Those that … closes: it is the end of an era

The closing of the Sunday version and the move in the early evening had hinted that something in Those who football would have changed, but few would have expected such a final decision as a definitive point to a program that made history not only for being able to expertly mix sports information and entertainment, but also for launching a career as a comedian. talented like Virginia Raffaele, Ubaldo Pantani and Dario Vergassola. The story ends on December 2nd: the episode of Those that broadcast in prime time on Rai2, it will be the last of the trio composed by Luca Bizzarri, Paolo Kessisoglu and Mia Ceran and will put an end to the package Those who football who, for 28 years, since he made his debut with Fabio Fazio and Marino Bartoletti at the management, has kept company with the millions of Italians who were trying to find out the results of their favorite matches in real time.

It must be said, unfortunately, that Rai2 towards Those who football it had a disastrous management: at first the program was aired on Monday evening with the title Those that on Mondays, then it was moved to Thursday and underwent a content revolution that forced Mia, Luca and Paolo to do everything to save what could be saved, including the not insignificant obstacle of not being live anymore. The audience crisis and the disaffection towards a format that has lost part of its identity led to the decision to suspend the program prematurely, with the bitterness of those who have always followed him and remained faithful to an adventure that would have celebrated thirty years after his birth in 2023. It all started with Fabio Fazio who, before inaugurating his path in What’s the weather like, did the honors for eight years, seasoning the results of Serie A and Serie B with satire and irony and the presence of excellent professionals such as Anna Marchesini, Tullio Solenghi and the late Luciano Rispoli.

In 2001 Those who football is revolutionized and, with its new presenter Simona Ventura, proves that women can talk about football with the same ease as men. Along with the commentary of the games, there is no shortage the political satire of Gene Gnocchi, comic curtains and international guests such as Amy Winehouse, Kesha and Lady Gaga, who went down in history above all for SuperSimo’s obsessive question about her new tour. After the controversial farewell of the presenter and her consequent (and discussed) landing on Sky, Those who football ends up in the hands of Victoria Cabello, which turns it into a delightful spin-off of Victor Victoria with a Virginia Raffaele in a state of grace, and then in those of Nicola Savino, who leads it for four years together with Gialappa’s Band. The last round is, in fact, that of Luca and Paolo with Mia Ceran, who imprint their mold on the program trying to overcome the problem, already faced by previous editions, of not being able to show any frame of the matches. Whenever a program ends it brings with it a veil of melancholy, but in the case of Those who football, which has been sacrificed and exhausted by a management that is questionable from all points of view, regret takes on the contours of injustice.