Università degli Studi di Pavia
Facoltà di Economia, Giurisprudenza, Ingegneria, Lettere e Filosofia,
Scienze politiche
Corso di laurea specialistica interfacoltà in
Comunicazione Professionale e Multimedialità
Gianni Brera’s empirical approach: data
and stats impose themselves in the
world of sports journalism
Tesi di laurea di Cesare Rizzi
Relatore: Chiar.mo Prof. Guido Legnante
Correlatore: Chiar.mo Prof. Mirko Volpi
Who was Gianni Brera?
The most popular sports journalist in Italy in XX
century
Born in San Zenone al Po, near Pavia, on September 8,
1919
 Wrote for “La Gazzetta dello Sport”, “Il Giorno”,
“Guerin Sportivo”, “Il Giornale”, “La Repubblica” and
many other newspapers
 Dealt with football and cycling, two popular sports in
Italy
 Died in a car accident in Codogno on December 19,
1992

He was also…

a writer who felt very close to the land
where he was born:
He had a sort of veneration for the Po, the Po Valley and
the Olona…
…and very often used words coming from Pavia’s and
Milan’s dialects
He was also…

the creator of a new sports language
A lot of words frequently used by sports fans (especially
by football ones) have been invented by Gianni Brera:




Libero: a defender who doesn’t have to man mark and can help his
teammates to control opponent strikers
Centrocampista: athlete who plays in the middle of the field,
irrespective of his shirt number
Contropiede: fast action in which a team starts an attack attempt
from a defensive situation
Palla-gol: a clear chance to score a goal
He was also…

a reporter who created
unforgettable nicknames for
sports celebrities:

“Abatino”
Gianni Rivera or Livio
Berruti
“Rombo di Tuono”
Gigi Riva
“il Rosso Volante”
Eugenio Monti
“Nuvola Rossa”
Felice Gimondi



He was also…

a journalist who loved sports but also writing as
“parolibero”, dealing with
Literature
 History
 Foreign cultures
 Food and wine
 “Human behaviours”

This was Gianni Brera…
…but he must be remembered also for a
clear and faithful way of “studying” sports
Every event was “vivisectioned” in Brera’s
notebook.
How?
…by Data and Stats
Brera’s empirical approach
What are numbers used for?
1.
2.
Faithful reports
Sharp analysis
Thank to Brera stats imposed themselves in
sports journalism according to these
two important points of view
Brera’s empirical approach
What about athletics?
Empirical approach was basic to write down reports…
...but numbers became the most important cues for the
analysis
Brera’s empirical approach

Niels Holst-Soerensen was a 800
m competitor who could also
run 100 metres in 10.8 secs…
THEREFORE he had to be
considered a champion

In the final of 110 m hurdles the
bronze medal was won with the
mark of 15.0 secs…THEREFORE
it hadn’t been a great race
(reports from 1946 European Championships in Oslo)
Brera’s empirical approach
What about cycling?
Cycling is a sport based on a simple action
(pedalling)…
…thus Gianni Brera used his notes to build accurate
reports
Brera’s empirical approach
From Tour de France 1949 (the first one won by Fausto
Coppi) Gianni Brera wrote unforgettable reports
In the 12 main articles he used
 73 references to kilometres raced or kilometres remaining
 69 notes about gaps between riders or groups of riders
 21 accurate data about time
Brera’s empirical approach
His reportage from Tour de France 1949 was a
real success…
…after six months he was appointed director of
“La Gazzetta dello Sport”
Brera’s empirical approach
What about football?
Football was the main battlefield of Brera’s
journalistic career
Brera’s empirical approach
Gianni Brera’s “creed”
(from Interpretazione critica di una partita di calcio)
I live the match I have to review writing down every moment with fussy
application up to…the begging: I am often obliged to ask colleagues for
help to fully understand who has done the last shoot or the last final touch.
After filling up my notebook I go back to the editorial office, I decipher
every page, I reconstruct the decisive moments and I start cataloguing
every technical gesture
Brera’s empirical approach
Thanks to Brera shots, saves and corners have
become, since the Sixties, important details
to read football matches in a proper way
Brera’s empirical approach
For example…
Milan-Juventus 5-1
(1961/62)
Shots:
33 for Milan
28 for Juventus
They proved that rain and muddy field were big problems
for defenders
Brera’s empirical approach
Gianni Brera often reported stats only on
the first half and not on the whole
match…
…a choice for beginning in a more
attractive way the report of the second
half
Brera’s empirical approach
For example:
Inter-Napoli (1970/71)
Shots in
the first half:
0 for Inter
14 for Napoli (1 goal)
…but…
…in the second half Inter overturned the match (2-1)
Brera’s empirical approach
In the Eighties stats became the real
objectivity holders in “La Repubblica”
In Brera’s opinion the most important match of the day
was the one with the highest sum of points between
both the teams involved
An example from 1985/86 Serie A tournament: RomaSampdoria (points amount: 62) deserved more attention
than Inter-Milan (points amount: 57)
Stats and sports journalism
What about today?
Sports federations and online journals can offer a
wide-ranging set of data and stats about a single
event or about the history of a sport
Stats and sports journalism
Stats sources on paper
Traditional ones like yearbooks…
…or contemporary ones like media guides
Stats and sports journalism
Stats sources on the Web
From federations websites…
…or from webzines and online journals
Stats and sports journalism
Now journalists can find out data and stats
in a simple way…
…all they need is a desk, a pc and some
clics…
Stats and sports journalism
…but the Internet is not enough: a
reporter’s notes and his presence on the
competition field are essential to
understand what numbers are not able to
tell us
This is Gianni Brera’s lesson