Athletico 100 years: Renato Sozzi, the fanatic

Two extraordinary events with their epicenter in Baixada make up the most important rite of passage of my life. The first is the Raul Seixas show at the Athletico gym in July 1989.

Raulseixista beardless, I was prevented by maternal authority from attending. In December 1990, however, at the age of 13, I circumvented family supervision to embark on the infamous excursion to Ponta Grossa, a great and irresponsible collective catharsis in athletic history.

In both cases, there was a decisive participation of Renato Sozzithen the president of one of the most important entities in my world, the Organized Fanatics The Fanatics. Renato is the son of a family of athletic sufferers. His father had a mechanic shop downtown where CAP posters competed for space with those of naked women. He started going to the stadium in 1969 and, like all the kids of his generation, is a big fan of Sicupira.

In 1977, he was part of the group that created A TOF alongside friends such as José Luís Belotto, Americo Vespúcio and Nelson do Rosário, among other historic names. The fans were born as an anarchist organization, with a horizontal structure, but when its future depended on some sense of leadership, Renato’s name was put forward and he held the position until the mid-1990s.

In these almost two decades, stories that could fill either a book or a documentary series. Rock’n’roll fan, Renato brought the spirit beatnik on the road for the fans who traveled throughout Brazil in extreme and heroic conditions.

At this time, TOF also occupied Baixada, abandoned by the club, and played a fundamental role in physical resistance to threats to our greatest heritage and was a fundamental arm of the f movement.arinhakista who gave us Baixada back. Honoring the first president, we toast everyone who was part of TOF in its 47-year history.