INTERVIEW WITH CHARLOTTA SMEDS

Charlotta Smeds, Swedish. Since 1991 in Italy, in Rome. A lifetime. A job as a photographer and above all as a journalist.  A book recently published in Sweden dedicated to Rome.

By now I’m more up to date on things in Italy rather than those in Sweden. Even if the fact that I work in Vatican Radio, on the Scandinavian programme, keeps me very up to date on what is happening in my country. Luckily. The book is a gesture of love towards the city that I feel as my own. I feel very Roman. I would like to be Anna Magnani. Falling in love with Rome was the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me together with my little girls

A year ago, just around this time, your wonderful photographic exhibition ‘Flick about’ dedicated to Subbuteo was inaugurated. Will you tell us bout it?
The idea was yours but unlike many other ideas of yours, I was immediately captured by this one. You allowed me to use a small part of your private collection of Subbuteo pieces, you were very jealous, you were afraid that I would do something disastrous. The purpose of an exhibition and of an event dedicated to Subbuteo was to talk about a type of football that is disappearing, that rather than a social phenomenon and a sport  is a series of matches and championships and anxiety that gives results and performances. I mean football ones. I discovered Subbuteo in Italy; it was never as famous in Sweden as is England, Italy and other European countries. It is a great game. How many times I thought of breaking all your players. And those of your brother too.

What inspired your exhibition?

The great inspiration really came from the numerous games that I suffered in many years in Italy.  Suffered in the real sense of the word. But I don’t really have to say this in the interview, true? However I used to laugh to see you boys (who in the meantime were becoming young men, men and then even fathers) play and really argue while you were playing endless Subbuteo matches.  Infinite matches, tournaments, championships. And actually I was struck by the simplicity with which friendships were created just by playing  Subbuteo. And then the idea that Subbuteo could transmit its healthy moral values to young people – I am thinking for example about the idea of Fair Play, I thought it was a very interesting challenge.

Why do you speak of a challenge?

Because I know Italian society and the world of the stadiums pretty well. Young people are pretty well abandoned by the State and schools, not to mention their families, and they find an easy outlet for their insecurity and need to rebel during football games. It is a pity however because this is healthy strength that could be put to much better use. These are young people that are fed up with the boring life that is offered them without much care. I think that Subbuteo represents a real chance for young people to understand that there are other worlds that are possible apart from the one they know. Subbuteo is getting together, it is friendship, it is loyalty. Subbuteo is for Ultras. Not the isolation of Playstation and television. That’s why the exhibition is a challenge.

Is the exhibition successful? I actually know but I would like to hear it from you.

Great. Fantastic. It’s a pity that the institutions invest so little in this kind of thing. They get lost in their chit-chat, decrees and special laws, it’s so much easier. But no one comes down onto the street, to the level of the problem. It is easy to pontificate from the comfortable armchairs of Parliaments and Federations. We need a figure like St Francis, someone who was not afraid to dirty his hands and talk to the wolf. I am thinking about St Philip Neri who was on the streets fighting hunger with his young people, or Don Bosco when he had the children of his first oratories playing football. There are no Councillors or Mayors in the Institutions that are really listening to the people. The only one who has really made a mark on me is the Mayor of Verona. He decided to bring the exhibition to his city. Someone who said that if they forbid the away matches, for the love of Verona he will still do them. Good for him! And the council of Turin also showed that it was very interested. Can I say it?  Councillor Montabone. Perhaps because when he was young he played with the Toro (Torino football team)  It isn’t a question of politics. It is a question of devotion to the social, not everyone has it.  For example, very little comes from the football businesses, who are much more interested in how they can swell their budgets than in helping young people to grow.

You were saying about Verona and Turin.

Yes, they are the next venues for the exhibition. First Turin in January, then Verona in the spring. I know that you have begun talks with Catania but without much success apart from a lot of chat; it looks as if for the Feast of St Agatha, the exhibition is likely to travel to Sicily, a region that would really need these kinds of exhibitions but that is a prisoner of too many other affairs.
We are also negotiating with Arsenal FC to bring the exhibition to the Emirates Stadium of London and with Birmingham FC. But the English are much more ahead, you know, and you asked me to remember this in the interview.

PLet’s talk about your photos.
I tried to tell about what struck me most about this game. The players of the ‘70s in miniature are the nicest and are the ones that I tried to portray. In many close-ups I imagined them as if they were real players in action, I tried to get the expression on their faces. The jerseys of the miniatures are really lovely, nothing like today’s jerseys, I mean from an aesthetic viewpoint. The blown-up photographs are incredible. I sold lots of them, especially to the great supporters of English football. Mark Adolph, the son of Subbuteo’s inventor, liked those of the QPR.

An idea of prices?

Around three hundred euro, some of them four hundred. Then there are smaller versions, that are not on exhibit at the moment – they cost around a hundred euro, it depends. The biggest ones are however the best, they are the ones I prefer. I like those of Southampton, the jerseys have vertical white and red strips and they have black shorts, right? The horizontal striped socks are fabulous.  And then I like Torino.

Do you like football?

To be honest what is played today not much. I prefer the passion that the supporters have for their team. Once while we were listening to  “You’ll never walk alone” by Gerry and the Pacemakers you had such a dreamy look that I asked you: “What are you thinking about?”. And you replied: “About the Kop of Liverpool when he was singing at the Olympic stadium in Rome at the final against AS Roma”. That’s love. That’s the football I like. It makes me laugh.

Are you a supporter?

To be honest, no. The first time I went out to a stadium was in 1991 in Verona, with you, for a Verona-Milan match. It was like a battle. Police in anti-riot outfits everywhere. The Milan supporters marching. Perhaps one of the reasons I like Verona somewhat is because it has the colours of my Swedish flag. In Sweden I saw a game in Norrköping between IFK Norrköping and  Torino. Do you remember? We were together. The home team won 1-0. It was raining and cold.  The Torino supporters sang more than the Swedes. In the Norrköping terrace you alone were  supporting the Toro. We were dressed the same, we both had green parka and adidas football shoes.  The Swedes didn’t give you a glance. The Torino goalkeeper (Marchegiani ndr),on the other hand, looked over every so often because he could hear someone calling him speaking Italian. It was you who was hanging out of the net that separates the pitch from the stands. When you shouted  “Pasquale you’re a lion” a Torino player (Pasquale Bruno) also greeted you. I wonder if the players remember that game. You do, don’t you?

Definitely. I used to like wandering around Europe to see the football games and to talk to the supporters.  Even at forty, I still wander around Europe and I still meet supporters. Another few questions, I like interviewing you. Lazio or Roma?

Neither. Roma certainly not, perhaps Lazio is better, but I had to live with it for a number of years, it was a rival. Now, that’s enough with the interview I must follow the Angelus. Otherwise how can I translate it into Swedish?