“My dream is that it reaches Messi. And with this note, I’m sure that will come true.” Optimism. In this evolution of the profession, and of life, one has come across people who have made complaint a heritage. Luckily, there is the other side of that coin, those who always see the positive side of things. One of the standard bearers is William Chiche Ferroa renowned journalist for Channel 9 news, but who always has a wide range of concerns. This idea was leaked from there, to make cumbia for Lionel Messi, which is called “The golden cape.”
The reunion with Chiche. That affability that escapes from every corner. We have known each other for a long time, when the wisdom of fate put us in the same place, responding to a request that Channel 9 had launched in March ’94, calling for sports journalists and announcers. Almost 300 of us took the test and only 8 of us were left for a sports channel project that the great Alejandro Romay He could never throw. Then we began the journey on Nuevediario, its legendary newscast. Friendship germinated there. It was a pleasure to be able to hang out with him in my free time. And it still is now, 32 years later.
His love for tropical music and his passion for soccer merged to give shape to this idea: “On the one hand, I had observed that they had made several songs for Messi, but most of them were sad or, at least, not so high. And on the other, there was no song like the one that Rodrigo had composed for Maradona, where he tells his story and his life. This cumbia is a way of asking for forgiveness, because I think we have mistreated him a lot and he didn’t deserve us. Because now you listen to them, they are all good and no one criticized him, but we know that is not the case. So it is a tribute and an apology for everything we put him through.”
One cannot help but agree with his sentence. Incredibly (or not), Messi was attacked from all quarters for many years. The Argentine is usually ruthless when he climbs onto a pedestal, where no one called him, to launch his criticisms. From that, the idea began to mature: “It was in the summer of last year, when I was in Mar del Plata, sitting on a lounge chair and I looked at a boy who was playing ball, kicking with another on the shore, when his grandmother called him. That’s when I had the click, because I thought of his grandmother. Leowho was the one who often took him to training when he was a child. Right there I started humming what could be the melody. Then I passed it on to Diego Fleitas who is an important musician, because I don’t understand anything about music (laughs). When I returned to Capital, I began to write the lyrics, but I was never completely satisfied and every week I made some changes to them, until I realized that they were complete. I hummed the melody to Diego and in two days he had it ready.”
The first part of the process had been completed, but now came the most complex part, which was finding someone who wanted to record it: “I went with the project to show it to ‘The Andy Show’who is my friend and has very good musicians. We have known each other since 2003 and I know that it is one of the players’ favorite bands. As soon as he heard it he told me: ‘This is a great goal and we are going to record it’. That’s how we did it and I’m happy in life to be able to honor the best in the world. I know that at some point it will come to him. “I’m not asking for it to be sung on the court the day he retires, but that he can listen to it and like it… Not only him, but his entire family, who I know suffered a lot from the criticism.”
The devotion for Leo It has always come to him Chichewho is a fan of good football. And I say this because of the years of knowledge and having shared many hours on the court with him. “I must be the person who talked about Messi the longest on Argentine television. Because I have been referring to him for more than 20 years almost every day on the news. The thing is that before I would point out that he scored 5 goals in a game or became champion with Barcelona, and they immediately told you: ‘But he doesn’t do anything in the national team.’ the teams around him in the National Team or bad luck was present. Life wanted it to be in Qatar and that’s how it happened.”
From a very young age, an immense passion for football germinated in him. Kicking in the pastures of Pompeya, back in the early ’70s, cradling the dream of being a player: “As a boy I entered the San Lorenzo youth teams and I dedicated myself fully to that during my childhood and adolescence. It was five years in the Cyclone and then two in Ferro, but football is not easy. I must admit that I escaped the kicks, because there is always a tendency to blame the coach who didn’t put you in, but I admit my mistakes. You need a lot of things to be a player, especially hunger. My old man was not a millionaire, but we were from a middle class without deprivation. I’m not frustrated, because I dedicated myself as long as I could. I did my last test at the Lugano club, which was in First D. I was 20 years old and I had no more options, because if I turned 21, they had to give me a professional contract. The court had so many stones that it seemed like I was on the Moon (laughs).”
That journey through the youth ranks left him with the pleasure of sharing the ’63 category in San Lorenzo with Jorge Rinaldi, where Blas Giunta and Leonardo Madelón later arrived. Always with that habit of treating the ball well from the hooking position. In Ferro he advanced, but in front of him he had, in his position, stars like Beto Márcico, Adolfino Cañete and Oscar Acosta. “I watched Ferro’s games and I realized that I wasn’t going to have a chance. Because you think you play well, until you see those monsters. Also, Griguol, who was the first team’s coach, liked everyone to run and that wasn’t my style. I tried it and I’m happy with that.”
The card that fate denied him as a player was going to be granted to him as a journalist a decade later, in the medium where he still remains, 32 years later: “My mother was watching Channel 9 and she told me that on Monday at 9 in the morning there was a casting there. I answered no, that they couldn’t take me. She told me: ‘Go ahead, because Romay will surely be watching you’. Then my answer was: ‘I’m going to go for you’. And that “That day I went for her. There were many of us and there were several hours of waiting, but we were lucky. Once we met, the phrase that says that the difficult thing is not getting there, but staying there became a reality.”
“At the time of that casting -continues Chiche- There were several things that helped me: I had been doing a cable show for a year, which gave me a certain ease in front of the cameras, a bit of the long-haired look I wore at that time and the one above. If he doesn’t give you help, it’s complicated. That day it was raining and many kids, who perhaps had the conditions, left and missed the opportunity. From there I didn’t move at all (laughs).”
The nickname by which everyone knows them, since most must ignore that his name is Guillermo, has its origins linked to a sports journalist, in which one was lucky enough to participate and witness: “We debuted together that Saturday afternoon in a program called Olympia TV for 9, which was the launch of the sports cable channel that Romay had thought about and that ultimately never aired. I went to cover Vélez’s training and Fernando Niembro, who was the driver, introduced me. Automatically I told him: ‘It’s like that Chiche’. There was a huge silence, because that was a nickname he had always had and he was trying to get it out of him. I thought they were kicking me out at the end of the program and I went to apologize. He was ten points and told me not to make any problems, because we all had debut nerves at some point. But from the next day, the pseudonym stuck.”
In 1994 it was a different world in general and, of course, in the media in particular. Cable television had just begun to become popular and the five free-to-air channels had enormous influence: “From that moment on I went through the different stages of the channel, I must now go to the ninth owner more or less (laughs). I did good coverage such as the Copa América in Uruguay or the World Cup in Brazil, but what remains with me the most are the notes with Maradona, where he always behaved excellently and I have great memories, because he had a lot of affection for Nuevediario, where he had always been treated with affection and respect.”
Those who have a restless mind will always be at the forefront. It is that seal that distinguishes them from others. like the dear Chiche Ferro, who without ceasing to give us joy on screen, set out to go further. And surely your wish will come true. And Lionel will not only get your cumbia, but he will enjoy it. And whoever tells you, be a pleasant company towards the new World Cup dream.
