Once Caldas, 20 years since the Copa Libertadores title: the memory of a fan

In my 24 years of life at that time, I remember that the three most important hugs of my life were given to my parents: when my two brothers were born to celebrate life, and another one facing death, due to pneumonia a decade ago. before, which almost left us without one of them. Until then I thought that this ritual was for absolutely transcendental scenarios in my immediate core, until that first of July.

But it was there, in the fifth row of a western Palogrande Stadium full, after Juan Carlos Henao sentenced the 2004 Copa Libertadores, against the two-time champion Boca Juniors; when that hug, a symbolic and intimate family ritual, was transformed. And not only because the three of us celebrated, but because we fell down two steps because of the commotion that arose in that stand, where we ended up on the floor with 12 other people, crying with emotion.

And that day I “graduated” as a sports journalist. All day I worked with the regional channel of the Eje Cafetero – Telecafé, from 6:30 in the morning, together with a team of great talent, the same one that I saw in the Caldense colleagues who returned home as reporters – and as fans – to see a historical moment in their land, like Ricardo Orrego, Cesar Augusto Londono, Mario Cesar Otalvaro, Ricardo Henao; and the one they had in abundance in living legends like Javier Giraldo Neira, Wilmar Torres, Jorge Ramírez, Duván Marín, Gabriel Cárdenas and Oswaldo Hernández.

I take this opportunity to reveal the best-kept secret of why the majority of Colombian sports journalists were from Manizales, and it is elementary: the terrain in the capital of Caldas is so broken that there are only five 11-a-side soccer fields, so while the The talented first 22, those of us who did not defend ourselves so much with the ball, could be either spontaneous commentators of the game, potential referees who whistled the “picaos”, and even sports leaders, who organized the tournaments. From former players of these lands such as Pipa Botero, “Pecoso” Castro, Antonio Rada, “Paco” Castro, “Panelo” Valencia; passing through former referees such as the World Cup player “Mecato” Aristizábal, Jorge Palacios or Jorge Zuluaga, and even the controversial vice president of Fedefútbol Álvaro González Alzate could attest to that.

That first of July, after the feat, I remember interviewing the mayor of Bogotá with the broken Libertadores trophy “Lucho” Garzón, to former mayor Antanas Mockus, to Fernando “Member” (this is what Colombian fans called the most famous Argentine sports commentator on the continent, at the time, Fernando Niembro), Mariano Closs, Marcelo Benedetto, El “Pollo” Vignolo and other international journalists whom the city decorated as illustrious figures, and who Today we see it in broadcasts of World Cups and Euro Cups. That day I heard Mauricio Macri, then head of Boca, and years later president of Argentina, recognize the white victory, with the idea of ​​taking a Manizaleño to Buenos Aires, to Elkin Soto.

When I got home, in the early morning, after watching the team’s celebration, I dedicated myself to looking on television for a record of how the victory of Montoya’s warriors was seen. On Caracol, John Jairo Reyes showed how the Colombians celebrated the feat in Medellín, in Barranquilla and even in Bogotá. I saw Vicky Dávila “throw Carlos Antonio Vélez into the water” for crying during the title, and a tour of several cities in the country that showed a collective joy like few others, only comparable to the Colombian National Team. The chronicle of Gabriel Meluk in El Tiempo, the taking of Manizales the next day, a documentary by “The World According to Pirry”, with the work of the fans that allowed a young bar leader to be a councilor; and many other records, which today are lost in time. Much of the fragile memory was forgotten, like the “greatness” that came to a small team that night.

Colombia celebrated a feat in Manizales, and the football world learned that there is a city of 400 thousand inhabitants with a stadium, where 10% of its population enters when the white team plays. Millions of people stood in front of a television, and celebrated with the Colombian shirt. This time, it wasn’t just a three-way hug.

Nostalgia, 20 years later, brings tears to the eyes of a team that is not even a shadow of what it once was, but opens windows to a past where for a few weeks, the “Blanco” belonged to the entire country.

When I was returning home after 17 hours of work, Esteban Jaramillo, who was returning to the media that day, would tell me a phrase that I now take from the traps of memory: “We don’t know what we won. Only time will give us, with the nostalgia that it implies, the historical feeling of what was achieved.” Today, 20 years later, we are clear about it.

And you, what were you doing on July 1, 2004?

MAURICIO GALLEGO

Head of Broadcasting Citynoticias

*Citytv is the television channel belonging to EL TIEMPO Casa Editorial

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