Those who manage our football say that the national championship is one of the best in the world. “The Pro League is among the 20 most accredited on the planet,” claims the “journalist” who is more of a public relations officer who yearns for a return to the happy era of “logistics services” when national team planes were filled with all-expense paid guests at the famous ‘Chiritours’. The day is not far when propaganda will persist in convincing us that charter flights depart from five continents to attend matches between Mushuc Run and Gualaceo or Libertad vs. Orense. And why not? Relive the emotions of Astiller’s classics and League clashes in Quito and Aucas, so devalued at this point in the century.

Sports journalism in Ecuador today: demolishing memories

The tournament is so interesting that the stands are lonely places, once full of ardent and passionate fans. Suddenly the game arouses interest, but these fans are not the same as they were in the olden times. These are bars sponsored by the clubs themselves with subjects who will not watch the game, who prefer to shout insults and vulgar songs hysterically to the rhythm of drums and trumpets, torches and daggers. Many young people prefer to watch some matches on television in order not to become victims of hordes of robbers. Soon they will prefer movies or show business because television does not teach them to love football. The elderly, in large numbers, have already given up going to the stadiums.

Emelec pays tribute to those who wrote its history

What happened to football in Guayaquil where Barcelona and Emelec barely survive as entities that generate public interest? Where are the remains of those teams that filled the stands of the Capwell and Modelo stadiums? There was a lack of insight and malice on the part of the leaders of Buenos Aires who succumbed to a high-profile maneuver to end Guayaquil’s football dominance. In 1967, the Guayas Football Association proposed the abolition of provincial competitions and this decision caused the gradual disappearance of traditional clubs full of history such as North America, Panama, Everest, Patria, 9 de Octubre and many others.

Vindication of the ‘old guard’ in journalism

The tournaments of the promotion division, which gave the first teams big figures, also died out. Chacarita Juniors, Guayaquil University Sports League, Port Customs, Spanish, Estudiantes del Guayas became just memories. Add to this tragedy the deaths in the championships of the Guayas Sports Federation and the Rookie League, and you can see a funeral picture of a disaster.

Guayaquil no longer produces athletes

Those of us who lived through the Asoguayas Championship keep unforgettable images of great teams and famous personalities. One curmudgeon who daily insists on the fields of ignorance and arrogance recently said that these provincial competitions were not important because they were played on clay courts and in parks where there were even trees in the middle of the field. . He was recently stripped of his dirty diapers, and today he is giving his opinion on what he has never seen, read, or been told the wrong way.

LigaPro: plan to destroy young footballers

The first Asoguayas tournament in the birth of professional football was played in 1951 at the Capwell stadium, which four years earlier was the scene of the South American championship (Copa América, since 1975), which is considered the most beautiful in history. In 1960, that same tournament in Asoguayas was played at the Modelo Guayaquil Stadium (now Alberto Spencer), which hosted the Conmebol Extraordinary South American Championship in 1959. Where did this guy turned football ‘commentator’ see the trees?

‘Alberto Spencer does not exist’. Gerontophobia in our sports journalism

Barcelona and Emelec, unfortunately, have lost the identity that made them great in the 1940s. The first one represented the brave spirit, the indomitable character that Manuel radiated from an early age hoarse rooster Murillo and Rigoberto Sweet bread Aguirre and had the technique injected into him by the young stars from Panama who arrived in 1946. Emelec was excellent and fine with Enrique Muscovite Alvarez, Marino Alcivar, Luis chocolate Hungary and Rodrigo Smell Cabrera. Today there is no trace of all that.

With great clarity, Argentine journalist Edgardo Martolio affirms that “clubs are like people, in reality they are, only with hundreds of heads and thousands of hearts beating at the same time. Every club has its own character, they cannot be depersonalized. Over the years, for a few dollars, they forged social characteristics and a football style that are no longer respected today. Each institution germinated in its own special nature and nurtured its own culture, customs that correspond to its own logic and context. They have different idiosyncrasies that pro football’s incongruous organizers don’t understand. Clubs are the second home of the passionate, the second refuge of the lonely and the alternative temple of faith. And they are also historical and cultural heritage with the right of preservation. Clubs are not just clubs.” It is commonly argued that today’s football is better than yesterday’s. What about yesterday?

The truth is in everyone’s soul. For many, football players from the past were more technical and had more room for maneuver. Today there is more running, more marking, tactics are preferred over freedom and inspiration, and players earn more money. But there is a factor in which there is no possible comparison. The previous footballer was more dedicated to his currency. The shirt was like a second skin. The institution empowered everyone and made them transcend. For those who say that the result is the only thing that matters, it is worth remembering that Barcelona became an idol since 1947, without winning a single championship. He won the title only in 1950. Emelec attracted the economic and social elite, until one day Jorge met Child Bolanos, Carlos Skinny Raffo and Jose Vicente Crazy Balseca and a few became a multitude.

Great player and technical director, Oswaldo chiche Sosa, who died three years ago, uttered the indisputable sentence: “The players don’t like football anymore. They don’t watch football. When I was a player, I went to watch the reserves, third and first when I wasn’t playing. When the upcoming opponent is playing on television, the players don’t watch it, so the technical director has to watch it. That is barbarism. They don’t like football, they play Playstation, so the situation is very difficult for coaches. When it comes time to play, players lack inventiveness. They are basic.”

Will football in Guayaquil regain its systematic supremacy, rather than occasional or random? It depends on whether the managers will be able to instill sporting shame and responsibility in the players. The fan is malleable, fires up with two wins and slows down with a few losses. Leaders should be the opposite; Their first obligation, when they take office, is to stop being mere fans.

They have 90 minutes on Sundays to express themselves as such, the other 9990 minutes in the week they need to free themselves from that state and be thinking souls. (OR)