The ‘Magic Nights’ of Italia ’90 were recently relived at the Marconi Club in Bossley Park.
Although Italy lost the 1990 World Cup semi-finals to Argentina, Italians were more excited about the tournament than ever before. Perhaps even more excited than they were about 2006’s win, because, that year, the Bel Paese hosted the event.
In every city, football was in the air, with new stadiums and facilities springing up everywhere. It was a flurry of flags, colours and crowds. And from the north to the south, the tune of Un'estate italiana by Gianna Nannini and Edoardo Bennato could be heard. The song is better known to the general public under a title that recalls its refrain, the title that also gave that tournament its historic name: Notti magiche' (magic nights).
Igniting those football nights, rallying the national team of Coach Azeglio Vicini, was one player in particular: Salvatore Schillaci, or Totò - the Paolo Rossi who led Italy to the sound of goals and made an entire country rejoice.
Schillaci appeared at the Marconi Club last Monday, speaking about football with those same big, spirited eyes. A few more wrinkles were the only telling sign that his is no longer the face of a young boy in his Azzurri shirt, but a 57-year-old coach who works with champion Pescara, who was almost a Ballon d'Or winner. He was in the company of another Italian football legend, his national teammate, who came third in the 1990 World Cup: Giuseppe Giannini, better known to football fans as “il Principe” (the Prince). A midfielder with infinite class and unprecedented strategy, Giannini was a symbol of Roma in the 1980s and 1990s.
Both are in Australia for a sports project that will be realised with the support of Pescara Calcio, a club that has always invested in the youth sector and has launched some of the most talented Italian footballers of recent years: think Ciro Immobile, Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verratti.
President Morris Licata welcomed guests to the Club, and after his welcome address, presented the players and their travelling staff with some Marconi-branded items, beginning with a Bossley Park Club football team jersey bearing the names of the four guests: Schillaci, Giannini, Arcese and Morabito - also a former footballer who has now moved to Sydney to continue his coaching career.
The event, coordinated by the Club's multicultural manager, Maurizio Pagnin, was attended by numerous guests, including former Club presidents such as Tony Labozzetta, Vince Foti and Tony Campolongo. Also present were presidents of various Italian associations, including that of the newly formed Sicilian Association, Tony Noiosi. Numerous well-known faces of Italian business in Sydney, as well as Italian senator-elect in Australia Francesco Giacobbe and Fairfield's representative in the state parliament Guy Zangari, were also guests of the event.
“I cried when we were eliminated by Argentina. Our whole community was in a frenzy for the 1990 World Cup played in Italy,” recalled the Labour exponent who still has an original Totò Schillaci Juventus jersey, which the national team champion signed with pleasure after reminding the audience that this was his second visit to Club Marconi.
The first was about 20 years ago when he played for Júbilo Iwata, a Japanese Serie A team who was playing in Sydney at the time.
After accepting their accolades and greeting the large audience, Schillaci and Giannini granted all those who asked for a souvenir photo, autograph, or simply a handshake, that would prove that they had finally met two Notti magiche champions in person.
Before the event organised by the Marconi Club, Schillaci and Giannini had in fact also kindly lent their star-status to a fundraiser evening.
Memorabilia of the two footballers and Pescara was auctioned off at a well-known Sydney club, including a jersey worn by the national team and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Marco Verratti when he played for the Abruzzo team under Zdenek Zeman.
But the most coveted prize on offer was particularly special: the chance to have the two champions for lunch with your family on Father's Day. An Italian entrepreneur won the prize with an offer of $6,000. It was surely a special celebration for his whole family.
