When Milan Met Soweto

Luciano Pizzi and Arden Day, South Africa

In 2019 the neighbourhood of Dobsonville in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, played host to a special international friendly match: Soweto Stars F.C. v A.S. Velasca. The match was a result of an ongoing friendship between the two clubs.

Italian based football club A.S. Velasca is a long-term project founded by Wolfgang Natlacen and four art and football enthusiasts. Founded in 2015 in Milan, Italy, A.S. Velasca merges the competitive game of football with the beauty of art. ‘Part football club, part work of art’ is the club’s slogan.

Soweto Stars F.C. is an amateur club founded in 2009 by two brothers Zola and Zuko Manqina. The club pushes a brand of football known as Kasi Flava, focusing on outrageous individual skills and tricks.

Two members of A.S. Velasca, Luciano Pizzi and Arden Day, captured the special day. Plans for a rematch have been delayed by Covid-19!

Luciano Pizzi – AS Velasca

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your football life?

My name is Luciano Pizzi, also known as Lucio (even my mother doesn’t call me my real name anymore). I was a goalkeeper for almost 25 years. I used to play 7-a-side football and later on, at 29, 11-a-side - saving my team from relegation. I played a few tournaments, won some trophies, received some awards and finally I came to Velasca for their first season and my last season as a player. In fact, when I arrived, I was too slow and rusty to compete with the other goalkeepers. I clearly saw myself on my own Sunset Boulevard. Since 2018, I have been a member of the Velasca staff, the official radio commentator and also the goalkeeping coach.

Who is in the photos? Where were the photos taken?

To be honest, I don’t know their names, I just know that they are boys and girls that grew up through the streets, with problems, drugs, criminality and most of all poverty. But despite it all, they never stop dreaming and struggling. Their vitality on and off the pitch motivated the Soweto Stars, a football club made by youths for youths and their dreams. These players have grown to become a significant part of a community who fight against the troubles of life.

I was surprised to see how many supporters came to watch our game on this irregularly shaped red clay pitch in the middle of nowhere. The pitch was like a utopian oasis, where all your dreams come true. It was unbelievable. I mean, when you go in, your eyes are shining. “Abandon problems all ye who enter here”.

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

There isn’t a real message that I wanted to print for ever, to say what memory can’t do. They are photos of people who are playing one of the most important games in their life against a European club (it was a first in Dobsonville in Soweto). Many of their idols are players from European leagues and that’s why they wanted to show us their way of playing football, their football: the Kasi Flava. For us, in our boring “sobriety", it's like an irreverent way of playing football, but all these tricks are spectacular. And isn’t football a spectacle? 

Are there any good stories connected with the people or teams you photographed?

I met a lot of fantastic people who are fighting against poverty and drugs…each of them and each of us is a story. All these stories made this friendly game unique. But I also know that thanks to Soweto Stars F.C., a few players have been spotted by bigger football clubs. They follow their dreams and live a little bit better. We played against a selection of new and old players, non-league football players and semi-professional ones, but we were all equal despite the level, the distance and the culture. We are all equal and maybe that’s the most important thing that I understood. In Europe we are forgetting that. 

What role does AS Velasca play in the local community?

The club started from the bottom, from the country’s church-run league. They were desperately seeking players, any kind of players (including me). You don’t have to be an artist to play with Velasca but step by step you become an artist, even if you don’t mind or want to, because the club considers you as an artist. I mean, if you play football, you’re an artist, that’s the point. So, through football and art, the local community is discovering something new, something more than a simple football club with simple football matches on Sunday. Our point of view is not limited by the pitch. Our players, local supporters, followers, artists, collectors, and accomplices are discovering something wider. 

What does football mean to you?

I have three sports in my life: basketball is my blood, baseball is my religion, and football is my love! Football is my first love, and you never forget your first love! 

All these experiences that bring you to kick a ball, to see your idols on television or at the stadium, the colours of your team, of the opponents, the emulations with your friends at the playground…from there, you want to grow up, to join the next level. I earned some money with football. I was good, but football is not about money, it’s about passion. Without passion you would never go to the training session after work. That’s football.

What is the future for AS Velasca?

Our future? Our name comes from the most celebrated brutalist building in Milan, the Velasca tower, a kind of gigantic concrete mushroom. Too anti-conformist for the center of Milan, it stands out in the Milanese sky among the classical city. That’s where we want to soar with our anti-conformism, over all this static football world. We want to be the third team of the city of Milan, but the first to be “everything but a football team”.

Arden Day (artist moniker)

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your football life?

I'm a sound artist and I really discovered football as a total art form through AS Velasca.

What did you try to show with the photos? Was there any wider meaning with the photos?

Mostly local fans, the players and some passers-by, the snapshots were taken in Soweto during the match between Velasca and Soweto Stars. It was a bright sunny day with sharp shadows on the clay football ground, so I tried to play with these shadows and sometimes show reactions from the Velasca supporters.

What is your favourite photo?

I remember wanting to snap a Velasca fan (and goalkeeper coach) from the back while he was shouting at the team...

Are there any good stories connected with the people or teams you photographed?

We all had a mental evening at the Soweto Towers dancing and drinking with the Soweto boys after the match. Most of them are in the photos. Though the pictures were taken during the match, in retrospect they remind us of the incredible bond sealed that night. 

Why is the AS Velasca story so unique and important?

Velasca is unique mostly because there's no money or fame involved and of course mainly because of all the artist contributions that flow into it. Football can be a weird substitute to capitalism. Velasca is the future of football.

Why is the connection with Soweto Stars FC so important for the club?

No one from the entire team had ever been to Africa before and, as we know, Italy is (with Greece) the main entry point for sub-Saharan refugees in Europe, so this match was important in contesting Italy's recent policy of refusing entry to Africans. That's why we'll do our utmost best to organise a "home match" back in Milan with the Soweto Stars.