The Big Issue’s Italian sister street paper Scarp de’ tenis has kicked off a campaign to ask football team Juventus to dedicate their ninth-straight league title to a late vendor.
Claudio Calò died two months ago after spending 20 years selling the street paper. He also had a lifelong passion for Juve and had been to watch his team at their home stadium four times with Scarp editor Stefano Lampertico.
The street paper even bought Claudio a television and a pay TV subscription so he could follow Juventus’ games because, as Lampertico recalled: “On matchday his main concern was the results”.
Appello alla @juventusfc. In caso di scudetto dedicate un pensiero al vostro grande tifoso Claudio Calò, venditore di @scarpdetenis scomparso 2 mesi fa. Dopo una vita sulla strada, da lassù sta tifando ancora. Viveva solo per il suo Scarp e per la sua Juve. Chi mi aiuta con RT? pic.twitter.com/3v1bXNyH2l
— Stefano Lampertico (@StefanoLamp) July 23, 2020
Scarp launched their bid on July 23 for the perfect tribute, reaching out to Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon and club president Andrea Agnelli and others on social media before the Bianconeri had chance to close out the title with a result against Udinese. The Old Lady, as Juventus are known, lost that match before sealing the Serie A title with a 2-0 over Sampdoria three days later.
So far, there has been no dedication to Claudio but the Juve fanatic is “still cheering up there” says Lampertico.