Rome, 26 Mar. (LaPresse) – ‘There are two reasons for this double clamorous mistake if Totti were to respond to that invitation. One is the place, the idea of being a testimonial for something in a context that concerns Russia's exclusion, for the well-known reasons, from all sporting events. And therefore deciding whether to be on the side of the aggressor or the attacked, and this a sportsman should have clear. The second reason is the content'. These are the words to LaPresse, Mauro Berruto, former coach of the national volleyball team and member of the Pd national secretariat, with responsibility for sport, commenting on Francesco Totti's choice to go to Russia for an event. 'He is going there to be a testimonial for a company that deals with sports betting. And I have a very clear position not only on this specific case of Totti, but on all former sportsmen and women, figures who have a pedagogical role in relation to those who play sport, to lend their image to companies that deal with games and betting. It is all legitimate, but there is no doubt that it is a trigger towards a potential pathology that is ludopathy, which destroys the lives of thousands of families,' Berruto stressed. ‘In the hope that this is not yet confirmed, if I can help a reflection I say ‘be careful here there is a problem’ that concerns the container, the aggressor country Russia, and the content. It would be something else if it were a sports diplomacy initiative to encourage peace processes,' the PD deputy added. 'Would the choice to go ruin his image? In my eyes it certainly would. When I want to be moved and cry a little I still watch the famous farewell football day at the Olympic Stadium, it is something that has very few precedents in the history of sport. And I'm not a Roma fan. For me he is one of the very few people who has an absolute and pedagogical value, and for that very reason in my eyes it would be a fall in style that I hope doesn't happen. It would be a shame, precisely because of two reasons, the place and the reason why he would go there,' he concluded.
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