Giovanni "Giovannone" Bertini (7 January 1951 – 3 December 2019) was an Italian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender.

Career

Bertini was born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and began playing youth football with Ostiense before signing with

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

at the age of 18. He made his professional debut in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

in a 2–2 draw against Fiorentina on 14 December 1969, and went on to collect six appearances in his first season, and three in his second season. He remained with the club until 1974, aside from a brief loan spell with Serie B side

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

in 1971, with whom he collected seven league appearances. After returning to Roma the following season, he made 20 more appearances for the club, before being sold to

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

in 1974. Later that same year, he joined

Ascoli Calcio 1898 Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C., commonly referred to as Ascoli, is an Italian football club based in Ascoli Piceno, Marche. The club was formed in 1898 and currently plays in Serie B. The team traditionally play in vertical black and white stripes. H ...

under manager

Carlo Mazzone Carlo "Carletto" Mazzone (born 19 March 1937 in Rome) is an Italian retired professional association footballer and manager, who played as a centre-back. Playing career Mazzone played several seasons for A.S. Roma, as well as for SPAL and Ascoli. ...

, while he left for

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

the following season, collecting 10 appearances in his only season with the club. In total, he played for six seasons (54 games, no goals) in the Italian

, for Roma, Ascoli, and Fiorentina, also collecting 29 appearances in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. He later also made 84 appearances for

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, 65 of which came in

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

, scoring seven goals, and obtained 41 appearances for

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

over two seasons, before retiring in 1982.

Style of play

Bertini was a strong and physically imposing defender, who was also known for his exuberant character, leadership, tenacity, and personality. He usually played as a man-marking

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, known as a "stopper" in Italian. He was also known for his goalscoring ability as a defender, courtesy of his heading accuracy – which made him an aerial threat – as well as his powerful shot with either foot, including from free kicks.

Later life, illness, and death

Following his retirement, Bertini worked as a pundit for several broadcasting corporations, including TV2000. He was diagnosed with

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

in 2016. He died on 3 December 2019, in Rome, at the age of 68.

Personal life

Bertini had a daughter, Benedetta.

References

1951 births 2019 deaths Footballers from Rome Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italy men's under-21 international footballers Serie A players AS Roma players SS Arezzo players Taranto FC 1927 players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players ACF Fiorentina players Catania FC players Benevento Calcio players Neurological disease deaths in Lazio Deaths from motor neuron disease {{Italy-footy-defender-1950s-stub