melodiain

Biblioteca

Sports story: a melody at dusk

Jesús Castañón Rodríguez

The Argentinian humorist Roberto Fontanarrosa told the soundtrack of the film of his life should be made up of a radio story. A sound symphony, rhythm and intonation effects which have got to win the love of people breaking hearts. The art of stopping the time of the memory of the sports epic poems and the art of scattering a special state of mind over the streets and avenues has left an indelible memory in the personal and collective memories of each time. It has created a passionate melody at dusk which fights off melancholy.

Since 1999 several journalists have been studying and reflecting on styles, modalities and languages which have been transmitted from a progeny to another one, so the new sports journalists can receive the legate from their ancestors and the fans can evoke events which had great influence on the daily life. Between these appropriate compilations, it's important to mention, as far as its historical approach and great documentary value is concerned, the ones carried out in Uruguay, Argentina and Spain.

The pioneering Uruguay

It's the case of the reference work by Joel Rosenberg Un grito del gol, work that is about the study of the football story on the Uruguayan radio with an exhaustive revision of the media, narrators, genres…Besides, it includes a CD formed by thirty football stories which go from 1950 to 1997 and the different pieces of play of the World Cup 1950, 1954 and 1970 are in it too together with the American Cup between 1989 and 1995, liberators Cup and Intercontinental clubs Cup as well as historic goals by the forward Fernando Morena.

A very complete study where we can hear different voices, for instance the ones of Ignacio Domínguez Riera, Carlos Solé, Duilio de Feo, Chetto Pelliciari, Hebert Pinto, Víctor Hugo Morales, Alberto Kesman and Carlos Muñoz.

The creative synthesis of Argentina

José Luis Cantori in ¡Atento Fioravanti! revises the dawn of the sports story in Argentina to emphasize the significance of this commentator.

He analyses his own life, his collaboration in the written journalism and in the radio, the keys to his peak, a classification of his ideas based on topics, his worry about the proper use of the language, the testimony of twenty-two colleagues and a list about the contribution to the books, films and records.

He feigns radio collaborations or becomes sports journalist together with the main sports writers of the time on tapes as known as Pelota de Trapo (1948), Bólidos de acero (1950), El hijo del crack (1953), Pelota de cuero (1963) or Gatica "el Mono". And even he tells a fictitious goal in the tango La Número 5, by Reinaldo Yiso and Orestes Cúfaro.

Together with this volume there is also a CD with 41 tracks which, between the 13th of April, 1941 and the 29th of September, 1973, contain auto stories with the Óscar Gálvez's exploits, boxng stories about contests by José María Gatica, Nicloino Locche and Carlos Monzón and innumerable goals of any type in competitions in charge of René Pontoni, Arsenio Erico, Labruna, Artime, Óscar Más, Rattín…

Spain and its numerous sports

With script by Roberto Mendés, Radio Nacional de España celebrated the 50th anniversary of the programme "Radiogaceta de los Deportes" with a CD made up of 51 tracks which include the stories of the main moments of the Spanish sport between 1950 and 2003.

It includes the voices of the rider Francisco Goyoaga, of the cyclists Guillermo Timoner, Federico Martín Bahamontes, Luis Ocaña, Miguel Induráin and Abraham Olano, of the gymnasts Joaquín Blume, Lorena Gurendez and Estela Jiménez, of the tennis players Manuel Santana, Segi Bruguera, Arancha Sánchez Vicario and the triumph story in the final of the Davis Cup 2000.

We also have to mention the motocyclists Ángel Nieto and Alex Crivillé, the boxer Urtain, the skier Francisco Fernandez Ochoa, the golfer Severiano Ballesteros, the athletes Jordi Llopart, Fermín Cacho, Martín Fiz and Manuel Martínez, the racing driver Carlos Sainz, the yachtsmen Doreste and Molina as well as the basket players Fernando Martín and Pau Gasol and the story of the silver medal in the Olympic Games of 1984.

Besides, he gives a very wide section to football with goals of the World Cup in 1950, of the triumph in the Eurocup in 1964, of the "epic poetry" which got over against Malta in 1983 and the Olympic triumph in 1992. He also includes the European triumphs of the Real Madrid and F.C. Barcelona teams with comments by Santiago Bernabéu and an account of goals by Mijatovic, Zidane and Ronald Koeman. This panorama is completed by the stories based on the triumph of the league of the Real Sociedad in El Molinón in 1981 or the debut of Raúl (from Madrid) as well as with several declarations by Ladislao Kubala, Johan Cruyff, Amancio, Enrique Castro "Quini" and Emilio Butragueño.

This varied "journey" around the sports wins provides also historical documents like the broadcasting carried out during the military stroke attempt the 23rd of February in 1981, the official opening of the World Cup in 1982 in charge of Joaô Havelange and the story of his final match, the designation of Juan Antonio Samaranch as president of the International Olympic Committee in 1980, the concession of the organization of the summer Olympic Games in 1992 to Barcelona and Juan Carlos I's own words to inaugurate them.

This "walk" around the history not only has all these main characters' voices but it has also the list of the contributions of those who covered the events: Enrique Mariñas, Matías Prats, Juan Martín Navas, Juan Antonio Fernández Abajo, Joaquín Ramos, Santiago Peláez, José Joaquín Brotons, Luis de Benito, Chema Abad and Juan Manuel Gozalo.

The indelible traces

To sum up, these three works based on the melodies at dusk are a reference element to enjoy the Latin American sport intensively. They are a document based on uncontrollable voices which have joined their twangs to great events to wrap people's hearts as a bell to cry, laugh, dream…

Bibliography and records

CANTORI, José Luis: ¡Atento, Fioravanti! Buenos Aires: Corregidor, 2000.

RADIO NACIONAL DE ESPAÑA: El sonido del deporte, Radiogaceta de los Deportes 1953-2003. Madrid: RTVE Música, 2003.

ROSENBERG, Joel: Un grito de gol. Montevideo: Ediciones Santillana, 1999.

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This article has been possible thanks to the collaboration of Dante Steffano Soca (Montevideo, Uruguay) and Ana Isabel Rodríguez Castaño (Valladolid, Spain) as far as the localization of publications is concerned.

Traducción: María Elena Martín Pérez