There are many cases of athletes and in particular footballers who left indelible marks on the sports and in general life of the clubs that played and if we talk about older decades, even the communities they represented. When a player could bring to the sport some other socio-political values in times as turbulent as those we experience now. Not necessarily in the right direction.
Years when the football figures were so different from the ones we are familiar with now that they did not hesitate to carry weapons, drink and smoke in the locker rooms. Coaches-managers of people who were involved from armed movements to mobsters.
In the neighboring and troubled Italy the 70's has been written in its history as one of the most troubled. The Red Brigades had already been created, shocking the public with their blows. Neo-fascist groups also acted unhindered, attacking their political opponents. In the heart of this decade and the season 1973-1974 the Lazio shocked everyone as she won the Italian championship while one of its stars, Luciano Re Ceconi, also shocked the public with a bad joke that led to his death.
The blonde Laciali midfielder was born on December 1, 1948, in the small village of Nerviano on the outskirts of Milan. As a child of a Briton and an Italian, it was not long before he showed his inclination towards football and his farmer father did not want his son to stay in the village and work in the factory where his brother also worked.
Re Ceconi became famous among her fans Lazio with the nickname "Blonde Angel", mainly due to his presentation which was different from the average Italian footballer. He started his career with Pro Patria, a third division team with which he won the promotion. From there he moved to Foggia where he also won promotion to the first division and with it the big jump to a big Serie A team.
Re Ceconi's mentor and mentor was his coach from Foggia, Tomaso Maestrelli. The two of them stuck together perfectly and Maestrelli managed to get the best out of the unripe football blond midfielder. Re Ceconi's improvement was impressive and both of them got the promotion and the transfer for Lazio in 1972.
Defensive midfielder (in modern terms we would say that Re Cekoni was a very athletic box-to-box midfielder) was the ideal cutter on which to base the 11th of the new Lazio that Maestreli had in mind.
1972 was also the year in which the Lazio also advanced to Serie A. Expectations were not high but Maestrelli's team managed to make the surprise and claim the Scudetto from its first year in the big category. He did not succeed in the thread.
Η Lazio however at the time it was an explosive mix of players both on and off the pitch. The Italian journalist Kiapaverti in his book entitled "Pistols and Balls" had given the following description: the head with a broken bottle ".
The 1973-74 season, however, will go down in Lazio history as they will eventually win the league against the greats of the era with players who have left their mark on the history of the sport: Against Juventus of Joff, Causio, Betega, Inter Facchetti, Matsola, Rivera's Milan, Gigi Riva's Cagliari.
One of the protagonists of that success, Vicenza D'Amico had characteristically commented: "It was the most incredible madness I have ever experienced. Almost all of us had pistols and some, once in a big fight, showed them while we were getting ready to play a very important match. In general, however, the two sides did not talk to each other. "In the hotels the rooms were closed on different floors, in training there was a lot of wood and kicks, but for some reason that only Don Tomasinio could understand, in the games we became a terrible team that just wanted to win!"
The nickname "Don Tomazinho" was indicative of the situation that prevailed in her locker room Lazio. That Italian coach was the boss in a group of gangsters, where most of them were armed even when they went to training.
In the midst of all this misery was the midfield motorcycle, Luciano Re Ceconi, who, in addition to the kilometers, swallowed the negative energy of his teammates and took it out with slabs and punch.
He remained faithful for the next three years, when she gradually disbanded. Superstar Kinalia left for US dollars and Don Tomazinho, who refused a proposal to take over Juventus, was diagnosed with cancer.
Lazio, being champions, failed to hold the scepter but Re Ceconi remained loyal there. On January 18, 1977, he and his teammate Pietro Geddin and another friend had the unfortunate idea and inspiration to scare a local jeweler.
The robberies of banks and jewelry stores were more than common at that time. Entrepreneurs were in the red.
Re Ceconi was the first to break into the store shouting "Give me everything, this is a robbery!" and holding his pistol in his hand. He did not have time to finish his sentence. Tampokini, who had recently been robbed, was not given to the "robber". He immediately turned and shot him in the chest. Re Ceconi, falling to the ground injured, shouted "Or it was just a joke, it was a joke".
Half an hour later, the Lazio star was cooling down at the age of 28.
A bad joke was about to deprive him of Italian football one of his best tools. Reports say Re Ceconi was one of the few in the locker room who did not have a gun. The first to do so was the last.
Shortly after the bloody incident at the jewelry store, the owner was arrested on charges of excessive self-defense. In the trial that took place 18 days later, he was acquitted! As it became known during the hearing, the blonde midfielder had tried to make a similar joke in another store of Rome. The information that came from the mouth of his teammate and eyewitness to the incident, Peter Gentin, was decisive for the acquittal of the jeweler.
Re Ceconi left behind his wife and two children while death found him just 47 days after he had lifted the coffin of his mentor Tomaso Maestrelli. His own funeral was a popular pilgrimage by Lazio fans who honored the joking blonde angel who gave them their first championship.