MotoGP after the Valentino Rossi era: riders to fans report

The last, in chronological order, to have his say on MotoGP since 2022 without Valentino Rossi was Alberto Puig, Honda team manager, who, speaking out of the chorus, cut it short: “I don’t think the competition will be affected” . What does Puig mean by “competition”? The technical-competitive validity of track races? The appeal of the league as a show business? The fact that MotoGP already has Valentino’s “replacement”, not only for his qualities as a rider but also capable of being a “character” and of making a foothold beyond the area of ​​”hard and pure” fans, not bringing back motorcycling to “niche” sports?

motogp and idols

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It is not “a question of the fans”, to think about how motorcycling will be from 2022 without the main protagonist of the last twenty years on the track, and how above all the public will respond on the racetracks and in front of the TV, if there is a contraction of the business after years of expansion, with benefits (and even distortions) for the whole environment and beyond. It is certainly not the first time that motorcycling, like other sports, has to do without its other identity champions. Here, specifically, we want to open a reflection on “cheering”, or rather, on the difference between being “fans” or “fans”. The fan goes to the racetrack or stands in front of the TV to follow the events of “his” driver with trepidation. Indeed, when your favorite leaves the scene due to a fall or mechanical failure, the fan leaves the circuit, or turns off the TV at home. The enthusiast, both in the stands of the circuit and attached to the television screen, follows the race as such, the entire race of all the drivers, in the end satisfied, whatever the result of this or that driver. The fan curses bad luck or the opponents of his favorite if “his” favorite goes wrong. The enthusiast technically analyzes what happens on the track, perhaps with the help of the stopwatch, telemetry, who knows more than him. The fan shouts with exultation when their favorite climbs to the top step of the podium. The enthusiast congratulates the winner, whatever he is, applauding everyone, inquiring about the reasons that have not allowed a good result to those who are off the podium and about the health conditions if a rider has fallen.

motogp cheering report

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Today, indeed for many years, the team driver has been cheering more than the home rider. Between the two world wars, in the “motorcycling of heroes” and even after, at least until the epic of Agostini, in the motorcycling of “Days of Courage”, the fan was more “technical”, more prepared and was divided almost equally between the make and the driver. When the house of the heart left the scene or your champion was no longer there (also due to accidents) the races went on the same, although almost always paying a high price, sometimes for years, with large bands of fans / fans. which gave forfeit. Obviously, even as a fan, everyone is the result of their own era. And the saying that everyone can think as they want, praising or criticizing whoever they like, is always valid and valid for everyone, with the sole rule of respect for others and common sense. What is typhus? We can speak of “cheering”, in the modern sense, that popular participation in the competitive event held in the twenties by football, raised to an expression of sporting parochialism and local rivalries. Typhus comes from the Greek “typhos”, that is smoke, steam, ardor and contains the Sanskrit root “dhu” which recalls agitation, excitement, movement. If emotionality is the prevailing element of the fan, the behaviors can be devoid of rationality.

motogp and culture

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On the other hand, also for the sake of motorcycling – a sport of strong emotionality but at high risk – the balance between emotions and rationality is needed, respecting, in addition to the champions on the track and the neighbors in the stands, above all themselves, throwing away the mask that transforms, maybe just for a few minutes, a “normal” person into a “crazy” one. Limited to motorcycling, in the common vulgate it is believed that only in the MotoGP era (specifically in the twenty years and passes with Valentino Rossi on the track) there is a crowd in the stands of the racetracks and there is a cheering cheer colored in the tones and also overflowing in the attitudes, well beyond passion and sporting folklore. Even in the past, “pro” and “against” signs were shouted and raised on the circuits, especially in reference to the houses, and even fistfights were not rare with the difference that, for the most part, they ended up “in glory” by uncorking bottles of wine and toasting together. It is true, there have been and there are degenerations in which, in essence, one does not want to recognize the rival driver of one’s favorite not only the qualities but no dignity … indeed, not even the qualification of rival. The fact remains that phenomena of intolerance and incivility have also been present in motorcycling: the agitated also exist in the stands of a racetrack, on social networks, in front of the TV in a bar. Thus the hatred (sports) and the arrogance (verbal or attitudes) of a few can cause the discomfort of many, if not all, distancing the majority of people from sport.

motogp and participation

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The solution is not to return to a “niche sport” motorcycling in the logic of the “few but good”. As they say, to argue or make a mess, sometimes it is enough to be two. The motorcycling of the Valentino Rossi era, while not reaching the levels of football, was not simply a sport but a real mass phenomenon. From 2022, the best of that motorcycling must be resumed in terms of mass participation, technical-competitive and show-business qualities, forgetting and canceling concepts, attitudes, ways of thinking and doing uncivilized, which are bad, in addition to sport, to themselves.