What have Gabriel Batistuta, Abel Balbo, Ronaldo, Demetrio Albertini, Giuseppe Signori and George Weah got in common? Well, apart from being top-class soccer players based in Italy, they are among those interviewed about religion in a new book, Grazie Dio (Thank You God).
The author, Giovanni Mattei, a reporter with the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, apparently came up with the idea after witnessing the enthusiasm with which Batistuta and Balbo, plus respective families, took part in a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul in his private chapel in the Vatican in January 1996.
Mattei then set about contacting 80 players and coaches based in Italy, asking them about their relationship with God. Soccer fans may be surprised by some of the replies. "My life revolves around my love of God and the Virgin Mary . . . Before a game, I always pray to the Lord, reciting The Worker's Prayer," says Balbo, who adds that, during his four seasons with Udinese, his faith became so contagious that by the time he left the club nearly every member of the team would accompany him to Mass.
AC Milan's Weah is always to be seen, head bowed, deep in prayer in the minutes immediately before kick-off. "I am a Muslim. I pray every day, five times a day, even when I'm on the road or on the pitch. My story is an unusual one in that my family was Christian but I converted to Islam on June 1st, 1987 . . . Islam is the right religion for all the black people of the world and by Islam I mean the real Islam, not that of the fanatics who want to kill people . . ."
Ronaldo concedes that he was very upset by allegations of blasphemy following a recent advertisement which showed him in Christ-like pose, on the pedestal of the statute of Jesus on the Corcovado hill overlooking Rio de Janeiro.
"I am a believer and a Catholic . . . I did not want to offend God, in that image I repeat the joy I experience every time I score a goal and the reference to the Christ of Corcovado was a homage to my native land which looks to Christ as a huge source of hope," he says.
Bologna striker Signori recalls a miraculous escape from a serious car crash, explaining that he emerged completely unharmed thanks to the fact that he was wearing a T-shirt that had been blessed by a priest at the shrine to the Capucchin monk, Padre Pio, in San Giovanni in southern Italy. Fiorentina striker Batistuta (familiar to Manchester United fans) says that he goes to church as much as he can but adds that it is difficult not only because he often plays on a Sunday but also because his he is instantly recognisable and is mobbed by fans looking for autographs, even during Mass.
AC Milan midfielder Albertini, whose elder brother is a priest, says that he has made a personal crusade out of persuading his Milan team-mates not to swear or use blasphemous language, adding the he has been relatively successful, too, in his self-imposed mission.
Perhaps it is only a coincidence that many of those who make no secret of their religious beliefs in this book are also topclass players. Roberto Baggio, too, has claimed that his Buddhist beliefs and practices made him a better player.
It makes one wonder. If Paul Gascoigne had found God, especially a deity who recommended teetotalism, would he have had a far more glorious career?
E-mail: pagnew@aconet.it
