, very persuasive tone of voice. Ciotti was of immense culture, with a hoarse voice, and, like Enrico, a great connoisseur of football which he had played in his youth while also wearing the Lazio shirt, of which he was a great fan, filling the absence of rhythm with those extraordinary speeches which remained in the collective memory.
You began your profession and Bearzot’s Italy became world champion: what memories do you have of that incredible feat?
It was an extraordinary group forged by the great temperament of Enzo Bearzot. The Friulian coach had the merit of believing in a team that was targeted, after the three famous consecutive draws, by ungenerous criticism which led to the first press silence in history. The atmosphere was tense, but the initial skepticism quickly transformed into a unanimous triumph of consensus after the epic successes against Argentina and Brazil, which opened the doors to the magical night in Madrid. An unrepeatable page of football, written by characters such as Zoff, Rossi, Tardelli, Conti, people who addressed the ball on a first-name basis. 40 years have passed, but the echo of those splendid sporting exploits has not yet died down.
How much has football changed compared to your time?
Very, very much. In my opinion there is a lack of talent. Today we tend to favor tactics and physicality despite technique, football must return to its origins, a boy who grows up in a football school must be able to freely unleash his talent and his technical knowledge. My generation grew up on bread and football, before every hole was good for playing football, from the parishes to the street, today’s young people are instead distracted by other interests and this does not benefit the football movement.
You have talked about many challenges in your long and luminous career: who was the footballer who caught your eye the most?
I had the enormous privilege of experiencing that extraordinary parenthesis of our championship where talents such as Falcao, Zico, Platini and the unreachable Maradona were on stage on Sundays; Fans of other teams don’t hold it against me, but Diego was unique. With Ameri we once wondered about the difficulty in describing the Argentine phenomenon while he was on the pitch. Napoli’s number 10 put us in front of such different and incredible numbers that it even put our language to the test and it wasn’t easy, believe me, to find the right words to describe what Maradona was.
Speaking of language, what advice do you have for young people approaching the profession of reporter?
Times have changed. Today it is much more difficult, I think the current generation is more unlucky from this point of view. The opportunities that were available in my time are not offered. What is needed is the ability to cultivate a dream combined with the humility to understand that this is a profession that is learned over time by following the teachings of the masters without trying to push too hard because then, in the end, talent emerges thanks to work, a a bit like what happens in the world of football.
Let’s take a step back again: what memories do you have of the Maestrelli band after 50 years?
I was in my early twenties, I remember very well that splendid ride that culminated in a historic championship, which is still talked about today. The demiurge of that crazy and very strong team was undoubtedly Tommaso Maestrelli. It was he who convinced the hesitant Chinaglia, one day at Villa Borghese, to embrace the Biancoceleste cause. An incredible alchemy was born, Tommaso on the bench and Giorgio on the pitch scoring goals, thanks to the tactical sagacity of Frustalupi, the immense talent of the young D’Amico, the unpredictability of Garlaschelli, they delivered the first historic tricolor to the Biancoceleste Roma.
A particular anecdote from that gang of crazy people?
I could tell many. I think of that famous Lazio – Verona when Maestrelli, at the end of the first half which saw the Biancocelesti trailing by a goal, ordered the team to return to the pitch immediately. That day I managed to enter the stadium for free, they opened the gates for us in the second half, with the match underway, that’s how it was done back then, and I enjoyed the comeback.
Who was his legend?
Mario Frustalupi. The midfielder from Orvieto was the added value of that team, an extraordinary player with whom Sandro Ciotti was also in love.
Were you at the stadium on the famous Sunday of the first championship?
Certainly. Fifty years ago I was in my place, in the parterre of the Curva Nord, in a wonderfully flagged stadium and seething with passion. From my position I could see little or nothing of what was happening on the green rectangle, luckily the radio that I brought with me that afternoon came to my aid and I followed from Ameri’s voice the thrilling moments of Chinaglia’s penalty, kicked under the Sud. Lazio Champion of Italy, were the magical words pronounced by Enrico at the end of that match against Foggia and I immediately thought: who knows if it will happen to me too, one day, to pronounce that fateful phrase on the radio…
It would happen 26 years later…
Yes, I was in Perugia covering the last match of the championship between Ancelotti’s Juventus team and Mazzone’s when a violent storm hit the Umbrian stadium which forced the referee Collina to suspend the match. I remember that day very well, the long and unnerving wait, me at the station and my son in Rome, right in the Curva Nord, watching Lazio – Reggina. It was a surreal, unforgettable day, comparable only to the night in Berlin. Without a doubt my best memories as a radio commentator.
Let’s go back to current events: do you like Tudor’s new Lazio?
It is still premature to express an opinion on the new coach. The resignation of Sarri, a coach I have always respected, surprised me a lot. Tudor is very similar to Simone Inzaghi from a tactical point of view. I am convinced that with the appropriate additions Lazio will return to being protagonists. We need a muscular Milinkovic-style midfielder and some reinforcements on the external lanes. Lazio’s problem, in my opinion, is not Immobile. Ciro, if he is well, is still able to make a difference.
After radio you also tried your hand at TV with the historic “Domenica Sportiva”: what are the differences between radio and TV?
Radio is more genuine, I am a radio native, in my time, in the distant fifties, TV was still yet to come and football was told exclusively on the radio. It’s a medium that has always fascinated me, the radio commentator has two tools to tell what happens on the pitch: his voice and his eyes. And above all he has a fundamental task: to ensure that what he sees can somehow be reproduced in the imagination of those on the other side of the device. The radio is more real and difficult, it hides our personality, and our way of being, our appearance, are not important: what matters, on the radio, are the words.
And the books?
In the recent past I have written a lot, I really like writing. Let’s see, I’m working on some other ideas.
Of Free Marino
