Those radios often caused friction between couples, as men out for a walk were more taken by the broadcast than ⚽️ by their female companion. At least the radios never physically kept anyone from their families; otherwise Sunday would be spent ⚽️ at the stadium or at home in front of the television. Rita Pavone sang about it, scolding her companion for ⚽️ preferring football and leaving her alone; Dino Risi painfully portrayed it in his episodic movie, The Monsters, where in the ⚽️ episode What a Bad Life! , Vittorio Gassman plays a poor family man who spends what little he has to ⚽️ go to the stadium; Alberto Sordi reiterated this in the memorable scenes of The Husband and I know That You ⚽️ Know That I Know .

Church, lunch, and the game are the three pillars upon which the Italian Sunday was built. ⚽️ Three clustered events spaced a few hours within each other: first duty, then necessity, and finally pleasure. Even if it ⚽️ does seem excessive calling it a pleasure, for all the times an afternoon defeat made our baked pasta go down ⚽️ the wrong way and along with it, the entire weekend.

At my parents’ house I discovered a drawer full of old ⚽️ pocket radios. I then found an identical one when we emptied my grandmother’s house. I was reminded of them present ⚽️ in family photos, with that unintentionally vintage design, often surrounded by an engrossed group of people of all ages, hands ⚽️ cupped around their ears. I remembered afternoons in the mid-nineties when they were still used. As a child I used ⚽️ to take them with me on Sunday outings for the same reason everyone else took them: to follow the ball ⚽️ game.

The cult of the game does not have specific areas of competence, no typical geographical indication, like wine does, but ⚽️ it has always brought people together within its single large leather sphere. From North to South, from the countryside to ⚽️ the big cities, from the mountains to the sea. Those who could went to the stadium, up to the time ⚽️ it was more comfortable to watch matches on TV. Lunch was at home, then down to the bar, until the ⚽️ call of the family became too insistent to be ignored. At that point the pocket radio came in handy.

But like ⚽️ all cultural symbols, fans have had to deal with the progression of the sport’s economic sector growing disproportionately in just ⚽️ a few years. The first change was the match schedule: after more than half a century of Sunday afternoon starts, ⚽️ the delay was born. It was the 1993 of great changes, with Italy in political turmoil and television rights becoming ⚽️ a greater feature of the sport. It was the first upheaval of many. In February 2024 the first round of ⚽️ the Series A schedule was split between Friday afternoon and Monday evening, with no match played at the same time. ⚽️ For the older folks this was an outrage. Who knows what my grandparents would have said, used to arriving at ⚽️ Sunday dinner knowing the rankings were already updated. Obviously it was no longer possible to follow games on the radio ⚽️ minute by minute, as I did as a child. My parents were never big fans, but when we would go ⚽️ on our Sunday outings in the car, we listened to the live broadcast on the radio, which started immediately after ⚽️ the iconic theme song, A Taste of Honey, by Herb Albert & the Tijuana Brass. And when we went for ⚽️ a walk, I had the trusty pocket radio with me. The excitement was palpable as the reports came from field ⚽️ to field, the format used then by the Rai network for live football events. The reporter was often interrupted by ⚽️ the jingle announcing a goal in another stadium. I clearly remember the sensation I felt seconds before the correspondent would ⚽️ give updates on the match; moments when I hoped news would be about my favorite team but – careful! – ⚽️ also in that moment the opposing team could have scored. I swayed on that swing between relief and disappointment each ⚽️ time, every Sunday.