Comments on: Mario Balotelli: The most important Italian footballer of all-time

By: Scoring the Goals That Sank Germany, Balotelli Says it Loud: He's Black, Italian and Proud | Keeping Score | TIME.com

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 06:46:32 +0000

[...] goals negate and ridicule racism, diminishing its power but not necessarily eradicating it. Balotelli has had to fight for his dignity and humanity every step of his career, and that fight will [...]

By: Alfredo

Alfredo — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 00:30:29 +0000

As a Tuscan and Italian, I consider Mario Balotelli a polentone and Italian.

By: Fabrizio

Fabrizio — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:16:01 +0000

Not Italian!

By: Armless Chair and a Half

Armless Chair and a Half — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 04:19:36 +0000

Armless Chair and a Half…

[...]Mario Balotelli: The most important Italian footballer of all-time « Back Page Football[...]…

By: Varun

Varun — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:50:57 +0000

Balotelli is just hard to take seriously as a person, that will count against him, he’s young so still has time.

About the young British born Asians, i think it might also have to do more with the basic structure of football there.

As is very often reported that academies and youth coaches have a prevalence towards big strong and powerful athletes
rather than someone who is small in stature (as most asians are) but might be good with technical ability.
So maybe the encouragement is lacking as well.

This is what hurts England at the international stage as well, the ability to control the ball in tight areas effectively.

By: Kevin Coleman

Kevin Coleman — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:37:35 +0000

That’s a point I’ve thought about occasionally, there are no players of Indian descent – despite a massive English population – in top flight English football.

Could be down to a number of factors – favouring of cricket, other job opportunities, encouragement from parents at a young age.

As for Balotelli, the world and Italy is his oyster. If he can grow into the large shoes he talks up at club and international level it’ll be one GIANT leap in healing the racial and cultural problems in the country’s society.

I would love to see him go back to Italy and do with his feet what he does with his mouth, because he has the ability. He has so much potential to be one of the best.

Additionally, we did a O2W on him back in 2009 – http://backpagefootball.com/one2watch/one-2-watch-mario-balotelli/

By: Varun

Varun — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 18:28:04 +0000

Balotelli is great as a character, even if he’s silly with his comments and actions that a good thing, football should have colorful personalities (no pun intended).

I don’t believe that He alone though can change Italy. Football’s contribution if any would be minuscule in riding out the racism, Football feeds of the society far more than the society reacts to Football.

Also you mentioned England, i feel England still has a somewhat similar underlying phenomenon.

There are hardly any players with asian roots in the football scene (none in the national team)

The fans comments and newspaper articles in relation to the Germany’s team success at the World Cup were also borderline racism.

By: John

John — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:40:23 +0000

Really good article here.

I just wish that Balotelli wasn’t as annoying as he is.

By: A_Vutha

A_Vutha — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:25:56 +0000

A very well written article.

Are there many examples of success stories — in the “Balotelli Generation” as you mention — of immigrant kids who have reached the top level but having not had the “fortune” of being raised by native italians ?

ie. Is the immigrant population base large enough and scouted well enough to have a significant output of professional footballers ?

eg : France has a long history ( and a sizable immigrant population) that has produced some great talent.

By: HeavyRiffs

HeavyRiffs — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:02:49 +0000

Very good piece, nice indepth research, minor point though, it’s better to describe him as black rather than coloured, that also is now an outdated description.