“The first memory I have is when I was six years old, walking along Carrer Uria, in Oviedo, with my mother and my brothers, and some gentlemen grabbed me and put me in a car.” This is how Julio Alberto (Astúries, 1958) explained in a conference a first childhood memory that marks an entire life. That car took him to an orphanage, from where he left at 13 years old. He ended up looking for and finding his mother in a boarding house in Madrid. And he went from having almost no money to buy boots, to playing for Atlético de Madrid or Barça, where he played with players like Maradona and Schuster. Successes on the pitch gave way to the well of addictions. And drugs robbed him of friends, family and almost his life. But he knew how to get out of it and start again. He returned to Barça during Laporta’s first presidency, with whom he went through the club’s Foundation and training schools. And today he has his own foundation, Relife, to help those who fall into drugs and educate and prevent addictions. He arrives at the interview early, live from Asturias, and I ask him if he found the writing okay. “I know every corner of this city, I’ve lived there for a long time and I have three Catalan daughters.” And he makes it clear, before starting, that he doesn’t want to delve too much into his personal history. “There are memories that I prefer to keep in a box and take them out once in a while, but on limited occasions.”
Carla Turró interviews Julio Alberto
Tired of telling your story?
— It’s just that it’s difficult for me, and it’s getting harder and harder for me in front of a camera. In fact, I have a documentary that I have stopped several times because it talks more about morbidness – “how did you do that? and your mother? and your daughter?” – than success and overcoming. I’m not talking about football, I’m talking about the success of having overcome a tremendously complicated battle.
Before talking about how to overcome it, let’s go to the causes. Why do you fall into an addiction?
— 90 percent are emotionally vulnerable people. I saw it collaborating with prisons in Catalonia, where I have given workshops and talks. The strong do not fall, the sensitive fall and those who do not know how to manage emotions well.
He doesn’t seem to fit in with a first division football player.
— Most people have the impression that we have everything: money, fame, recognition, and it’s true. But what about my inner world? And my life? And what I thought every day when I went home and when I left my companions in the field? The place in the world where I’ve felt happiest is on a football pitch, and that’s why I acted the way I did on the pitch. But outside everything has been different. I guess it has to do with my parents, with the affection received, with not having it when you need it.
We can’t go back. How should it be handled as an adult?
— When you get there you’ve already made a mistake and you start thinking about what kind of person you want to be. And from here there are many hours of being alone, of thinking. This is a difficult mountain to climb, and it is important to climb it little by little and not rush, because the secret is not to make the top, but to climb a little more every day. I thought I wanted to be someone else in 93, and until now.
are you who you wanted
— I never thought I would be the person I am today. And look what I’m going to tell you now, which is a magic sentence, but everything I’ve done in life has been to get to today, to be who I am. And I’m happy about that. I wouldn’t change anything that happened to me to be who I am today, nothing.
I get the impression that addicts create fear around them.
— When you see a gentleman in a bank, does it scare you? I think for the most part, yes. This is a disease, even if it is not listed as such, and it is scary because you see someone badly dressed, lying in a square in any way. And in the environment they may not generate fear, but they suffer what is known as social rejection. It has happened to me, meeting people I knew and seeing them cross the sidewalk not to greet me. It’s very hard.
Who didn’t greet you?
— I won’t say names, but you know them all. I didn’t understand it at the time, but later I understood that they do it because they are not sure how you will react. But I had a problem, I needed help and I didn’t know how to ask for it. And we mustn’t forget that the people we see lying around or going with a cart full of things, one day they were 15 years old, they have a father and a mother and they have been a person like you and me. But it is very difficult to help a person who is in trouble.
How is help from the environment?
— They often do it as they can, each on their own. But it is essential to have a team tactic, as with football. And always make decisions by the hand of the doctors so that the two teams are coordinated: the professional team and the family team.
The most important thing is to love yourself. How is this done?
— I am a believer, and for me faith has been important throughout this journey. And life has given me wonderful daughters. I think the key is wanting, and day-to-day discipline. I make a list of things that have to be done daily. I used to make a list of things I would do during the year, everyone has their tricks.
Has Barça and Joan Laporta been important in this process?
— Yes, I asked him for a meeting (during his first presidency) and he invited me to breakfast. And here began a new life. Joan Laporta and Rafa Yuste have been very important in my life, and I have to thank them. I was able to be director of the schools, coordinator of the foundation, project director of the club, I got to see the world with Barça working and traveling. And especially working at the foundation has been a life lesson.
You’ve had your own foundation, Relife, for a few months now. Is it the most important project you’ve had?
— I think so, I had been thinking about it for about 20 years. It’s a very big commitment and an ambitious project, but I’m used to Barça and playing to win the Champions League, and it has to be the same with this.
In the world of sport, should we be especially careful with addictions?
— I’ve been asked this question and I always think… How many people have fallen in the world of sport? Maradona, me, and a few others. But if you think about the millions and millions of players that have been and are, I wouldn’t say it’s a significant percentage. But the cases that do exist have a lot of media coverage. I think that sport is a wonderful tool, in fact those of us who have had problems, we had them when we left sport, because the field and the ball were a protection for us.
You talk a lot with young people. what do you say to them
— I ask them if they know what drugs are and what types of substances there are. And let them be clear that there are addictions with substance and without. Because porn or video games can also be very dangerous.
What wounds does it leave?
— I don’t know if I have any scars, I think I’ve already healed. And I live in a place that is the closest you can get to heaven. A house in the mountains, with three German shepherds, all surrounded by trees and rivers and mountains, and 20 minutes, on one side, the sea and the cliffs, and on the other the Picos de Europa.
What makes you happy today?
— My daughter, who says goodnight to me from Monday to Sunday. It makes me happy to wake up and know that I have to make some video calls, catch a plane, go to a conference. And now I understand what I didn’t understand when I was young. When I was a player I had so many things that I even had leftovers, and I didn’t understand how you could be happy with so little. And I think being happy is that.
2023-07-02 07:00:55
#wouldnt #change #happened #today
