According to the Brazilian footballer Zico, July 5, 1982 was “the day football died.” It was seven in the evening Central European Time to be precise when the referee blew the final whistle.
In Melbourne, Australia, it was three in the morning on Tuesday July 6. But, paradoxically it was the night football came alive for a curious fifteen year old on the other side of the world.
To understand this, you need to travel back in time with me to that momentous night.
Back in those days only one international football match was broadcast live into our living rooms and that was the F.A. Cup Final from Wembley Stadium.
It was Australia’s yearly reminder that football was not a subversive foreign agent played by “wogs”, but a gift from the mother country to the rest of the world.
In 1982 something remarkable happened. Our state broadcaster, the ABC, decided to not only show the final of the World Cup, as had been the case in the previous two editions, but to broadcast some matches leading to the final.
This is how it came to be, that on a dreary winter’s night in Melbourne, I stayed up to watch the decisive second round match between Brazil and Italy.
The two teams walked on to the pitch at the Sarria Stadium in blazing Barcelona sunshine. The stands were heaving with barely dressed, flag waving fans. Firecrackers were being let off. This was a party and I felt lucky to be invited.
The match commenced and I could not believe what I was watching. I had never seen anything like it. All those hours watching English football highlights shows had never prepared me for this type of football. The Brazilian played like sun kissed gods with their confidence, grace and athleticism. The Italians were more than worthy opponents with their intelligent play.
A draw was enough for the Brazilians to progress through to the semi-final. But, after just having leveled the scores deep into the second half, the kept going forward with buccaneering abandon. Led by their charismatic leader Socrates they were going to march to the final by executing the most beautiful World Cup victory in the history of football, and we were all invited along for the ride of our lives.
However, it was not to be. Paolo Rossi completed his famous opportunistic hat-trick after another defensive lapse. Brazil to the disappointment of millions of fans around the globe had been knocked out.
Meanwhile, back in Melbourne I went to bed in the thinking I had just seen was the football equivalent of man landing on the moon.
History will record the Italians went on to win the World Cup in 1982, the vanquished Brazilian team of 1982 became one of the most loved, and their gifted midfield (Socrates, Zico, Falcao, Cerezo) recognized as the most formidable to have graced the game.
For Socrates he went on to live his most “perfect moment” later that year as he led Corinthians to the Sao Paulo state championship. With football clubs in Brazil still treating players as if they were delinquent teenagers, Socrates and his team mate Wladimir overthrew the club hierarchy and introduced Corinthians Democracy. A system which allowed players a direct say on team matters by the simple revolutionary process of voting.
In a country ruled by the military they voted to wear “Democracia” on their shirts as they won the championship in a public display of defiance.
The tragic, untimely, death of Socrates has given a cause for many people around the world to reflect on the influence of a great footballer and an even greater man. He will be missed.
Athas Zafiris is on Twitter @ArtSapphire
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