Ezio Vendrame (Casarsa, November 21, 1947) is a former Italian footballer and writer.
Growing up in an orphanage, he had a difficult childhood that would mark him for life. As a footballer, he quickly distinguished himself as either a winger or a midfielder, and thanks to his skill with the ball, he began his journey through youth teams in minor clubs in Friuli, ultimately landing at Udinese. He later moved to SPAL, but due to his restlessness, he failed to connect with Paolo Mazza, who transferred him first to Torres and then in 1969 to Siena.
In the summer of 1971, he made his Serie A debut with Lanerossi Vicenza, coming from Rovereto: he soon became an idol for the biancorossi fans, even though he never truly made it big in the football world. In truth, Vendrame represents one of the greatest unexpressed talents that Italian football produced in the seventies, comparable to an Italian George Best. The then-president of Juventus, Boniperti, would compare him to the Argentine Kempes.
With his carefree demeanor, hippie-like appearance, long hair, and marked nonconformity, he quickly won the affection of the biancorossi fans, for whom he would remain an unforgettable idol.
On the field, he displayed flashes of his immense talent and his "magical" foot, alternating moments of brilliance with lackluster performances: Vendrame often claimed to play football solely for money and that he cared little for anything else.
Among the many curious episodes he was involved in, biancorossi fans recall when, finding himself in midfield on a counterattack, in the most advanced position, with no teammates to serve, he stepped with both feet on the ball, placing his hands on his forehead to ironically scan the horizon.
After three years in Vicenza, he moved to Napoli, but only played three league matches, initially wanted and then opposed by the blue coach Luis Vinicio.
However, perhaps the most famous episode of his playing career occurred some time later when he was playing in Serie C wearing the Padova jersey: in a game that he claimed was predetermined to end 0-0, to shake things up, he dribbled past his entire team from one side of the field to the other without anyone being able to stop him, only to fake a shot in front of his own goalkeeper, who dived ineffectively to try to take the ball from him, before stopping near the goal line and returning backward ("that way the excitement was safe," Vendrame would later recount in his autobiography *Se mi mandi in tribuna godo*): on that occasion, a fan in the stands died of a heart attack, and when this was relayed to him, Vendrame responded by asking how it was possible that someone weak of heart would go to watch him play.
Equally entertaining was, during his time with Padova, the episode of his initial agreement, later retracted, to play poorly in the match against Udinese (his former team) who was fighting for promotion from Serie C to Serie B: that year, Padova, which was in dire financial straits, was paying its players the "minimum" match bonuses set by the FIGC: 22,000 lire per point. The emissary from the Friulian team offered him 7,000,000 lire for a "subpar performance." Vendrame initially accepted ("I had played poorly many times...for free), but once he stepped onto the field and heard the Friulian crowd loudly booing his name announced over the speakers at the start of the match, he changed his mind and decided he had to ".. punish that ungrateful crowd... to hell with the seven million, long live the 44,000 lire," he would say years later. Padova won 3-2 with a memorable double from him, with the second goal scored directly from a corner kick: before taking the shot, he made the gesture of blowing his nose on the corner flag and, gesturing, mockingly declared to the opposing fans that he would score directly from there, which he indeed did.
He then moved to Audace San Michele in Serie C and later played in the amateurs with Pordenone and Juniors Casarsa, always carrying
