The Italian, Lazio club in the 1970s, had a notorious bunch of players and at a post-match banquet in Rome, on this day in 1977, following a Fairs Cup tie against Arsenal, a brawl broke out between the teams when the Gunners' players took offence to leather purses gifted to them by their Lazio opposite numbers!
Three years later, after being knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Ipswich Town, Lazio players threw punches and any objects that they could lay their hands on, at Bobby Robson's players, before chasing them down the corridor to the changing rooms. The Ipswich players barricaded themselves into the changing rooms for over an hour before being made safe to exit and leave the stadium.
This debacle led to Lazio being banned from the European matches for three years, which proved costly. After landing the Scudetto at the end of the 1973/4 season, they deservably, were unable to compete in the European Cup and then after this set back, a tragic event followed a year later, as title-winning coach Tomasso Maestrelli, was diagnosed with stomach cancer and in 1976 caused his death.
Following that, a self-inflicted and tragic set back occurred when Luciano Re Cecconi, the club's midfield star went into a Rome jewellery shop with Pietro Ghedin and decided to play a practical joke as they entered, with haces covered, shouting "Stop, this is a robbery!!"
Ghedin were unaware that Giuliano Tabochini's shop had been robbed just a few weeks earlier and Tabochini was prepared for another potential break-in. This was the last sentence Ghedin was able to utter, as the shop owner, standing with his back to the entry door, spun round and used his gun to shoot Cecconi..."It's a joke, it's a joke," gasped Re Cecconi, as he slumped to the floor and within half an hour he was dead, along with the Lazio dream, gone with him! He pulled out a shotgun, and Ghedin quickly raised his hands in an attempt to calm him down. However, Re Cecconi failed to realize the danger and continued with the prank. Tabochini opened fire and shot Re Cecconi in the chest. Re Cecconi was rushed to the hospital, but he died about 30 minutes later.
Re Cecconi died aged 28 and left behind his wife and two children. As he lay on the floor dying, it is believed his last words were: "It's a joke! It's just a joke!"
Tabochini wasn’t a sports fan, nor did he often buy a newspaper, so he didn’t recognise Ghedin’s face or those rare luscious blonde locks of Re Cecconi. He also, crucially in this story, was robbed ten nights prior on January 8th 1977. Understandably concerned, paranoid and jumpy, the jeweller began keeping a firearm behind his counter for self defense.
No comments:
Post a Comment