Reaction to Andrea Pirlo’s retirement shows how greats can cross the divide
Sport is a tribal thing, and that means crossing divides is hard. But some players are so great that crossing that line happens automatically.
Even rivals have to come together sometimes to mark the career of a true great. And when Andrea Pirlo retired this week, that’s exactly what happened. The great man was wished a happy retirement by those you’d expect to be kind to him, but whilst Juventus celebrated the career of a club legend, so too did AC Milan, the club Pirlo left in order to join their mortal rivals from Turin.
And yet even Milan paid their tribute, such is the level of greatness that the iconic Italian playmaker attained in his career at both clubs.
10 ????⚫ seasons
2 ???? #UCL
2 ???? #UEFASuperCup
1 ???? FIFA Club World Cup
2 ???????? Scudetto
1 ???????? Super Cup
1 ???????? Cup
All the best @Pirlo_official! pic.twitter.com/QH8Pg2hCyS— AC Milan (@acmilan) November 6, 2017
— Andrea Pirlo (@Pirlo_official) November 6, 2017
Social media has allowed this sort of thing to take off properly, and it allows everyone in the world to join in and pay their respects and tributes or share their thanks. But what’s impressive when it comes to the reaction to Pirlo’s retirement is that the hashtag #GrazieMaestro, started by his last club New York City FC, was used to widely.
#GrazieMaestro ???????? #FinoAllaFine #ForzaJuve @Pirlo_official pic.twitter.com/h9G7fA1Io4
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) November 6, 2017
???????? 116 #Azzurri caps
⚽️ 13 goals
???? 1 #WorldCup
???? 1 #EuroU21Happy Retirement Andrea #Pirlo! ????????#GrazieMaestro pic.twitter.com/354uLlDOdi
— Italy (@azzurri) November 6, 2017
The definition of a glittering career in football ????????✨ #GrazieMaestro pic.twitter.com/e4Kdn81HVD
— New York City FC (@NYCFC) November 6, 2017
As hashtags go, this was a good one. It seemed to capture what everyone thought: Pirlo is indeed a maestro, but a garish hashtag would have been an insult to the elegance of the man and the way he played. But it’s interesting how it all comes together on occasions like this when one player crosses divides and earns the respect of everyone, and there’s a hashtag there to collate many of the tributes into one tab.
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