It will be multifunctional, modern, it will be able to accommodate 30 thousand spectators. It will rise on the ashes of Sant’Elia, tons of concrete, iron and green lawn, created to celebrate the ’70 Scudetto. At the entrance, it will have its name: Riv’s Teeth. On the edge of an emotion that has no equal in Sardinia. At the turn of a human, sporting and cultural history that has also crossed national borders. In a Cagliari that sheds its skin, the municipal assembly, with twenty-nine votes out of twenty-nine, named the stadium to come after the strongest left-handed player of all time. The motion dictated by the mayor of the regional capital, Paolo Truzzo, did not need prompting. Unanimity was a given.
The story of Rombo di Tuono, his Sardinian feeling among the Sardinians (“Yes, we look alike, not very talkative, stubborn, loyal” Riva often repeated), strengthened by an identity with few heirs, has built a myth even beyond out and after the emotions and the goals scored against anyone. His being able to refuse avalanches of money and other options, from service stations to car dealerships and insurance agencies, as Giampiero Boniperti told him to convince him, who promised Cagliari Bettega and other players for his move to Juve six players, had no emulators. And he’s unlikely to have any. Riva, Cagliari and Cagliari, the flag from top to bottom.
From Leggiuno to the capital of Sardinia. With an adolescence complicated by the disappearance first of his father and then of his mother, as masterfully told by Riccardo Milani in the film “A thunderclap in our sky”. A life nailed down by rough yet gentle traits. Respect, demeanor, even when moving with reserve. Silence and its Marlboros. Hombre vertical has been baptized by Gianni Mura. Still today at the top of the Azzurri’s top scorer with 42 goals in 35 games, without forgetting the two serious injuries, with Portugal and Austria, and his broken legs for the national team. From here, and from so much more, he develops the “Gigi Riva”. The Cagliari stadium will have the name of a striker that Pelé described perfectly: “Look at him when he starts ball and chain, he’s scary”.
In recent days, the mayor accelerated: “Ours is a choice full of meaning. Gigi Riva was not born in this city, but he chose Cagliari as his home. His decision was not the easiest or even the most convenient . Arrived with a bit of regret, when the island was synonymous with backwardness, he was lucky enough to find a family, after a complicated childhood. We can understand the social and political value of the Scudetto, branded by Riva from the stories of those who lived it. When I talk to a witness, I see that his attitude changes, I see a face that lights up, eyes that say a lot and tell emotion and passion. The 1969/70 title was not just a sporting event, but the ransom of a people”.
Paolo Truzzu coordinated the naming of the stadium that will be. The work should be born right in the area that hosted the Sant’Elia. The mayor also conducted the operations related to financing, money also useful for the decisive, awaited and urgent restyling of an area of extraordinary environmental beauty. The construction process of the multipurpose sports facility, with Cagliari included among the cities that could host the 2032 European Championships, has recently accelerated which bodes well after years of empty promises. The mayor also recalled the moment in which he proposed the naming of the champion: “He got excited. But it didn’t last long. Gigi begged and then surprised me with a reflection: he said he was happy to have known before he dies. In this way, he remarked, he will be able to live this moment and it will be even more beautiful for him to see it arise”. The measure of man, direct, without ulterior motives, always in the right place with anyone. This too is hidden behind the total understanding, with no abstentions, of the municipal councillors. In recalling that even at the Foro Italico a court is dedicated to a great living tennis champion, Nicola Pietrangeli, Paolo Truzzu specified one aspect: “I gave my word to Gigi Riva: we will do everything possible to make her wish come true. We talk of a Sardinian, even if he was born in Lombardy, of one of us. I think this is one of the best gifts we can give him”. In summary, another great goal. A scissor bite that will make history.
